|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/fatshado/cgi-bin/MT/docs/ |
Upload File : |
<html>
<head>
<title>IMPORTING YOUR ENTRIES</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="doc-styles.css" type="text/css">
</head>
<body>
<h3>Movable Type User Manual: IMPORTING YOUR ENTRIES</h3>
<p><a href="mtmanual.html">« Table of Contents</a></p>
<a name="__index__"></a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#importing your entries">IMPORTING YOUR ENTRIES</a></li>
<ul>
<li><a href="#exporting blogger entries">Exporting Blogger Entries</a></li>
<li><a href="#exporting greymatter entries">Exporting Greymatter Entries</a></li>
<li><a href="#exporting greymatter comments only">Exporting Greymatter Comments Only</a></li>
<li><a href="#exporting newspro entries">Exporting NewsPro Entries</a></li>
<li><a href="#importing entries">Importing Entries</a></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<hr size="1" color="#CCCCCC">
<p>
<h1><a name="importing your entries"></a>IMPORTING YOUR ENTRIES</h1>
<p>Movable Type allows you to import your entries from other weblog content
management systems. If you are importing from Greymatter, Movable Type also
allows you to import all of the comments on your entries into your new blog.
This can be useful when you wish to start using Movable Type but already have
much of your content in another system. To do this, you will first need to
export your data from the other system; you can do this using the other
system's standard templating functionality. Simply use a template that will
produce the desired formatting that Movable Type understands for importing
new entries. Templates for exporting data from Blogger, Greymatter, and Newspro
are provided below.</p>
<a name="mt_export"></a><p>In addition to exporting your data from another weblog CMS, you can export
your entries from Movable Type itself. This allows you to keep local backups
of your weblog content for safekeeping, as well as to transfer data between
blogs, by combining the export and import mechanisms. To export the entries
from one of your blogs, login to Movable Type, then go to the <code>Main Menu</code> for
the blog you wish to export. Then click <code>Import & Export Entries</code>, and
follow the instructions under <code>Export Entries</code>.</p>
<a name="export_ie"></a><p><strong>NOTE:</strong> be careful when exporting data from Internet Explorer; all versions of
Internet Explorer have a bug where data marked as plain text can be intrepreted
as HTML. The symptom of this bug is that all of your exported data will run
together onto one line. If this is the case, use Netscape when exporting data.</p>
<p>After your content has been exported from the other system, you must move
your data files over to the system where Movable Type runs, so that Movable
Type can find them. Then you can use the import mechanism to import those
entries into Movable Type.</p>
<p>
<h2><a name="exporting blogger entries"></a>Exporting Blogger Entries</h2>
<ol>
<li>
Log into your Blogger account, then switch into template-editing mode.
<p></p>
<li>
Make a copy of your current template; you will be replacing your Blogger
template with the conversion template in Step 3, but you probably don't want
to lose your original template.
<p></p>
<li>
Replace your Blogger template with the following.
<pre><Blogger>
AUTHOR: <$BlogItemAuthor$>
DATE: <$BlogItemDateTime$>
-----
BODY:
<$BlogItemBody$>
--------
</Blogger>
</pre><p>NOTE: if you are exporting from Blogger Pro, add this line before the
<code>AUTHOR:</code> line:</p>
<pre>TITLE: <PostSubject><$BlogItemSubject$></PostSubject>
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Enter the Settings area for this blog.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Blog Filename</code> to a different filename; this will prevent
you from overwriting your main index file.
<p></p>
<li>
In <code>Formatting</code>, set your blog to display all of your posts on the main
index page. There is no explicit setting for this; instead, you should
change the number of days displayed on your front page (<code>Show N days' posts
on main page</code>) higher than the number of days that you have been blogging.
<p></p>
<li>
Set <code>Date/Time Format</code> to the format <code>MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM|PM</code>. (Note:
the format will not look like this in the menu; instead it will be the
current time, formatted.)
<p></p>
<li>
Set <code>Convert Line Breaks</code> to <code>No</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Set <code>Archive Frequency</code> to <code>No Archive</code>. This will prevent your archives
from being overwritten with the new template.
<p></p>
<li>
Switch back to the Posts screen, and <code>Publish</code> your blog. You will end up
with a single file with all of your posts, formatted using the above template,
at the location specified in your Settings. Download this file to your local
hard drive.
