Moving from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 7

Squarespace 7.1 is the newest version of Squarespace, designed to be more streamlined and intuitive, with more options for adding and styling content. It includes many features not available in Squarespace 5, such as Commerce, site-wide animations, and sophisticated analytics.

If you have a Squarespace 7 linked site:

• If you only want to keep your existing Squarespace 7 site, follow these steps to unlink your sites and cancel Squarespace 5 billing.
• If you want to keep your current Squarespace 5 site as a separate site, follow the steps below.

This guide walks you through moving your site content and getting it set up on Squarespace 7.1. Because Squarespace 5 and Squarespace 7.1 are such different platforms, you'll first import content into Squarespace 7.0, then update the site to Squarespace 7.1. If you get stuck at any point, reach out to our Customer Support team for help.

Tip: For hands-on help migrating your site, hire a Squarespace Expert. Click Get Matched to answer a few questions about what you need, and select Site Migration as your project type.

What imports?

This content will import to your new site:

• HTML pages
• Journal pages and blog posts
• Blog post comments
• Picture Gallery pages
• Images on pages and posts (saved to your Asset library)

This content won't import:

• Discussion, Drop Box, FAQ, Guestbook, and Links pages
• RSS Widgets
• Information from Traffic Overview
• Your site's subtitle
• Style settings
• Billing details

This content won't import, but the steps below explain how to add it manually:

• Files uploaded to your file storage section
• Content added to headers, footers, and sidebars
• Blog content that uses Markdown language

Step 1 - Start a Squarespace 7.0 trial and import your content

To start a Squarespace 7.0 trial you'll need a separate account, rather than logging in with your Squarespace 5 credentials. You can use the same email address for both accounts.

Start a trial

To create a trial:

1. Go to the Bedford demo site and click Create a site like this in the bottom-right corner, then click Start with this design.
2. Enter your name, email address, and the password you'll use to log into your site. If you already have a Squarespace 7.0 account, use the same email address and password you used previously.

Note: By signing up for a free trial, you agree to our Terms of Service.

Import content

Next, import blogs, pages, and comments directly into your Squarespace 7.0 trial site:

1. Click Website and open the Import & Export Content panel ↗.
2. Click Import.
3. In the Import Site menu, click V5.
   
4. In the Account URL or Login field, enter your login, which is the first part of your Squarespace 5 built-in URL. For example, if your full URL is https://yoursite.squarespace.com, you'll enter yoursite.
5. Enter your password in the Password field. If you don't remember it, visit Changing or recovering your password.
6. Click Begin Import. This may take a few minutes.

When the process is complete, you'll see a Success label:

Troubleshooting the import

If the label says Failure, click Clear, then click Import. Try the import again, making sure of the following:

• Use your account name in the first field, not your site's URL or your email address.
• Ensure your password is correct. The password is case-sensitive.

If you're still having issues with this step, contact our Customer Care team.

Step 2 - Update to Squarespace 7.1 and enable your pages

Now that you've imported your content into a Squarespace 7.0 site, you'll update the site to version 7.1.

Note: Only certain templates can switch to version 7.1. If you started your site on a different template, switch your template to Bedford or Brine before following the steps below. 

Update to version 7.1

To update your site to version 7.1, click the X in the top-right corner to close the Settings window to go back to the Home menu, then: 

1. In the Home menu, click Website, then click Design, and then click Update to Version 7.1.
2. Click Get Started, then click Preview site in 7.1.
3. After the preview populates, click Publish in the top-left corner, then click Publish 7.1 site. After that, you’ll no longer have access to the 7.0 version of your site, but it won’t affect your existing Squarespace 5 site.
4. Click Continue editing, then refresh the page.

Enable your pages

You're now in the Pages panel of Squarespace version 7.1. All your imported pages are in the Not Linked section and disabled. You'll need to enable these pages to make them visible on your live site.

Tip: When you enable a Journal page (called a Blog page in version 7.1), all your published posts will be enabled as well.

To enable each page:

1. Hover over the page name and click the gear icon to open page settings.
   
2. Click the Enable Page toggle on.
   
3. Click Save.

Tip: If you see a "Couldn't load collection" error message, refresh the page.

Set a homepage

You should also set one page as your homepage while you're in its page settings. This creates the landing page for your site. You can change it at any time.

Enable blog post comments

If you imported a blog that had comments on it:

1. Open the Blog preferences panel ↗ on your new site.
2. Click Comment Settings, then check Enable Comments Globally.
3. Update the comment settings if needed.
4. Click Save and close the Settings panel.

Your imported comments should now appear on all blog posts.

Tip: Your site may seem very plain at this stage. There are steps below for updating the style and making it your own.

