Effective Turorial for WordPress XML Import

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If you have read any of my previous posts about the mighty WordPress, then you might be able to work out I am a big fan! Very true indeed! In fact, 99% of the sites I have done are using it. When creating a design I won’t build it into WordPress from the start, the main reason is that I can concentrate fully on the HTML/CSS code and not have to worry about PHP loops, etc. Much simpler!

I use Lorem Ipsum to generate text to bulk out my design and give me a more realistic feel of how it will look live, which is great. When I come to integrate the site into the WordPress CMS I end up left with a kind of ‘blank canvas’ containing just the default ‘Hello World’ post! Having to continuously create fake posts/categories/tags/comments to check it all works within WP is well, which is very frustrating.

For anyone else who has the same problem as me, this one’s for you. Download the .XML linked below and import this into your WordPress installation and the problem is sorted.

WordPress XML Import List:

  • 5 Pages, with full content
  • 10 Posts, with content, including Tags, Categories and Excerpt
  • 21 Unique Tags
  • 11 Unique Categories
  • 10 Unique Comments, including several from the ‘Tester’ user (Administrator)
  • 7 Default Links
  • 1 Post (under category ‘Bullet List’) contains a Bullet List
  • 1 Post (under category ‘Numbered List’) contains a Numbered List
  • Various Lengths on each posts content and title

If you are not familiar with Importing an .XML file into WordPress then follow this quick guide (based on the 2.6 version of WP).

Guide For Importing The XML Into WordPress:

  1. Unzip the .XML from the downloaded archive
  2. Log into your WP administration area (https://www.sitename/wp-admin)
  3. Select Manage from the main menu
  4. From the Manage sub-menu, select Import
  5. You will be provided with a list of Blog types you wish to import from, select WordPress from the bottom of the list
  6. Next select Browse
  7. Locate to the .XML you downloaded from the link below, select Okay
  8. Finally, select Upload File and Import

Any problems let me know, but it should be fairly straight forward! Finally here is the download link:

Download: WordPress XML Import

Posted by Jason Bayless

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68 Comments

  1. aditia 2010-12-16 at 02:08

    thanks for this, really helping for theme development

  2. Adrian Pavone 2010-10-19 at 17:19

    Hi man,

    Thanks so much. This is so useful for my wordpress template creations. I’ve imported it into my local wamp install running on my laptop and it allows me to have dummy data for showing my clients when demoing their site to them! Love your work!

    Regards,
    Adrian Pavone.

  3. CSSReX 2010-10-04 at 16:53

    Nice, I am going to try it, will let you know if it works..

  4. Genera contenido de prueba en Wordpress - sermdesign.com 2010-09-28 at 15:33

    […] Eso sí, si se nos queda pequeño el plugin (queremos también rellenar con contenidos de prueba los enlaces de WordPress, comentarios o incluso crear las etiquetas y categorías, ya hay que pasarse a importar contenido de fuente .xml. […]

  6. Ashvini Kumar 2010-09-07 at 09:08

    hey,

    Thanks for doing the hard work and providing the test data. I was able to test one of my theme pretty fast .

    Great work keep it up.

    Best regards,
    Ashvini

  7. Shaii 2010-08-24 at 09:14

    This is great, thanks a lot!

  8. Fill Your Wordpress Blog With Fake Content 2010-07-08 at 23:01

    […] 10 sample posts, 5 sample pages, multiple sample categories and more – http://designwoop.com/2008/09/wordpress-xml-import-download/ […]

  9. Abhijit V. Chaore 2010-06-18 at 08:02

    Its useful. I needed some dummy data while I created my first WordPress theme and I had to write some sample articles or use ‘lorem ipsum’ text for this. Had I found your post initially it would have saved me a lot of time.

    Anyways I am going to use it for my future developments. Thanks a lot for this.

  10. Dustin Luther 2010-06-17 at 06:31

    Super easy to set up on my test site! thank you much!

  11. Theming For WordPress… Part 1: Setup & header.php « OptimisticGecko 2010-04-29 at 20:20

    […] file can be downloaded from designwoop.com , along with the instructions on how to import the file to your […]

  12. Ombak 2010-04-20 at 04:46

    Hai, I make wordpress 2.9.2, and try what you say.
    I upload the file in Tools => Import => WordPress. but not working.
    by the way I try in my local computer.
    can yuo help me?
    thanks!!!

