Importing Blogger or WordPress blog posts – Squarespace 5

You can use the blog importer to import Blogger or WordPress blog posts to your Squarespace 5 site. You can import:

Blog posts
Blog post images and embedded videos
Comments
Categories
URLs will be automatically redirected to prevent visitors from seeing a "page not found" message when visiting your older entries.

There are two options for importing:

Via the web - Connect the blog importer to your Blogger or WordPress account so it can pull in posts automatically
Via an exported file - Export your posts as an .xml file, then import them with the blog importer.

Watch a video

Before you begin

If you're using a custom domain for your original blog, don't connect the domain to your Squarespace 5 site until your content has imported.
Markdown formatting isn't supported. If your entries include Markdown, remove the code before importing.
If you have multiple authors in your blog and want to carry these over, ensure your billing plan supports member accounts. Before importing your posts, create an account for each author. The author names on your original blog should match the display names in Member Accounts.
If you're using the [!--more--] quicktag excerpt feature in your WordPress blog, your entries may be truncated when you import them. Before importing, remove the tag from your entries or .xml file.

If you have a self-hosted WordPress site (wordpress.org):

Ensure you're using the latest version of WordPress. Check the version listed in the WordPress Dashboard footer against the latest download available from wordpress.org.
Ensure XML-RPC is enabled in your WordPress admin area (Settings > Writing > Remote Publishing).

Option 1 - Import via the web

Log into your Squarespace site.
In the Website Management bar, click Blog Importer under Data & Media.
Ensure Import Via The Web is checked.
Ensure Blogger or Wordpress is selected in the Blog Platform drop-down menu.
In the Blog URL field, enter the URL that visitors use to visit that blog. This may be a custom domain URL (eg, yourcoolblog.com), or a subdomain (eg, yourcoolblog.wordpress.com).
Enter your Blogger or WordPress username and password, then click Import Entries.

Option 2 - Import an .xml file

To use the file import option to import an .xml file of your blog posts:

Step 1 - Export the .xml file

To export the .xml file:

Blogger - Log into your Blogger account and select the blog to export. Click Settings, then Other, then click Back Up Content in the Import & Back Up section. For more help, visit Blogger's documentation.
WordPress - Log into your WordPress account. Click My Site, then Settings, and select the Export option in the Site Tools section. For more help, visit WordPress's documentation.

Tip: For WordPress, you'll see the option to export Pages and Posts or just Posts. Select Posts. Squarespace 5 can't import additional pages.

Step 2 - Open the blog importer

Log into your Squarespace 5 site.
In the Website Management bar, click Blog Importer under Data & Media.
Click Import Via An Export File.
Ensure Wordpress or Blogger is selected in the Blog Platform drop-down menu.
In the Blog URL field, enter the URL that visitors use to visit that blog. This may be a custom domain URL (eg, yourcoolblog.com), or a subdomain (eg, yourcoolblog.wordpress.com).
Click Continue.

Click File to upload the .xml file from your computer, then click Upload File. The file name appears in the Export File field.
Click Import Entries.

Next steps

Once you import your blog via the web or .xml file, a status bar shows your import's progress. The import time depends on the number of entries you're importing.

When the import finishes, click Finish in the Data Import Complete message to complete the import.

To see your imported Blog Page, open the Website Management bar and click Architecture under Structure. Your imported blog page appears as a disabled Journal Page, named Imported, followed by the date.

To visit the page, click it.
To make the page live on your site, hover over the name and click Enable.
Click Configure to change the blog's name or URL slug.

Troubleshooting

If you're experiencing issues importing your WordPress or Blogger blog content, here are some troubleshooting solutions that Squarespace 5 users have shared with us.

Note: Squarespace 5 is our legacy platform from 2012. Although we still support Squarespace 5, fixing bugs or issues is a lower priority for us while we focus on our current platform, Squarespace 7.

Set up your posts before importing

Visit the Before you begin section above to ensure your posts are set up for success before importing.

Try both importing options

If you get an error when you're importing via the web, try importing via an export file, and vice versa.

Export posts only

If you're exporting an .xml file in WordPress, you'll see the option to export Pages and Posts or just Posts. Select Posts. Squarespace 5 can't import additional pages.

Use the main URL

When entering the URL for the blog you're importing, add the URL that visitors use to visit your blog on the web. This might be a custom domain, like yourcoolblog.com, or it could be a subdomain like yourcoolblog.wordpress.com.

Don't connect custom URLs before importing

If you're using a custom domain for your original blog, don't connect the domain to your Squarespace 5 site until your content has imported. If you do, certain content (referenced media files) won't import correctly.

Remove "read more" tags and Markdown

If you're using the [!--more--] quicktag excerpt feature in WordPress, your entries may be truncated when you import them. Markdown can lead to formatting errors.

Before importing, you can either remove the code from your entries, or import by file and remove this tag from your .xml file.

Use the latest version of WordPress

The Squarespace 5 importer supports the most recent version of WordPress. If you use wordpress.com, you'll always be using the latest version.

If you're using a self-hosted installation of WordPress (wordpress.org), you can see which version you're using in your WordPress Dashboard footer. Check this against the latest download available from wordpress.org.