Step 3 - Replace images on pages and posts

Any images on your pages and posts have imported as Code blocks instead of Image blocks. Some of these images may need to be replaced with Image blocks, or they will break when your Squarespace 5 site closes.

Tip: Picture Gallery pages import as gallery sections, and don't need to be updated.

Which images to replace

We recommend replacing all Code block images on your site with Image blocks. Image blocks have built-in features (such as shapes and animations) that Code blocks don't have. The images are saved to your Squarespace 7.1 site's Asset library, so you don't have to re-upload them from your computer when you replace the Code blocks.

In particular, you should replace any image you added through its direct file storage URL on your Squarespace 5 site, as those will disappear when you cancel your Squarespace 5 site. To check for those images:

1. In your Squarespace 7.1 site, go to the page or post with the image.
2. Double click the image twice, to open the page editor and then the code block editor.
3. If the code includes your V5 site's URL, the image needs to be replaced.
   

How to replace the images

Your Squarespace 5 site's images are saved in your Squarespace 7.1 site's Asset library. To replace any code block image on your Squarespace 7.1 site:

1. Go to the page or post with the image and click Edit to open the page editor.
2. Click the Code block image and press the trash can icon to delete it.
3. Click the + symbol on the page and click Image to add an Image block.
4. In the Image block, click the + symbol, then click Select From Library.
5. Select the image and click Add.
   

Step 4 - Manually add remaining content

Content on pages, Picture Galleries, and Journal posts have transferred to your new site, but you'll need to add any remaining content manually.

Files from file storage

Squarespace 7.1 doesn't have a file storage area. Instead, upload files to links within text, navigation, and clickthrough images. To learn more, visit Uploading and managing files. You can also embed PDFs. 

If you have a lot of files in your Squarespace 5 site's file storage, you may want to download them all at once with third-party software like DownThemAll (Firefox) or Chrono Download Manager (Chrome). Note: Third-party services fall outside of the scope of Squarespace support.

Other content

To add other content to your new site:

• Footers - Add text, links, and other content to your footer.
• Sidebars - Version 7.1 doesn't support sidebars. Instead, add this content to a page, or to your footer.
• Podcast files - Your podcast's journal posts have been converted to blog posts. Add the podcast files to the posts as Audio blocks.
• Markdown blog content - Content imported from a blog using Markdown language won't display. Instead, re-add Markdown text to posts with Markdown Blocks.

Note: Information from Traffic Overview won't import. You may want to take a screenshot or write down key data before you lose access to this information. Squarespace 7.1 has more advanced analytics.

Tip: If you sold products or received donations on Squarespace 5 via custom code, your code will have imported as code blocks. However, we recommend using Squarespace 7's commerce features for inventory tracking and analytics, integrated tax and shipping options, and a built-in shopping cart. To learn more, visit Getting started with Squarespace Commerce.

Step 5 - Customize your site

Click the links in the left panel to navigate to all your new site's options. If you can't find a panel, use the search icon.

If you don't see the left panel after logging in, you may be in preview mode. Click the expand arrow in the top-right corner of your site to continue editing.

Design your header

The site header displays at the top of all pages on your site. Follow these steps to customize your header:

• Add your site title - Your site has a default title of "Your Site Title." To update this, or to replace the site title with a logo, follow the steps in Adding a site title.
• Add navigation links - Create a navigation menu from pages on your site, and use folders to create dropdown menus.
• Style your header - Set global styles to style your header.

Add new content 

To add pages to your new site, click the + icon in the Pages panel ↗ next to any navigation area. 

You'll see options for the available page types, including:

• Page - Start with a blank page or designer layout, then add text, images, and other content with blocks 
• Store - Sell products, downloads, and services with our integrated commerce features
• Portfolio - Organize and showcase your projects with a landing page with sub-pages 
• Blog - Create a blog and populate it with posts
• Events - Add a calendar or list of events to your site

Style your site

For Squarespace 7.1, the equivalent of Squarespace 5's Style Mode is Site styles. To open the Site styles panel, click the paintbrush icon in the top-right corner while editing any page. There you can edit your site's global styles, such as fonts and colors. You can make more fine-tuned changes by editing individual sections. For help, visit Making style changes.

Add contributors (optional)

If you had sub-accounts on your Squarespace 5 site, or if you want other people to work on your site:

1. Add them as contributors.
2. Set permissions to control what they can and can't access.

Update your built-in domains (optional)

Your Squarespace 5 and Squarespace 7.1 sites each have a built-in domain, a URL that includes an account name (site ID) and ends in .squarespace.com, like this: accountname.squarespace.com.

