How to Import and Export WordPress Theme Settings

2025-05-16

admin

When managing multiple WordPress sites, you might want to transfer theme settings between different sites to maintain consistency or save time when setting up new sites. Exporting and importing WordPress theme settings allows you to replicate your design, layout, and customizations without needing to manually redo everything. This is especially helpful when you're working with complex themes that have custom settings, widget configurations, and more.

Why Import and Export Theme Settings?

There are several reasons to export and import WordPress theme settings:

Consistency Across Multiple Sites: Keep your design, widgets, and other settings consistent across multiple WordPress installations.
Backup and Restore Theme Settings: Have a backup of your theme customizations in case something goes wrong, or you want to restore them later.
Speed Up New Site Setup: Quickly apply your preferred theme settings when building new WordPress sites.

How to Export and Import WordPress Theme Settings?

Check if Your Theme Supports Import/Export.

Before proceeding, check if your WordPress theme has built-in import and export functionality. Many premium offer a dedicated feature for this in their settings. If your theme does support it, follow these steps directly through your theme"s settings.

Find the Export/Import Option in Your Theme (For Supported Themes).

Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
Navigate to Appearance → Theme Options (or similar, depending on the theme).
Look for an option like Backup/Restore, Import/Export, or Settings Transfer.

Export Settings: Click on the export button, and your theme settings will be downloaded as a .json or .dat file.
Import Settings: To import on another site, go to the same section of the theme settings, upload the saved `.json` file, and click Import.

If your theme doesn't have built-in import/export options, proceed to the next steps.

Use the WordPress Customizer Export/Import Plugin

If your theme doesn't have a built-in import/export feature, you can use a plugin called Customizer Export/Import. This plugin allows you to export the settings saved in the WordPress Customizer, including theme options like colors, layouts, and typography.

Install the Customizer Export/Import Plugin:

Log into your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Plugins → Add New.

import export wordpress settings add plugins

Search for Customizer Export/Import.

import export wordpress settings new plugin

Install and activate the plugin.

import export wordpress settings activate

Export Theme Settings via Customizer

After activating the plugin, go to Appearance → Customize.
In the Customizer, scroll down and you'll see an Export/Import section at the bottom.

import export wordpress settings make export import

Click on the Export button.

import export wordpress settings export settings

This will download a .dat file containing your theme's customizer settings.

import export wordpress settings export file

Import Theme Settings on Another Site:

On your new site, install and activate the Customizer Export/Import plugin, just like on the first site.
Go to Appearance → Customize.
Scroll down to the Export/Import section.
Click the Choose File button and upload the .dat file you exported from the other site.
Click Import. The theme settings from the first site will now be applied to the new site.

Important:

Always create a backup of your site before importing or exporting settings, especially if you are working with a live site. This helps you revert back to the original setup in case something goes wrong.

Ensure that the theme on both WordPress sites is the same version. Importing settings between different versions of the same theme, or different themes entirely, may result in errors or layout issues.

After importing your settings, test the new site to ensure that everything has transferred correctly, including design, widgets, and menus.

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