Exporting articles from Joomla, how to pull the content out
Sooner or later many people need to pull the articles out of Joomla: for a migration to another system, to create a copy of the content, or while tidying up the site. The good news: Joomla content can be exported. The less good news: a plain text export is usually just the beginning, because images, layout and modules are a separate story. Let us explain how to go about it.
Before you start: make a backup
Whatever you do with the content, first make a backup of the whole site and database. The export itself only reads the data, but it is better to have a safety net before you change anything. More in our post on the website backup.
Three ways to export articles
- An export extension. The simplest route for non-technical people: you install an extension that saves the articles to a CSV or XML file. You get the content in a single file, ready for further processing.
- A migration tool. If the goal is to move to another system (e.g. WordPress), it is usually better to use a tool that imports articles and categories straight into the target CMS, skipping the manual intermediate file.
- Directly from the database. Joomla articles sit in a MySQL database table. A technical person can pull them out with an SQL query, but that is a route for the advanced and it is easy to make a mistake.
What moves, and what does not
It helps to know what to expect. Text and titles move most easily. Images usually have to be moved separately and their links updated. The layout, modules and menus have no direct equivalent in another system, so they are recreated by hand. That is why "export = a finished site" is a myth, the export gives you content, not a working website.
The export is part of a bigger whole
If you are exporting articles because you plan to move to WordPress, treat it as one of the steps, not the whole project. Everything else, redirects, layout, features and keeping Google rankings, decides whether the migration succeeds. We lay it out in the guide on Joomla to WordPress migration.
Would you rather someone moved the content and the whole site for you, without losing data? We handle Joomla to WordPress migration. Get in touch and we will tell you how it looks in your case.