Admin Tools

Video Transcript

This class is going to cover the WordPress admin tool section. Let’s go ahead and log into our admin area, which I’ve already done, and over here on the left sidebar, click on tools. Now some plugins will add their settings links to this section, but by default, there are only a couple of items.

One, this is where we’re at now. Whenever you click on the tools link, this is the page that it opens to, and that’s the categories and tags converter. This allows you to convert your categories to tags or tags to categories, like is says here. Now unless you know what you’re doing or you have a good reason to do this, it’s best just to leave this alone, but if you do need to use this feature, just click on the link here and it’ll take you to the import tool within our tool section, where you can then click on install now for categories and tags converter, and that will install a plugin that will allow you to use this feature.

Now speaking of import, that’s one of the other tools in our tool section, and along with the categories and tags converter plugin, you have other tools that allow you to import content that you have on other platforms, like tumbler, movable type, or even blogger. And they’re all pretty straightforward. You just click on the install link of the item that you want to import the content from, be it again blogger, tumbler or whatever, and it’ll prompt you to install the import plugin for that platform.

Now of course, for you to import something, you have to first export it from that platform. Let’s use WordPress as an example, because that’s going to bring me to my next tool in the tool section, and that’s export. If we backup just a second here, again using WordPress as an example, this allows you to import the XML or the custom XML file that’s generated whenever you export your content from a WordPress site. Let’s go on back to export.

Now the export tool will allow you to export a custom XML file that contains posts, pages, media, and other related items, or, as it is by default, you can just leave the all content radio button selected and it’ll export all the stuff. Once you have that file exported, then you would go to the import tool, install that plugin if you hadn’t already, and then run the importer.

Then the importer’s going to ask you to assign authors to the import content, and if you want to also import the attachments. Now these attachments are the media that you have selected in your export file, and when you have everything set the way you want, then click on submit and this can take a couple of seconds or a couple of hours, depending on what all is being imported, and even how fast or slow the hosting service is.

Now lastly, since release of WordPress version 4.9.6, there are these two additional items in the admin tool section. Export personal data and erase personal data. Now both of these items are part of the GDPR requirements for users that reside in the European Union. And I covered these in detail in an earlier video called What’s New In 4.9.6. Be sure to check that out to learn more about how to use these.

As the name implies, these tools allow you to export the user’s personal data to them or erase their personal data whenever they properly request it.
And as I said at the beginning, some plugins, whenever you install and activate them, will add their own settings links into this tool section. If your admin tool section has more links in it than what is being shown in this video, now you know why.

Well, that’s the end of this class on a walkthrough of the admin tool section. Thanks for checking it out and you have a great day.