Typically, you can create a backup of your WordPress content and store it on your computer. However, these backups are not easily readable or shareable without reinstalling WordPress.
Another straightforward method is to save your articles and landing pages directly to your computer. This ensures you have a copy of your content for backup purposes or if you decide to shut down your website.
In this article, we will guide you on how to effortlessly save a readable copy of your blog content that you can share or convert into an eBook.
When Should You Save Your Blog Posts to Your Computer?
There are multiple reasons to save your blog posts on your computer.
The primary reason is to create a backup of your blog, allowing you to restore it later. You might want to transfer it to a new WordPress site or simply keep it secure as a precaution.
Alternatively, you may wish to close and delete your WordPress site but want to retain your blog content in a format that is easy to read. Instead of saving them as backup files, you can export all of your blog posts as PDFs or an eBook for easy reading and sharing.
Another frequent reason is to transition from a different blogging platform to WordPress. To accomplish this, you will need to save your blog posts and subsequently import them into WordPress.
There are several effective methods to save and download your blog posts. Choose the one that best fits your needs:
- Option 1: Backup Your Entire Blog
- Option 2: Convert Your Blog Posts into a PDF or eBook
- Option 3: Print Your Blog Posts as a Book
- Option 4: Prepare Your Blog Content for Migration
- Option 5: Save Your WordPress.com Blog Posts
Option 1: Backup Your Entire Blog
This method is ideal if you want to keep a backup of your blog posts securely.
It allows you to restore your blog posts on any other WordPress site, but it does not save them in a readable or shareable format.
WordPress offers a built-in feature to export your blog posts. Simply navigate to Tools » Export. section in your WordPress admin dashboard. Here, you can select to download your entire site or just your blog posts.
Then, click on the Download Export File button, and WordPress will download all your blog posts in XML format. This file can be used to restore your site or to migrate to a different domain or web host.
Additionally, you can download your entire media library to save your images and videos separately.
If you want to create a complete backup of your WordPress site, the export tool is not the best option. It won’t save other website data, settings, themes, or plugins.
Instead, you’ll need a dedicated WordPress backup plugin. These plugins can create a full backup of your WordPress website, which you can store on your computer or upload to cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox.
You can also configure these plugins to automatically perform backups at regular intervals and save them in a remote location.
We recommend using Duplicator, which is an excellent backup plugin that is user-friendly, supports various cloud storage options, and has a free version. It’s the plugin we trust for backing up our partner websites, and it has consistently proven to be reliable.
For more information, check out our Duplicator review and our guide on setting up WordPress backups.
Option 2: Convert Your Blog into a PDF or eBook
Would you like to transform your blog content into a format that people can save and read offline? If so, we suggest saving your blog posts as PDFs or eBooks. In this section, we will guide you on how to download your blog as a PDF.
If you only need to save a single blog post, the simplest method is to open it in a web browser and use the keyboard shortcut.CTRL + P (for Windows) or CMD + P (for Mac). This will bring up the browser’s print settings window.
You can change the Destination option to ‘Save as PDF’ and click the ‘Save’ button to download it to your computer.
Alternatively, you can use an online tool like Beacon to convert a single blog post into a PDF eBook. It features a convenient blog post recycling option that simplifies the process.
Just enter the URL of your blog post, and the tool will pull in the content.
Next, select a pre-designed template and use the drag-and-drop builder to personalize each page, from the cover to the call-to-action.
Once you’re finished, you can download it as a PDF.
Note: You can start using Beacon for free, but a premium account is required to download PDFs.
If you want to save all your blog posts as PDFs in one go, the simplest method is to use a blog downloader plugin.
First, install and activate the Print My Blog plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activation, visit the Print My Blog » Quick Print page to adjust the settings.
You can choose to print a hard copy, save a PDF file, create an eBook, or save it in HTML format.
You can selectDigital PDFto generate and save a readable PDF file on your computer. Alternatively, you can opt foreBookto create a digital book that you can publish online.
Next, click to expand the ‘Show More Print Options’ menu to customize your blog content.
In most cases, the default settings are sufficient. However, you may want to review them to ensure the blog content meets your needs.
From the drop-down menu, you can apply various filters. For example, you can choose to save only posts or pages from your WordPress site.
You can also select the order in which you want the posts to appear, whether you prefer the oldest or the newest posts first.
Another option is to filter the posts based on their status.
You can choose to download only the published posts or include drafts and deleted posts from your Trash folder.
Additionally, you can filter your posts by categories, tags, authors, and dates. This is useful if you want to download specific categories for a project or compile a document of all articles written by a particular author.
The plugin lets you select which headers and post content you want to include in your saved copy.
By default, the date and the plugin’s branding are included, but you can deselect these options if you prefer not to have this information in your PDF.
You can apply these filters to all posts and specify what information to display for each post, including the publication date, comments, URL, and author.
Finally, you can customize your page layout. Print My Blog generates a single PDF file containing all your blog content.
You have the option to start each new post on a separate page to ensure clear separation.
