Moving to a new website¶
New server, new domain, new installation — and the subscribers and settings should come along.
There are two routes. Take the one that fits your case.
| Your case | Route |
|---|---|
| The whole website moves, with its database | Route A — nothing to do |
| A new, empty installation is to take over the newsletter | Route B |
Route A: The whole website moves along¶
If you take the database with you — with a migration plugin, through a database export or because your host does it for you — the newsletter comes along completely. Subscribers, groups, newsletters, settings, everything.
What to check afterwards:
1. The five pages¶
Newsletter → Configuration → Settings → Page configuration
Is a page set everywhere? If the migration tool changed the post IDs, the entries point nowhere — and a red box appears in the backend.
2. The addresses in mails already sent¶
After a domain change the unsubscribe links in old mails stop working. They point at the old domain.
Set up a redirect from the old domain to the new one — that solves this and a lot else.
3. The mail route¶
Sending settings. When
changing host, the SMTP credentials are almost always different. And the new
server's mail() behaves differently from the old one's.
Send a test mail before you schedule the next newsletter.
4. SPF and DKIM¶
The DNS records point at the old server. When changing host they have to be set again, or your mail lands in spam.
That is work at the host, not in the plugin — and it is easily forgotten.
5. The cron¶
Sending settings → Last cron run. If you had an external cron job, it does not exist on the new server.
6. Encrypted passwords¶
Two passwords lie encrypted in the database: the SMTP password and the one
for the bounce mailbox. The key for them comes from wp-config.php.
If you do not move wp-config.php along — or if your migration tool
generates new security keys — the two can no longer be decrypted. Sending then
fails silently.
Enter both again once after the move. It takes two minutes and saves a long hunt.
7. Register the address anew¶
Newsletter → Configuration → Update access → Domain management
This is no sideshow — whether the plugin keeps running hangs on it
Since 2.0 your access is valid only on registered addresses. After the move the old one is still there, and on the new one the plugin runs like a trial version: fourteen days, then newsletters, subscribers and groups are shut down and the subscription form accepts nobody.
A message in the backend tells you from the first day.
With a Pro key, which is valid for one address:
- Click Cancel registration behind the old address.
- Register this domain — that enters the new one.
Try it the other way round and the plugin tells you: „This update access applies to one domain."
With Enterprise, step 2 is enough; several addresses may sit there side by side. The comparison is under Lite, Pro and Enterprise.
Even when shut down you can reach this page
If you forget the step and stand in front of a shut-down plugin after fourteen days, you are not locked out: the domain management stays usable, precisely so that the old address can still be released. Everything else comes back as soon as the new one is entered — nothing is deleted.
Incidentally, the deadline only begins on the day the plugin first sees the new address. So a move always gets a full fourteen days.
Route B: Into a new installation¶
Here you move two things separately: the settings and the subscribers. The newsletters themselves do not come along — that would need a database export.
On the old website¶
1. Back up the settings.
Newsletter → Configuration → Settings → Settings backup → Download settings
Set a password if the credentials should come along too. Which ones those are depends on your edition and is listed under Settings backup. Without a password the file contains none.
2. Export the subscribers.
Newsletter → Subscribers → CSV export
The file contains all subscribers with status, confirmation time, groups and subscriber variables.
3. Note the group names.
In the export file the groups column holds the numbers of the groups. On
the new website the numbers are different. Write down which number was which
group.
On the new website¶
4. Install and activate the plugin. See Installation.
5. Create the groups — in the same order as on the old website. The numbers then usually match.
Check it: Newsletter → Groups, column Id. Where it differs, change the numbers in the CSV file before importing.
6. Load the settings.
Settings backup → choose the file, enter the password, Apply settings.
The pages do not come along
Values that apply only on one particular website — the IDs of the five pages, the default group, the subscriber for the archive view — are only applied if the file comes from the same website.
You get a note about it. Create the five pages anew and enter them under Page configuration.
7. Import the subscribers.
Newsletter → Subscribers → CSV import, with Comma-separated in the „groups" column.
Do a trial run with five rows first. See Import and export.
8. Check.
| Where | What for |
|---|---|
| Subscriber list, Unassigned | If a lot of people sit there, the group numbers did not work out |
| Status filter Active | Does the number match the old website? |
| Page configuration | Are all five pages set? |
| Sender and subject | Does the sender address fit the new domain? |
| Sending settings | SMTP account, cron |
| Update access | Is the new address there? Without it the plugin shuts itself down after fourteen days. With Pro, release the old one first |
9. A test mail. To yourself, and actually click the unsubscribe link.
What comes along in neither route¶
Custom templates under user_views or in the theme |
Copy the files by hand |
| Attachments on newsletters | They live under uploads/wpng/ |
| The newsletters themselves on route B | Only through a database export |
| SPF and DKIM | DNS records, not a setting in the plugin |
| An external cron job | To be set up at the host |
The order when both websites run for a while¶
So that nothing is sent twice:
- On the old website: schedule no more newsletters.
- Move.
- Test on the new website.
- Only then switch the old one off — or at least deactivate the plugin there so its cron stops running.
Do not let both installations send at the same time
They work on different databases and know nothing about each other. Your subscribers get everything twice.