  13. TechiePark 2010-01-23 at 12:06

    Thanks..!!! This helped me a lot..!!! gr8 work

  14. Tsevdos.com > Τα καλύτερα links – Δεκέμβριος 09 2010-01-03 at 12:41

    […] WP Test data import : Ένα WP XML αρχείο για περάσετε γρήγορα στο blog σας μερικά test posts. Πολύ χρήσιμο ειδικότερα εάν δουλεύεται σε κάποιο καινούργιο theme… […]

  15. Amy 2009-12-04 at 19:12

    Thanks Stu, got it!

  16. Stu 2009-12-04 at 16:07

    @Amy Sorry about that I have reuploaded the file give that a try :)

  17. Amy 2009-12-04 at 15:24

    Can you please re-upload this?
    I get an 404 when trying to download.
    Thanks :)

  18. Chamomor 2009-11-03 at 03:56

    Great !!!
    Thanks a lot, it’s very usefull
    Saved a lot of Time

  19. Chamomor 2009-11-03 at 03:54

    Great !!!
    Thanks a lot, it’s very usefull

  21. David Marino 2009-09-12 at 22:40

    Exactly what we we’re looking for to test out our new blog theme. Thanks for the assist!

  22. 10 useful resources for wordpress theme designers | Web Design Byte 2009-09-04 at 09:01

    […] WP XML Test Data Import When developing themes one of the biggest frustrations can be the lack on content on a new […]

  23. Fuad Ahasan Chowdhury 2009-08-25 at 15:34

    This is such friendly written.. its helps me a lot as I’m not a pro in this are.. :p THanks

  24. WordPress 主题开发工具 | Idea工作室 2009-08-25 at 13:44

    […] Checklist test data • (直接下载)The Sandbox Dummy Content •WPCandy Sample Content •Self Conclusion’s Test Data 以上四个测试数据都有各自的优势和不足。我喜欢把它们全部导入到 […]

  26. Jeremy 2009-08-14 at 06:22

    Worked like a charm. Thanks for making it easy.

    1. Stu 2009-08-15 at 00:19

      @Jeremy – Thanks mate, happy to help!

  31. links for 2009-07-13 « crawlspace|media 2009-07-13 at 18:00

    […] n WP .XML Test Data Import | Self Conclusion […]

  33. WordPress 主题开发工具 | 精品博客 2009-06-26 at 14:02

    […] Self Conclusion’s Test Data […]

  35. WordPress Theme Development Tools | Fresh News - Blog Design, Wordpress, Blogger, and Web Development 2009-06-23 at 12:58

    […] […]

  37. Alex 2009-05-11 at 13:20

    Hi there,

    I download your dummy content but everytime I upload it I get a message: “Are you sure you want to do this?” and a “Please try again” link. Everytime I click that I get returned to the original upload page. WordPress is talking about ” WordPress eXtended RSS (WXR)” crap… whats a WXR file? I only have a XML file.

    I tried chmodding my ‘uploads’ folder to all permissions but it didn’t work :S. I’m using wordpress: 2.71 and Mozilla Firefox 3.0 on Mac OSX.

    Hopefully someone can help!

  38. Stu 2009-04-25 at 21:49

    @Otter and @Ondrej – The WP-tester.zip link has been sorted you should be able to download now :)

  39. Stu 2009-04-25 at 21:47

    @Ondrej – I can send it no problem at all, whats your email address?

  40. Sandbox Post Content - WordPress Tavern Forum 2009-04-25 at 21:44

    […] used this before: http://selfconclusion.co.uk/2008/09/…port-download/ It’s similar to WPCandy’s export file. In addition sample posts, it also has sample comments. It […]

  41. donyaha 2009-04-24 at 20:37

    WordPress filters

  42. Otter 2009-04-18 at 12:17

    Hi there Stu – not sure why but the Zip is coming in at 0K at the moment.

    Thought you’d like to know

    Ady

  43. Ondrej 2009-04-14 at 06:11

    Hello,
    thanks for this great post, but I can’t download it. I don’t know why. Can you, or anybody, send me wptester.zip by e-mail? Is it possible? Thank you very much.