Additionally, you can adjust the font size, image size, and decide whether to include hyperlinks.
Once you’re happy with the settings, click the ‘Prepare Print-Page’ button to proceed. To create an eBook, you’ll need to use the dotepub extension.
To save a PDF file, click the ‘Print to PDF’ button.
This will open your browser’s print settings.
Select the‘Save as PDF’option, then click the ‘Save’ button to download the PDF file to your computer.
Note:The PDF saving feature works best with Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers.
If you’ve created an eBook, our guide on adding an eBook download to your WordPress site will be very useful.
Option 3: Print Your Blog Posts as a Book
You can transform your blog into a physical book to share with friends or distribute at events. Additionally, consider setting up an online store to sell it directly from your website.
Numerous third-party tools can assist in converting your blog posts into a book. For instance, services like BlookUp and Lulu can turn your content from WordPress, Tumblr, Typepad, and Blogger into professionally printed books.
These tools also allow you to compile your Instagram feed into a book!
Some tools automatically format your content, allowing you to choose which posts to include, customize your book cover, and add images and supplementary text to create a polished publication rather than just a collection of blog posts.
Another option is Into Real Pages, which offers four different formats and eight beautiful themes. You can design your own cover and include extra text and images. They also provide great discounts for bulk printing.
Option 4: Prepare Your Blog Content for Migration
Many people wish to save their blog posts for migration to another platform. There are two common types of blog migrations.
- Transferring a WordPress blog to another WordPress blog occurs when a user changes their hosting provider or domain name and needs to relocate their WordPress files to the new site.
- Transitioning from a third-party blogging platform to WordPress is common. Many users start with other platforms and later decide to switch their blogs to WordPress.
We will discuss both scenarios and demonstrate how to effectively save your blog posts and transfer them.
1. Transferring a WordPress Blog
To switch to a new domain, a different hosting service, or another blogging platform, you must create a backup of your blog. This backup can then be used for the migration.
Consider using a migration plugin that automatically creates a backup for you and facilitates the transition to a new domain or hosting provider.
There are many migration plugins available, but Duplicator stands out as one of the best options. It is trusted by over 1,500,000 website owners.
Duplicator features an intuitive migration wizard, drag-and-drop site import, a two-step installation process, recovery points, and many additional tools.
If you’re looking to transfer your site from one domain to another but are concerned about losing your blog content, check out our guide on how to move WordPress to a new domain. This guide will help ensure that you retain all your SEO efforts.
If you’ve been blogging on a subdomain and want to integrate it with your main domain, the process is straightforward. However, it’s important to follow each step carefully to avoid any errors. Check out our guide on how to move a subdomain to the root domain in WordPress.
You can also transfer your site between different hosts and servers, but be aware that this may lead to downtime. Our guide on how to migrate WordPress to a new host or server will help you make the switch without losing any content or experiencing downtime.
2. Transferring a Third-Party Blog to WordPress
Many users wish to save their blog posts in order to migrate all their content to WordPress.
There are two types of WordPress blogs: WordPress.com, which is a hosting service, and WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress. For more information, refer to our guide that compares WordPress.com and WordPress.org, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages.
You will need WordPress.org, as it provides immediate access to all WordPress features right from the start.
To begin, you will need a domain name and a WordPress hosting account. The domain name serves as your website’s address (e.g., CanadaCreate.com), while the hosting account is where all your website files are stored.
We recommend Bluehost, a leading hosting provider globally and an officially endorsed WordPress hosting service.
They are currently offering CanadaCreate users an attractive discount on hosting, along with a complimentary domain name and SSL certificate.
After signing up for a hosting account, you can follow our detailed tutorial on how to set up your WordPress blog step by step.
Once the setup is complete, you will access your WordPress admin dashboard.
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet, which is why many users choose to migrate to this popular blogging platform.
You can easily transfer your blog posts from other blogging platforms to your WordPress site. Depending on your current platform, follow the step-by-step instructions in our guides below:
- Migrating your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
- Migrating your blog from Blogger to WordPress
- Migrating a website from Weebly to WordPress
- Migrating a website from Wix to WordPress
- Migrating a website from Joomla to WordPress
- Migrating a website from Squarespace to WordPress
- Migrating articles from Medium to WordPress
- Transferring Your Blog Posts from Tumblr to WordPress
- Migrating Your Blog from LiveJournal to WordPress
- Transitioning from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress
Step 5: Download Your WordPress.com Blog Posts
If you’re using WordPress.com, you can easily save your blog posts to your computer. You can also switch to WordPress.org or use the downloaded file as a backup that can be restored anytime.
First, log in to your blog and navigate to the Tools » Export » Export All. WordPress.com will generate an XML file, which your browser will download to your computer.
This file is in the same format as WordPress.org, allowing for a seamless transfer of your blog from WordPress.com to a WordPress.org site.
We hope this article has helped you understand how to save your blog posts to your computer. You may also want to check out our guide on which WordPress files to back up and how to manually create a WordPress database backup.
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