Test Your Wordpress Blog Offline

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 February 2009 01:56 Written by webguyatwork Monday, 2 February 2009 11:09

Are you testing a new Wordpress theme or plugin that you don’t want to release to the world until you’re completely ready?  Test your Wordpress blog offline by setting up a simple test site using actual content from your live blog site using the import and export features of Wordpress.

Setup

If you aren’t familiar with the process of setting up your own offline webserver with PHP and mySQL, you can check out some free resources on XAMPP, which according to the website:

“XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.”

Find the XAMPP software at: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Export Your Live Blog Posts

Your Wordpress blog (version 2.x) has a built-in feature that allows you to export your entire list of posts into an XML format that can then be read into another blog, which you will already have running offline.

On your live blog site:

• Open the Tools menu
• Click on “Export”
• Click the “Download Export File” button and save the XML file

Import Your Exported Blog Posts

Now, log into your offline site and import the file:

• Open the Tools menu
• Click on “Import”

You will see a list of options like the following (click to view full size):

To work with the above exported file, choose “Wordpress” from the list and continue below:

• Browse for the location of your exported file from the export steps above.
• You will have the option to download and import all of the linked images as well, which is a good thing to do ONLY if you have a small set of posts that you’re importing, otherwise this step could take quite a while to complete.

That’s it! Hopefully, you will now have a copy of your production blogs posts in a non-production blog site running on your local PC or laptop which you can then use to try out new code and themes without affecting the users who are currently on your site.  Happy Blogging!!!

8 Comments

1. Prahmajankaya   |  Friday, 06 February 2009 at 1:02 pm

   Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…

   
2. Paanchajanyadharaaya   |  Friday, 06 February 2009 at 10:34 pm

   thanks !! very helpful post!

   
3. SnikastyBanny   |  Monday, 16 February 2009 at 4:04 pm

   Hello, I can’t understand how to add your blog ( blog.4minds.com ) in my rss reader

   
4. Angellaa   |  Monday, 23 February 2009 at 11:54 pm

   Hmm, very cognitive post.
   Is this theme good unough for the Digg?

   
5. Jquery Social Bookmark   |  Sunday, 01 March 2009 at 10:11 pm

   Hello, Useful information for jquery social bookmark and your post regarding ur Wordpress Blog Offline | 4Minds Technology Blog looks very interesting. I just wanted to say good work on your site, I like the look and the information was useful.

   
6. Bill Wynne   |  Friday, 02 October 2009 at 6:52 am

   Worked like a charm. I am going on a vacation where there is no internet or it is very expensive and needed this solution. Thanks again webguyatwork

   
7. webguyatwork   |  Friday, 02 October 2009 at 7:13 am

   I’m glad this worked out for you. I use offline copies all the time so I can work on the train to and from work. Obviously, I need to get back to posting here soon. Thanks for the comment.

   
8. undendExinc   |  Friday, 11 December 2009 at 5:54 pm

   OMG loved reading this post. I added your feed to my blogreader!!