[Support request] Switching from Divi to generate press

[Christine]

Hi,

I have two other sites operating with generate press and it’s great. Im trying to switch my third site over but it uses DIVI and im having a hard time.

The generate press plugin won’t work unless i install and activate the generatepress theme. However I can’t see an option on the main generatepress theme to only import the layout/design and not the content. As it’s an established site I don’t want the content.

I switched another existing website to generate press with no problem, but it wasnt using DIVI on that site.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Christine

[David]

Hi there,

the GP Premium plugin only works IF the free GP Theme is installed. Its not built to work with other themes.
In the GP Premium Site Library on Import you are given the option to disable Import Demo Content:

https://docs.generatepress.com/article/using-the-site-library/#importing-a-site

I would suggest you do this on a staging site, not the live site.

Note: Importing a Site will NOT remove or overwrite and of your content, eg. Posts, Media attachments. It will however swap out any logos, menus, widgets, copyright info and replace any CSS in the Customizer > Additional CSS ( so you should make a copy of any you have as that is saved in your current theme )

Also: A lot of the site design is based on the content of the site import, ie. Block styling, this won’t apply to existing content especially Divi content.

Final note: Converting from Divi to anything non-divi ( like most page builders ) is a pain. I would personally approach it from scratch. First stripping the divi theme, plugin, styles and the shortcodes ( does it still generate them ? ) so you just have the raw content. And then begin rebuilding…. painfully slow but there is no automatic method to convert them.

[Christine]

ok great, thanks for the advice.

I’ll give it a go!

Christine

[David]

You’re welcome!

[INNOVENTURES, SPA]

Hi David,

I just bought the Premium version of GP.
I currently have a website with Divi Theme and Divi Page Builder. I want move it to GPP, I guess from scratch.

So, please!!!, could you tell me more about this comment you said above: Final note: Converting from Divi to anything non-divi (like most page builders) is a pain. I would personally approach it from scratch. First stripping the divi theme, plugin, styles and the shortcodes ( does it still generate them ? ) so you just have the raw content. And then begin rebuilding…. painfully slow but there is no automatic method to convert them.

how can i do that?

1- In my Kinsta staging site, should I remove the Divi theme and page builder plugging? I don’t want to inherit any code or configuration that could slow down my site or generate future crashes: is this the correct way?
2- after that I must perform the installation of GPP?
3-after GPP is installed, should I pass the contents (let’s say without formatting) to the new website (in staging site) or elements such as blog entries and other texts are passed automatically?

thanks a lot!!!

[David]

Hi Cristian,

to ensure you do not break your existing site.

Ask Kinsta to move your current site to a Staging server.
You can then make changes to the staging server without affecting your live site.
Once you are happy with the changes made to the Staging site, Kinsta can PUSH it to the live site.

All work now follows on staging server.

1. In Appearance > Themes, install and activate GeneratePress Theme
2. In Dashboard > Plugins, de-activate and delete the Divi plugins.
2.1 Install the GP Premium plugin.
3. Now edit one of your Divi built pages

Do you see a bunch of [shortcodes] in the content of that page?
I am not sure if Divi still does this? If it does then there is post regarding removing those:

https://www.sean-barton.co.uk/2017/12/bye-bye-divi/

At this point you should have little more in your post / page content then text and images.
And now the re-build process begins. Which is manual.

If you can share a link to your site, i can take a look at how its built and provide some pointers regarding Theme design.

Oh… i also found this nice article regarding cleaning up after removing a plugin:

https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/wordpress/how-to-uninstall-a-wordpress-plugin

[INNOVENTURES, SPA]

Thanks a lot, David!,

I would like to start my website from scratch. Is it possible to do that from the staging site? In that case, could you tell me how I should proceed?

My website is http://www.innoventures.cl

thank you again.
Christian

[Ying]

I would like to start my website from scratch. Is it possible to do that from the staging site?

Your server host should be able to create a blank staging site for you, if not, you can always use a plugin like WP reset to reset it to a blank start site.

[INNOVENTURES, SPA]

Thanks Ying, I already have the kinsta staging site; now the question:
1- Should I deactivate and remove all themes, plugins and photos? Or is that done automatically when I switch my new website from staging to live?

[Ying]

1- Should I deactivate and remove all themes, plugins and photos?

Do you mean on the staging site? If so, follow the steps David mentioned here:
https://generatepress.com/forums/topic/switching-from-divi-to-generate-press/#post-2271632

You will only need 1 theme which is GeneratePress.

For plugins: you’ll need to install GP premium, I would also recommend installing GenerateBlocks to build pages.
Other plugins, depending on your need, you can decide to keep or remove.

For Photos: keep the ones you need on your new site, and remove the ones you don’t need.

[INNOVENTURES, SPA]

Dear All,
Thank you for your patience. I think I have not made you understand so far.

1- I have a website with Divi Theme. I just bought GPP to switch Divi. (innoventures.cl)

2- It seems to me that it may be better for the performance of the new website that it does everything from scratch. .

3- For the above, I have a Kinsta staging site that has all the previous plugins, images and configurations….. if I have to start from scratch, do I have to remove all the plugins, images and programs that I have from the staging site? (how do I do this?; I have 27 active plugins… do I deactivate all of them?, only DIVI Theme?, then I delete them?, )

4 Then I must install GP + GPP and add plugins and design as I progress in the construction of the website…

5 – If point 3 is not necessary because when the new website goes from staging site to live, the database and the images and everything are updated… then I want to know and be sure that when I perform performance tests I will not be in the same conditions as today: full of programming remnants, heavy images and shortcodes that delay agile loading.

Thanks again and I hope I made myself understood this time. Point 3 is really the key for me I think.

Thank you.
Cristian

[Fernando]

Hi Cristian,

3. Would all these 27 plugins be needed? For the ones you won’t need, you may deactivate and delete them. For instance, any DIVI can be deactivated and deleted since you’ll be switching to GeneratePress.
4. Here’s an article with regards to installing GP and GP Premium: https://docs.generatepress.com/article/installing-gp-premium/
5. 27 plugins is numerous in my personal opinion. I would suggest deactivating all of them, and then as you build your website from scratch, activate only the ones you’ll truly need. Having lots of plugins affects performance as well. Then once you’ve finished your site and have the plugins you need activated, you can delete the ones you wont need. This should assure no remnants will remain in your site.

Hope this clarifies!

[Author]

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