  44. How to install Wordpress on your local computer | My Internet Corner 2009-03-01 at 22:20

    […] 03/01/2009] If you need some data sample (posts, links, categories, and tags), you can get it from http://selfconclusion.co.uk/2008/09/wordpress-xml-import-download/ or just download the XML file […]

  45. casey 2009-02-07 at 02:10

    thanks for this!

  46. jeffrey 2008-12-27 at 03:33

    Hi,

    I am looking for a solution to automatically import an XML file into wordpress for each of my users blogs which I plan to set up?

    Any ideas as to how one can accomplish this?

    Thanks

    Jeffrey

  47. Engineering Directory 2008-12-03 at 11:14

    Good, I have added to my favorites,
    this title:WordPress .XML Test Data Import | Self Conclusion

    By the way, i want make a friendlink with your site~ if you could,please do and mailto me[sharks1039@gmail.com],wish to you~1410

  48. vienPeefe 2008-11-27 at 22:38

    Cheers!
    I made on photoshop glitter myspace banners.
    have a look at them:
    http://tinyurl.com/66dwoa
    Thank you for your site ;-) xxoxo

  50. alvini 2008-11-15 at 12:54

    Hmmm, I am tempted to try this.

  51. fadthemisss 2008-11-15 at 09:36

    Hmm. Good question.

  52. deven 2008-11-11 at 11:14

    I recently discovered this blog. I’ve had a similiar idea to your rewriting the ten commandments for some time now.

  53. Darren White 2008-11-07 at 13:59

    Thanks, such a simple idea but it never occurred to me to set up an xml file.

    Also I had to say hello once I knew you was from Hull. Its good to come across another Web designer locally that builds sites the right way and is into WordPress. I also recommend ExpressionEngine for bigger projects and Magento for e-commerce sites.

    Do you freelance or work for a company?

    Cheers,
    Darren

  54. createmo 2008-11-02 at 12:18

    Thank you for your website ;-)
    I made with photoshop backgrounds for myspace,youtube and whatever
    my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/5assk2
    have a good day and thank you again!

  56. dedits 2008-11-01 at 07:47

    Excellent essay and site. I put a link to your compassion essay on my website. Good work.

  57. Read More Wordpress 2008-10-17 at 05:32

    Read More WordPress…

    After reading this post, I am not sure I understand what you are trying to relate. Please expand on your thoughts a little more. Thanks…

  58. Jerrakhep 2008-10-14 at 14:41

    Hello.
    :) reflects the couple’s low-key approach to their royal connections.
    Bye.

  59. Sarah 2008-10-05 at 09:00

    Thank you soo much! Just what I needed

  60. Stu 2008-09-29 at 20:26

    @Sharry – Great hope it helps :D

  61. Sharry 2008-09-28 at 21:01

    Thanks, worked great :)

  62. Stu 2008-09-20 at 08:30

    @Pangeran – Great, I’m pleased people are using it. I will be releasing lots more WordPress themes, feel free to subscribe to my feed, link is at the top of the page :)

  63. Pangeran | PANGERAN.ORG 2008-09-20 at 08:27

    I am downloading it… :-)

    1. 忘记月亮 2010-07-24 at 17:06

      very good, thanks very much

  64. Stu 2008-09-20 at 08:24

    @de musicas – No problems hope it helps!

    @Navjot Singh – Great, I’m glad its coming in use to someone, thanks for your post. I am currently working on a WP theme too, (NERD)Press, its coming along nicely. Do you have any themes out there at the moment?

  65. Navjot Singh 2008-09-19 at 15:29

    I have already a demo site at wpdemo.nspeaks.com – Thanks…I will use your content to import more data as I am working on releasing some wordpress themes!

  66. WordPress Weekend Resources - September 19, 2008 | Theme Lab 2008-09-19 at 12:14

    […] WordPress .XML Test Data Import – Basically, you can use this file to import into a fresh WordPress install to set up a test environment for theming. It comes with a series of “Lorem ipsum” posts, as well as tags, categories, and other things. In last week’s issue of WordPress weekend resources, I featured a similar release by WPCandy. […]

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