HDEV Import / Export Post

HDEV Import / Export Post lets you move posts between WordPress sites without losing their images. Export a post type to a single portable JSON file, then import that file on a local server or another production site.

During import, every featured image, in-content image and post attachment is downloaded from the source site into the destination site’s own media library, and the image URLs inside the post content are rewritten to point at the newly downloaded copies. Nothing keeps pointing back at the old site.

Re-importing the same file is safe: existing posts are updated in place instead of duplicated, and media that was already downloaded is reused instead of downloaded again.

Both export and import run in small batches with a live progress bar, so large jobs do not time out and you always see what is happening.

Export features:

• Export any public post type (Posts, Pages and custom post types)

• Filter by post status (published, draft, pending, private, scheduled or all)

• Filter by date range — the month list is detected automatically from the existing content of the selected post type and refreshes when you switch post types

• Filter by author — the dropdown lists only users who have actually authored content on the site

• Optionally include the media attached to each post

• Single portable JSON file — easy to move between sites

• Live progress bar while the export runs, then the file downloads automatically

Import features:

• Featured images, in-content images and post attachments are downloaded into the destination site’s media library

• In-content image URLs are automatically rewritten to the new local URLs

• Update existing posts instead of creating duplicates — posts are matched by slug and post type, so the same file can be imported again safely

• Already-downloaded media is detected and reused, so re-imports never fill the media library with copies

• Works between local development sites (Local,.local /.test domains) as well as production domains

• Taxonomy terms (categories, tags and custom taxonomies) and post meta are preserved

• Missing categories are created automatically, including the full parent/child hierarchy

• Assign every imported post to a user of your choice, or keep the original author when a matching username exists

• Optional: import all posts as drafts

• Live progress bar with a per-post log — successful posts, reused/downloaded media counts, and clear warnings when a media download fails

General:

• No new database tables — uses the standard WordPress APIs

• Admin-only: every action requires the manage_options capability and is protected by nonces