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Import & Export Settings

The Import / Export tab in Listora → Settings covers two distinct flows - plugin settings backup / restore as JSON, and bulk listings import / export as CSV. Use it for site clones, version-controlled config rollouts, supplier data feeds, and one-off bulk uploads that would otherwise hit max_execution_time.

Import / Export Settings - Plugin Settings JSON cards + Listings Data CSV cards + WP-CLI panel

Where it lives

Section titled “Where it lives”

WP Admin → Listora → Settings → Import / Export (?page=listora-settings&tab=import-export)

Requires the manage_listora_settings capability.

Plugin Settings (JSON)

Section titled “Plugin Settings (JSON)”

Export Settings

Section titled “Export Settings”

Click Download JSON to get a wb-listora-settings-{date}.json snapshot of every plugin setting - wb_listora_settings, wb_listora_features, wb_listora_pro_features (if Pro is active), and every per-tab nested config. Version number embedded so the importer can warn on mismatch.

Common uses:

  • Back up before a major version upgrade.
  • Mirror a staging site’s config to production after a tuning session.
  • Commit to a private repo so config changes are version-controlled.

Import Settings

Section titled “Import Settings”

Pick a previously-exported JSON file, click Upload & Import, and every value in the file overwrites the matching option key in your database. Only files exported from the same plugin version are accepted - version-mismatch import gets rejected with the version it expected.

Caution: import REPLACES, doesn’t merge. Settings present on the live site but absent in the JSON get reset to their plugin defaults. Export first if you’re not sure.

Listings Data (CSV)

Section titled “Listings Data (CSV)”

Export Listings

Section titled “Export Listings”

Pick a Listing Type from the dropdown (or All types) and click Export CSV. The exporter streams every published listing of that type into a CSV with the headers Listora’s importer expects on the round-trip.

Columns included:

  • Core post fields: ID, post_title, post_content, post_status, post_author, post_date
  • Built-in meta: address, lat, lng, phone, email, website, _listora_expiration_date
  • Every custom field for the chosen listing type (meta_*)
  • Taxonomy terms (listora_listing_cat, listora_listing_location, listora_listing_feature)

Default filename: listora-export-YYYY-MM-DD.csv. WP-CLI lets you target a specific output path with --output=.

Import Listings

Section titled “Import Listings”
  1. Pick the Listing type the rows belong to (required - every imported row must belong to a single type).
  2. Pick the CSV file.
  3. Optional: tick Dry run to validate without writing.
  4. Click Import CSV.

CSV requirements:

  • First row must be column headers.
  • Column headers should match field labels OR field slugs - the importer auto-maps by name on import. Headers it can’t match get skipped (you’ll see “Column X → SKIPPED” in the inline log).
  • One listing per row. Empty cells = field skipped, not “set to empty”.

The importer streams row-by-row so a 50K-row file uses constant memory. Progress + per-row decisions stream into the inline log; completion summary shows total imported / skipped / errors.

For multi-type imports, run separate imports per type (admin UI) or use wp listora import per file (CLI).

WP-CLI equivalents

Section titled “WP-CLI equivalents”

The same operations as CLI commands - useful when the file is large enough that the admin UI hits max_execution_time:

Terminal window
# Export every restaurant listing
wp listora export --type=restaurant --output=restaurants.csv


# Export every listing with status=publish (default) as a single CSV
wp listora export --output=full.csv


# Validate a CSV without importing
wp listora import file.csv --type=restaurant --dry-run


# Import for real
wp listora import file.csv --type=restaurant

Full reference: WP-CLI Commands.

Section titled “Related”