I can’t use any of the import plugins because of the older version — so it’s kind of a pain, plus the URL permalinks arent very optimal. Any ideas on how to do this? I’m afraid I’d have to do this manually!
import plugin I mean. the xml import file format changed so I can use it to upload content =/ â
If you site is live then you shouldn’t directly update that, although update in the recent version of wordpress is very easy and seemless but that wasn’t the case in 2.1 though.
Also here is the list of steps that I will recommend you to take:
Hope this will be helpful to you and you will have easy upgrade to 3.1.
I could be missing something, because I’m not sure why you’re talking about using the import functions, but you could download a few older versions from the release archive and upgrade incrementally. Try going to 2.5, then 2.9, then 3.1.
If there’s some reason you’re concerned that won’t work, could you provide more details on the situation?
Yes, I would say you should upgrade to WP 3.1 instead of importing content in WP 3.1
Like Ian said, you should do an incremental upgrade. I have seen the upgrade working from 2.2.1 to 3.1 directly (Check this tweet)
But lets say you should download and over write 2.3 files over your installation. BRowse in your dashboard, it will ask you to upgrade database, do so.
Then finally overwrite 3.1 files and again upgrade database when you are asked in the dashboard.
and make sure you do a backup before doing anything else, so you can revert back to this state if needed.
Edit: Disable all your plugins before attempting to upgrade. Its very likely to create issues in your case. You don’t want to be stuck in between. And I can’t stress enough, backup before you do anything.
Review this WordPress codex guide: http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended#Detailed_Upgrade_Instructions_for_1.5.x.2C_and_versions_2.0_-_2.6.5.2C_to_3.1.2
The below suggestions all got +1 from me: Update incremental is a good idea.
You should also carefully go through your theme in case it modifies anything of the internal structure. Better would be to switch to the standard theme while upgrading and also turn off all of your plugins. You never really know what they could be doing. (as long as they are not only presentational).