Backing up your blog is IMPORTant! New Import/Export feature in Blogger

The Blogger in Draft blog reports that users on Blogger can now import and export their blogs. This may not seem all that exciting to some, but what it means is that it is now much easier to backup you blog. Instead of relying on saved HTML files or saved feeds, now you can simply and easily make a backup of both your blog entries and comments in a convenient single, Atom-formatted XML file.

It also makes merging two or more blogs easier. Individually manage which imported entries you add to an existing blog or import the lot. Alternatively, if you decide to move your blog to a different blogging platform you can without having to manually transfer the files.

The feature is now an option within the basic tab of the settings for each blog. From the Dashboard click 'Settings' next to the blog that you want to make settings changes to.

Exporting

To export your blog, click 'Export blog' in the 'Blog Tools' section of your blog's settings. The download page should appear.

Simply click the 'Download Blog' button. I'm on a Mac using Safari so the file automatically begins downloading to the 'Downloads' folder.

If you're using Firefox or Internet Explorer (and most other browsers) you will probably be asked for the location you would like to save the file to.

Once it has downloaded you're done. Now you can either store this file as a backup or use it to import the entries of the blog you just exported to another blog. A few things to remember when using the exporting tool though:

• The export tool only exports posts and comments, it does not export the blog settings or templates (you can of course download an XML file of your blog template in the 'Layout' tab); and
• If you have enabled the content warning for you blog you must remove it before you can export your blog.

Importing

If you have an exported blog already you can import this into an existing blog or a new blog on Blogger. If you want to import the entries and comments into an existing blog go back to the 'Blog Tools' section of Settings to the blog you want to import the posts into. Click on 'Import blog' and you'll be taken to the import page.

Click on 'Choose File' and select the XML file for the blog you want to import.

Once you've selected it, press 'Ok' then complete the CAPTCHA security test. Before uploading you need to decide if you want to publish all the incoming posts automatically or not. If you do not check the box to publish the imported entries automatically you can manually select entries to be published. Alternatively, if you do import all the posts automatically you can delete entries you don't want in the blog's 'Manage Posts' section. Once you've decided, click the 'Import Blog' button. After the XML file has been uploaded, you will be automatically redirected to your 'Manage Posts' page and a notification will inform you how many posts have been import and how many existing posts there were in the imported file.

This feature isn't just available to import content into existing blogs; you can import entries into a new blogs too. The process is fairly similar, but rather than accessing the import tool from the settings of the blog your importing into, it is conveniently included in the process of creating a new blog now. From the Dashboard click 'Create a blog' and you'll see the import tool in the 'Import a blog' section under the 'Advanced Options.'

The process is pretty similar. Select the XML file, complete the CAPTCHA security test and click 'Upload'.

Once the entries have been imported you'll be asked to set the name and the URL for the new blog. Then you'll be given the option to publish all of the imported entries or to manage them manually.

A few things to remember when using the importing tool:

• At the moment the maximum size of a blog you can import is 1MB; and
• You can only import exported Blogger blogs (although I am sure that Google will roll-out the ability to import content exported from other blogging platforms since they have a commitment to open platforms in the broadest sense of open).

If you haven't already converted over to Blogger in Draft you'll need to if you want to take advantage of this new feature. It's easy to do. Start by going to draft.blogger.com.