<p>Now skip down to <a href="#importing entries">Importing Entries</a>, below.</p>
<p></p></ol>
<p>
<h2><a name="exporting greymatter entries"></a>Exporting Greymatter Entries</h2>
<p>These instructions describe the process of exporting all entries and comments
from Greymatter into a format suitable for import into Movable Type.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> if you have already imported your Greymatter entries into Movable
Type, and now wish to import only your comments, use the <code>Exporting Greymatter
Comments Only</code> instructions, below.</p>
<ol>
<li>
Log into your Greymatter account, then click <code>Edit Templates</code>; then click
<code>Edit Main Index-Related Templates</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Make a copy of all current templates on this page; you will be replacing them
with the conversion templates in Steps 3-6, but you probably don't want to
lose your original templates.
<p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Main Index Template</code> with the following:
<p>{{logbody}}</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Index Entry Template: Standard Entries</code> template with the
following:
<pre>TITLE: {{entrysubject}}
DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
AUTHOR: {{author}}
-----
BODY:
{{entrymainbody}}
-----
{{entrycomments}}
--------
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Index Entry Template: Extended Entries</code> template with the
following:
<pre>TITLE: {{entrysubject}}
DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
AUTHOR: {{author}}
-----
BODY:
{{entrymainbody}}
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
{{entrymorebody}}
-----
{{entrycomments}}
--------
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Remove all text/HTML from your <code>Date Grouping Template</code>, <code>Entry Separator
Template</code>, and <code>Stay At Top Index Entry Template</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main templates menu, then click <code>Karma & Comments-Related
Templates</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Copy your current <code>Comment Appearance Template</code>, as in Step 2.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Comment Appearance Template</code> to the following:
<pre>COMMENT:
AUTHOR: {{commentauthor}}
EMAIL: {{commentauthoremailabsolute}}
URL: {{commentauthorhomepageabsolute}}
DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
{{commentbody}}
-----
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main templates menu, then click <code>Miscellaneous Templates</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Copy your current <code>Paragraph Separator</code> and <code>Line Separator</code> templates,
as in Step 2.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Paragraph Separator</code> template to two carriage returns, and do
the same for your <code>Line Separator</code> template.
<p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main menu, then click <code>Configuration</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Change <code>Index filename</code>, so as not to overwrite your existing blog.
<p></p>
<li>
Change <code>Days to keep on main index</code> so that it is higher than the number of
days that you have been blogging. This will have the effect of placing all
of your entries on your main index.
<p></p>
<li>
Save the configuration.
<p>Return to the main menu, then click <code>Rebuild Files</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
In the <code>Rebuild Files</code> menu, you only want to rebuild your main index page,
so click the <code>Rebuild Main Index File</code> button.
<p>After this is done, you will end up with a single file with all of your posts,
formatted using the above templates, at the location specified in your
configuration. Download this file to your local hard drive.</p>
<p>Now skip down to <a href="#importing entries">Importing Entries</a>, below.</p>
<p></p></ol>
<p>
<h2><a name="exporting greymatter comments only"></a>Exporting Greymatter Comments Only</h2>
<p>If you have already imported your Greymatter entries into Movable Type, and
now wish to import just the comments from those entries, you can do this
using the following steps. Note that these instructions will only work if:</p>
<ol>
<li>
You have already imported all of your Greymatter entries into Movable Type.
<p></p>
<li>
You have not changed the timestamps (<code>Authored on</code> dates) on those entries
after importing them; Movable Type will use the entry timestamps to determine
which comments match up with which entries. Thus, if you have changed the
timestamp on an entry, Movable Type will not be able to match up any comments
on that entry.
<p></p></ol>
<p>Here are the steps for exporting just your Greymatter comments:</p>
<ol>
<li>
Log into your Greymatter account, then click <code>Edit Templates</code>; then click
<code>Edit Main Index-Related Templates</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Make a copy of all current templates on this page; you will be replacing them
with the conversion templates in Steps 3-6, but you probably don't want to
lose your original templates.
