As a WordPress developer with over 5 years of experience building and customizing WordPress sites, I often get asked about transferring theme customizations from one site to another.
Based on my experience, being able to easily export and import WordPress theme customizer settings across multiple websites can be an incredibly valuable time-saving tool.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover:
- Specific use cases for importing/exporting theme settings
- A step-by-step process for exporting and importing customizer settings
- Handy plugins and custom solutions
- When to use this feature for best results
- Troubleshooting common transfer issues
So if you want to seamlessly migrate your meticulously crafted theme customizations, then this guide is for you!
3 Great Reasons to Import/Export Theme Customizer Settings
Here are the most common use cases I’ve seen for transferring theme customizer settings:
1. Migrating Customizations from Staging to Live Sites
Accoding to WP Engine‘s research, 63% of developers use a staging, dev, or test site before launching a live production site.
Building the site on a staging environment allows you to perfectly customize elements like:
- Typography options
- Color palettes
- Layout configurations
- Logos and design elements
- Header images and backgrounds
Without importing/exporting features, migrating all those custom tweaks to a live site is tedious and repetitive. The Customize Export/Import plugin makes this staging-to-production transition seamless.
2. Switching Themes Without Losing Custom Styles
Perhaps you want to swap themes to get access to different site building features. This usually involves manually moving over all your modified CSS styles and rebuilding customizer configurations.
However, by quickly exporting customizer settings from the old theme, you can easily import them into the new one and hit the ground running with your existing brand styling intact.
3. Maintaining Consistent Designs Across Multiple Sites
Web design agencies and companies managing multiple WordPress sites can easily propagate brand standards by exporting and importing customizer settings across their properties.
Instead of individually configuring 10 sites, you can use exports to enable the "multi-site franchise" capability WordPress excels at.
Step-By-Step Guide to Exporting and Importing Settings
The simplest way to transfer theme customizer settings is by using the Customize Export/Import plugin. Here is exactly how to use it:
Exporting Customizer Settings
- Install Customize Export/Import on the exporting site
- Navigate to Appearance > Customize in the WordPress dashboard
- Scroll down and click Export/Import from the menu
- In the left sidebar, select Export
- A
your-theme-settings.datfile will download containing your customizations
Importing Customizer Settings
- Install the plugin on the importing site
- Access the site‘s Appearance > Customize page
- Locate and click the Export/Import link
- Under Import, choose the
.datfile you exported - Check the box to download images
- Select Import to transfer the customizations
- Save & Publish changes
You‘ll now have your exported theme settings applied on the new site!
The great thing about this plugin is that it transfers colors, fonts, logo uploads and other modifications without affecting site content or database structure.
Additional Tips for Customizer Settings Success
Here are some pro tips from my experience for seamless imports and exports:
- Use consistent theme frameworks like Genesis or Blocksy on both sites
- Manually remap menu locations if switching themes
- Transfer child theme modifications if brands allow it
- Create custom Gutenberg block styles for reusable components
- Store full site exports as backups before major updates
Troubleshooting Common Customizer Transfer Issues
Here are some common issues I’ve debugged and how to resolve them:
Images not transferring properly
- Verify correct image urls are set in customizer
- Re-upload images to media library
- Enable
Download imagesoption during import
Imported styles not displaying correctly
- Narrow down style conflicts using !important tags
- Migrate just the Custom CSS section
- Adjust configurations for new theme
Customizer sections missing
- Ensure same/similar theme is active on both sites
- Not all customizer options can be transferred
- Importing to an empty/new site may impact settings
Let me know in the comments if you have any other issues!
Conclusion: Seamlessly Transfer Customizations Like a Pro
As you can see, with just a few clicks, you can easily export and import WordPress customizer settings across multiple sites thanks to the Customize Export/Import plugin.
This allows you to:
✅ Quickly migrate customizations from staging environments to production
✅ Effortlessly switch between themes without losing branding
✅ Propagate designs across franchises or properties
✅ Backup customized components before big changes
Give it a try on your next WordPress project to enhance and accelerate your workflow!
I hope this guide gave you a comprehensive overview and actionable steps for getting the most out of customizer import/export capabilities. Let me know if you have any other questions!
