Importing WordPress (Elementor) site from backup

  • Resolved vrhvi

    (@vrhvi)


    9 months, 4 weeks ago

    Hello everyone,

    I have a question regarding importing WordPress Elementor) sites from backup. I have an old site backup in .xml files and a .zip file of the website folder from the server and I am trying to rebuild the site locally on my computer.

    I managed to import the pages using the WordPress importer and then just copied the wp-contents folder to include the images, and the website was imported. I also used the “Media Sync” plugin to add the images to the database.

    When I was checking the contents of the .xml files I noticed they contain references to the Elementor plugin, which when I checked was also in the contents of the old website folder, so I figured I could install that to se what the page actually looked like. When I installed the plugin and opened one of the imported pages, it definetely looked better, but I noticed that images and also text content were missing. Thinking that plugin must alreday present when doing the import, I deleted the pages and imported them again, but with no success. I also started a free trial of the Pro version of the plugin because I notiteced that some widgets that I suspecteted were used when building the pages are part of the Pro edition, but that didn’t help either.

    So my question is, is it possible to import the pages this way and still get the full functionality with Elementor blocks? I noticed that you can also export and import pages using Elementor plugin, but the exported .zip file is different than what I have, so I think importing pages with Elementor is not an option. Are there any other possible ways to import my page with all the content and funtionallity?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Support Milos

    (@miloss84)

    9 months, 4 weeks ago

    Hello there,

    Thank you for being so patient. You’ve done a solid job with the site reconstruction so far, but there are a few important points to keep in mind when trying to manually import an Elementor site from .xml and .zip backups:

    • The .xml export only contains posts, pages, menus, and references to media files – not Elementor templates or full layouts.
    • Elementor data (sections, widgets, text, images) is stored in the database (wp_posts and wp_postmeta → _elementor_data). Without the SQL dump, much of this content is missing.
    • Installing Elementor after the import doesn’t fully restore content, since the JSON data may already be lost if the plugin wasn’t active during the import.
    • Pro widgets require Elementor Pro and a valid license; without it, those blocks will remain empty.
    • To get a full replica, you need: A local WordPress install (e.g. Local by Flywheel, XAMPP). The complete wp-content folder. The original database backup (.sql).
    • If you don’t have the database: Rebuild pages manually in Elementor using the imported images and partial content. For future migrations, use Elementor’s built-in Export/Import Template or Site Kit Export, which preserves layouts properly.
    • Alternatives: Check if the old hosting still has cPanel/phpMyAdmin access to export the database. Ask the hosting provider if backups exist. Use plugins like All-in-One WP Migration or Duplicator for a complete site clone (files + database).

    Importing via .xml + wp-content is not enough for Elementor. The database is essential to restore the full site as it was. Without it, only partial/manual reconstruction is possible.

    Best regards,

    Thread Starter vrhvi

    (@vrhvi)

    9 months, 4 weeks ago

    Thank you for your asnwer. I think I have the database somewhere in the server files so will try to find that. I can probably just copy everything to the new database?

    Thread Starter vrhvi

    (@vrhvi)

    9 months, 3 weeks ago

    So I copied the wp_posts and wp_postmeta tables to the new database, but everything that changed is that now I have the error

    “Warning: Attempt to read property “post_title” on null in C:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins\elementor\core\isolation\elementor-adapter.php on line 28“

    on every page. Any Idea what went wrong?

    Plugin Support Rica

    (@ricav)

    9 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hi there,

    Thank you for the update. The error you’re seeing happens because copying only wp_posts and wp_postmeta tables isn’t sufficient for Elementor to work properly.

    The issue is that Elementor needs data from other database tables like wp_options, wp_users, and wp_terms to function correctly. When these are missing, it can’t find the posts it’s looking for, causing the error.

    To fix this, you’ll need to import the complete original database instead of copying individual tables. This ensures all the data relationships remain intact and Elementor can access everything it needs.

    If you only have access to specific tables, you’ll also need to copy wp_options, wp_users, wp_terms, wp_term_relationships, and wp_term_taxonomy along with the two you already copied.

    After importing the complete database, remember to update your site URLs in the wp_options table to match your local environment.

    Best regards,

    Thread Starter vrhvi

    (@vrhvi)

    9 months, 2 weeks ago

    Okay, so I copied all the tables from the old database to the new one and the error is now gone, but I am still having problems with my site, where Elementor widgets are not showing up, like in the picture:

    View post on imgur.com

    According to the Crhrome’s inspect element, this two lines were supposed to be a “elementor-widget-wrap” class div, so it must be something with the plugin, right?

    Richard from Elementor

    (@richardk23)

    8 months, 4 weeks ago

    Hello @vrhvi

    Thank you for the update. There generally seems to be an issue with the installation, if widgets are not appearing as expected. Have you tried reinstalling Elementor?

    Rather than exporting and importing databases, I would recommend creating a fresh install, and simply exporting any Elementor templates; the database will automatically regenerate. The same is true with any post/page/media content – using the WordPress export/import function.

    I hope this was helpful.
    Have a great day/evening!

    Kind regards,
    Richard

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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