<p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Main Index Template</code> with the following:
<p>{{logbody}}</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Index Entry Template: Standard Entries</code> template with the
following:
<pre>DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
NO ENTRY: 1
-----
{{entrycomments}}
--------
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Replace your <code>Index Entry Template: Extended Entries</code> template with the
following:
<pre>DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
NO ENTRY: 1
-----
{{entrycomments}}
--------
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Remove all text/HTML from your <code>Date Grouping Template</code>, <code>Entry Separator
Template</code>, and <code>Stay At Top Index Entry Template</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main templates menu, then click <code>Karma & Comments-Related
Templates</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Copy your current <code>Comment Appearance Template</code>, as in Step 2.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Comment Appearance Template</code> to the following:
<pre>COMMENT:
AUTHOR: {{commentauthor}}
EMAIL: {{commentauthoremailabsolute}}
URL: {{commentauthorhomepageabsolute}}
DATE: {{monthmonth}}/{{dayday}}/{{yearyear}} {{hour}}:{{minuteminute}}:00 {{ampm}}
{{commentbody}}
-----
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main templates menu, then click <code>Miscellaneous Templates</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Copy your current <code>Paragraph Separator</code> and <code>Line Separator</code> templates,
as in Step 2.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Paragraph Separator</code> template to two carriage returns, and do
the same for your <code>Line Separator</code> template.
<p></p>
<li>
Save (do <i>NOT</i> rebuild at this time).
<p>Return to the main menu, then click <code>Configuration</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
Change <code>Index filename</code>, so as not to overwrite your existing blog.
<p></p>
<li>
Change <code>Days to keep on main index</code> so that it is higher than the number of
days that you have been blogging. This will have the effect of placing all
of your entries on your main index.
<p></p>
<li>
Save the configuration.
<p>Return to the main menu, then click <code>Rebuild Files</code>.</p>
<p></p>
<li>
In the <code>Rebuild Files</code> menu, you only want to rebuild your main index page,
so click the <code>Rebuild Main Index File</code> button.
<p>After this is done, you will end up with a single file with all of your posts,
formatted using the above templates, at the location specified in your
configuration. Download this file to your local hard drive.</p>
<p>Now skip down to <a href="#importing entries">Importing Entries</a>, below.</p>
<p></p></ol>
<p>
<h2><a name="exporting newspro entries"></a>Exporting NewsPro Entries</h2>
<ol>
<li>
Enter the NewsPro admin interface, and click on <code>Change Settings</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>News Files Path</code> to point to a different directory, so as not
to overwrite your public files; you may need to create a new directory for
this.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Archive Files Path</code> to point to the same directory as used in
Step 2.
<p></p>
<li>
Change your <code>Archive/Hide News</code> setting to <code>Archive</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>News Age</code> to a number greater than the number of days you've
been blogging with NewsPro.
<p></p>
<li>
Change <code>Archive Type</code> to <code>One Archive</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>Monthly Archive Links Page</code> to point to a new, unique file, so
as not to overwrite your public links page.
<p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>12/24 Hour Clock</code> to the 12 hour system.
<p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>Date Format</code> to the following:
<pre><Field: Month_Number>/<Field: Day>/<Field: Year> <Field: Hour>:<Field: Minute>:00 <Field: AMPM>
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Change the <code>News Display</code> to the following:
<pre>TITLE: <InsertSubject>
DATE: <InsertDate>
AUTHOR: <InsertName>
-----
BODY:
<InsertNews>
--------
</pre><p></p>
<li>
Save your settings with the <code>Submit Settings</code> button. Do not rebuild yet.
<p></p>
<li>
Click on the <code>Advanced Settings</code> link.
<p></p>
<li>
Under <code>Advanced Settings</code> scroll down to about the middle of the page and
find the <code>NumberLimit</code> setting; make sure that it is set to zero (<code>0</code>).
<p></p>
<li>
Find the <code>CreateAnchors</code> setting (around the middle of the page), and set
it to <code>No (Off)</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
Save settings.
<p></p>
<li>
Rebuild your files. Your exported entries will be compiled into a new file
which you can then download. Verify your exported data. There will probably
be a single line at the top of the file with a NewsPro tag or marker--remove
this line. Ensure that the date format is MM/DD/YYYY (2-digit month/2-digit
day/4-digit year).