The account name in the built-in domain is a unique identifier, and you can't use it on more than one site. To use your Squarespace 5 account name for the built-in domain on your Squarespace 7.1 site:

1. On the Squarespace 5 site, change the account name. To keep it easy to remember, we recommend you change it by adding -old to the end, as shown in the screenshot below.

Note: Changing your account name changes how you log into your Squarespace 5 site. In the example screenshot below, you'd now use youraccountname-old to log in.

2. On the Squarespace 7.1 site, change the built-in URL.

Step 6 - Check your URLs

To make the transition to your new site seamless, it's important to ensure your Squarespace 7.1 site's URLs match the URLs on your Squarespace 5 site. This will prevent your visitors from seeing dead links and "Page not found" error messages.

To do this, click the expand arrow in the top right-hand corner on your Squarespace 7.1 while on any page to see its URL, then compare it to the same page on your Squarespace 5 site. 

Everything after the .com and before the ? should look the same. We recommend checking each page on your site, and at least one blog post on every blog page.

If your URLs look different:

• Update your URL slugs (the part of the URL after your root domain) by visiting Changing URL slugs. That guide also shows how to set your default blog post URL format, so that all your imported blog posts have the same format that they had on your Squarespace 5 site.
• To forward visitors away from pages that don't exist to pages that do exist, you can set up 301 redirects. That guide also explains how to set up batch redirects for multiple blog posts, events, or products.
• You can also create a custom 404 error page in case any of your visitors find a dead link.

Tip: Moving a site to a new platform might cause a temporary dip in search ranking. To help improve your site's ranking, add a site description and page descriptions. To learn more, visit our guide on maintaining your SEO ranking after moving your site.

Note: If you have a custom domain, the URLs won't work until you've moved the domain.

Step 7 - Launch your site

When your site is ready to launch, upgrade it to make it visible to the public. Most people wait until their site is live before they move their custom domain, so that the URL always directs visitors to an active site.

Upgrade your site

When you're ready to upgrade your new site to active billing, click Publish your site in the banner at the bottom of the screen. We recommend reviewing the different plan options before upgrading to ensure you choose a plan that has the features and number of contributors you'll need. To learn more, visit Upgrading to paid service.

Note: If you registered a free custom domain on your Squarespace 5 site, the domain only remains free if you choose an annual plan.

Move your custom domain

Next, move your custom domain so that the URL directs visitors to your new site. How you move the domain depends on how you registered it:

Move a third-party domain

If you have a domain from another provider (like GoDaddy or Network Solutions) connected to your Squarespace 5 site:

1. Log into your Squarespace 5 site and click Website Management, then click Custom Domain.
2. Hover over your domain name and click Unlink. For more help, visit Disconnecting a domain.
3. After the domain is unlinked, follow our steps to connect it to your new site.

Move a Squarespace Domain

If you registered a custom domain through us on Squarespace 5, first ensure you have an email set in your Squarespace 5 administrator account:

1. Log into your Squarespace 5 site.
2. In the Website Management bar, click Member Accounts, then click your name.
   
3. In the Member Information section, ensure the email shown in the Email field is correct.
   
4. Click Save Changes.

Next, contact us and we'll move the domain to your new Squarespace 7.1 site. Include the following information:

• Subject: Move domain from 5 to 7.1
• The custom domain (example: www.yoursite.com)
• The Squarespace URL for your original Squarespace 5 site (Example: yoursite.squarespace.com)
• The Squarespace URL for your new Squarespace 7.1 site (Example: yourothersite.squarespace.com)
• The full name and last four digits on the credit card(s) used to pay for each site

After contacting us, you might receive a domain verification request email. Follow the steps in that email to verify the domain.

Step 8 - Cancel Squarespace 5 billing

Once you're ready to exclusively use your Squarespace 7.1 site, you can cancel your Squarespace 5 site to avoid paying for two sites simultaneously.

To cancel, follow the steps in Canceling and deleting a site. If you have an annual or bi-annual plan, also follow the steps for removing your account to receive a prorated refund for unused time.

Next steps

Congratulations, your Squarespace 7.1 site is now live! We hope you're starting to feel comfortable with the new interface, and we encourage you to explore our Squarespace 7 Help site to learn about all the new features you have available. 

• You might want to start with our Next Steps video series, to learn how to encourage visitor interaction and help build your audience.
• While you're editing your site, you can also press the / key or use the search icon to search for a panel, setting, or help guide. Visit our shortcuts guide for more tips. 
• As people start to visit your new site, track their traffic in Analytics.

Cheat sheet of terms

As you explore the new platform, here's a cheat sheet of terms to help you learn the new interface: