[Resolved] Migrating existing website widgets

[ch1800]

What is the correct procedure when migrating an existing site to GP that uses some widgets from previous theme?
I understand that Customizer settings are backed up, but what about the widgets and their respective settings and content?

Will they disappear or automatically move to “Inactive Widgets” – or should I do so manually prior to changing theme?

Thanks!

[David]

Hi there,

it depends if those Widgets were part of the old theme, if they were then they won’t exist in GP.
If there added by a plugin or core widgets then you would need to add them manually back in.

[ch1800]

Yep, I understand that – sidebars are part of the old theme but widgets in there were created by the users, and that those sidebars won’t exist in GP anymore.

But my question is rather how to back them up.
If I move those widgets in the Inactive Widgets section, will they remain there for further use under GP? Or is there another way?

(I’m not talking about the sidebars, which are different for each theme, but only for the widgets they contain)

[David]

I would assume they drop into Inactive Widgets – i cannot actually say for sure as i cannot recall the last time i had to migrate widgets – i generally rebuild from scratch.

[ch1800]

Thanks David, will test this further, no problem.

[David]

Do let us know what you find 🙂

[ch1800]

Here are the results:

1. Keeping all widgets as they are
– when activating GP theme some widgets are somehow relocated to different sidebars and others end up in Inactive Widgets section at bottom
– when activating GPP plugin and importing demo with Catalyst, all remaining inside sidebars are also moved to Inactive

2. Moving all widgets to Inacative prior to installing GP
– when activating GP theme they all remain as they were at Inactive section
– same happens when activating GPP plugin and importing demo, new ones are simply added

This is valid for widgets that were NOT part of the previous theme!
All widgets that were part of previous theme will completely disappear.
The same goes for widgets that are dependent of plugins. They will remain as long as their plugins remain active.

I didn’t test, but this plugin seems to do the same job:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/widget-importer-exporter/
it will import/export only widgets that are related to theme or plugins that will be installed at destination site.

What I will do:

1. take a full page screenshot of the whole widgets page, with all sidebars expanded
2. Move them all to inactive widgets section before installing GP
3. check which ones of previous theme might still be useful and copy all their content, one by one
4. install GPP (maybe with demo for keeping Elements and Sections), remove all unneeded widgets and re-place the original ones, one by one
5. remove any left overs by demo

That’s all.

With that I proudly and brilliantly achieved my masterclass “Migrating to GP from an alien theme” and you can send me my gold medal by next stagecoach as soon as possible.

[David]

Awesome thanks for the feedback
Yeah any Theme added Widgets will be lost. Site Imports overwrite whatever was there before as per Customizer settings – Gold Medal on its way by Winged Turtle Mail 🙂

[Author]

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