<p>Now skip down to <a href="#importing entries">Importing Entries</a>, below.</p>
<p></p></ol>
<p>
<h2><a name="importing entries"></a>Importing Entries</h2>
<p>Now that you have exported all of your entries from your other content
management system, you are ready to import the entries into Movable Type.</p>
<ol>
<li>
Connect to your FTP server; then open the directory where you installed
Movable Type.
<p></p>
<li>
Create a new directory called <i>import</i>, then open that directory.
<p></p>
<li>
Upload the file containing all of your entries into the <i>import</i> directory.
<p></p>
<li>
Log into Movable Type, then select the blog into which you wish to import the
entries from the <code>Your existing blogs</code> list.
<p></p>
<li>
Click <code>Import Entries</code>.
<p></p>
<li>
<a name="import_as_self"></a><p>You have the option of either importing the entries as yourself--the author
that you are currently logged in as--or creating new authors for each
author name found in the original set of entries. For example, if your blog
is/was a team blog, you would probably want to recreate the original set of
authors, rather than import all of the entries as yourself. Otherwise you
probably wish to simply import the entries as yourself.</p>
<p>If importing the entries as you, check the <code>Import as me</code> box.</p>
<p>If creating new authors, you will need to set a password which will be
used when creating each of the new authors in the system. You should also
leave the <code>Import as me</code> box unchecked.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> if the name of an author listed for one of the entries you are
importing is already being used by an author in the Movable Type system, the
entry will be assigned to the existing author, and a new author will not be
created.</p>
<li>
<a name="import_category"></a><p>If you would like to choose a default category for all of the entries that
you import, you can do so here. This might be useful if you already have a
batch of entries in your Movable Type blog, for example, and you wish to mark
the newly-imported entries as uncategorized.</p>
<p>If you do not choose a default category, the entries will not be assigned to a
particular category (unless the entries you are importing use the <code>CATEGORY</code>
key to specify their category).</p>
<p>If you choose a default category, and one or more entries use the <code>CATEGORY</code>
key in the list of exported entries, the <code>CATEGORY</code> key will override the
default category, for those entries using the <code>CATEGORY</code> key; all other
entries will be assigned to the default category.</p>
<li>
<a name="import_status"></a><p>By default, your imported entries will be assigned the post status that you
have selected as the <code>Status default</code> in your blog configuration. If you
would like to override this, you can select the desired post status
(<code>Draft</code> or <code>Publish</code>) from the <code>Default post status for entries</code> menu.</p>
<li>
<a name="import_title_html"></a><p>The <code>Title Start HTML</code> and <code>Title End HTML</code> values are used to identify
a post title within the body of an entry. This is useful when importing
entries from Blogger, for example, because Blogger posts do not have the
concept of a separate title field. If you have named your posts consistently
through the use of HTML tags, however, Movable Type can parse your blog
entries to find those titles. For example, if all of your entry titles look
like this:</p>
<pre><font class="title">I am a title</font>
</pre><p>Then you could use a value for <code>Title Start HTML</code> of</p>
<pre><font class="title">
</pre><p>and a value for <code>Title End HTML</code> of</p>
<pre></font>
</pre><p>to automatically set the titles of your entries when importing. If found,
the title, along with the surrounding HTML, will be removed from the body
of your entry.</p>
<p>If you do not fill in these values, or if the relevant HTML cannot be found
for a particular entry, the first five (5) words of the entry are used as
the title, instead.</p>
<li>
After filling in the necessary values in the form, press <code>IMPORT</code> to import
your entries.
<p></p>
<li>
That's it!
<p><i>NOTE</i>: You should now remove all of the files that you imported from the
<i>import</i> directory, so that if or when you run the import process again at
some later date, the entries you just imported will not be re-imported.</p>
<p>You will need to rebuild all of your files in order to generate your archives
for the new imported entries.</p>
<p></p></ol>
<p><strong>TIP:</strong> after importing your entries, if you imported them from a system
without categories, you may wish to assign categories to each of your entries;
a fast way to do this is to use Movable Type's
<a href="./mtmanual_entries.html#powerediting mode">Power-Editing Mode</a>, which allows you
to edit multiple entries at once.</p>
<hr size="1" color="#CCCCCC">
<span class="copyright">Copyright © 2001, 2002 Ben Trott and Mena Trott. All Rights Reserved.</span>
</body>
</html>