If you’ve ever wanted to backup or export your WordPress Customizer settings, there is a plugin for you. Customizer Export/Import by The Beaver Builder Team is a huge time saver. If you’re starting a new WordPress site and want to import the Customizer settings used on a previous site then this plugin is awesome. However, the most common situation we recommend Customizer Export/Import for is the late installation of a child theme.
Adding a Child Theme After You’ve Already Setup the Parent Theme
When installing a child theme, the theme slug changes, this means that all Customizer settings reset to default.
You may need to re-save your menu (Appearance > Menus, or Appearance > Customize > Menus) and theme options (including background and header images) after activating the child theme.
https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/
This is no problem if you’re installing a child theme at the start of your site’s development. However, if you’ve already set up menus, backgrounds and a long list of theme options, this is a big time waster. To avoid redoing all of your Customizer settings once the child theme has been activated, follow these easy steps:
1. Go to PluginsAdd New, search for, install and activate Customizer Export/Import.
2. With your parent theme activated (not the child theme) go to CustomizeExport/Import. Click the Export button which will download a .dat
file to your desktop or downloads folder.
3. Assuming your child theme has already been installed, go to AppearanceThemes and activate it.
4. With your child theme activated, go to CustomizeExport/Import, under the Import heading, click the Choose File button, select the .dat
file you downloaded in step two, enable the import images option and click Import.
Hopefully, you’ve found this helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please, feel free to post them below.
February 17, 2018
This is great! Thanks Andrew. This will be a timesaver!
February 18, 2018
Super 🙂 Glad to hear you found it useful.
July 31, 2018
Awesome – worked perfectly for me with Puro. Thanks!
July 31, 2018
Awesome, glad to hear you were able to make the move.
November 27, 2018
This doesn’t seem to work if I’m exporting from the main theme, then attempting to import to the child theme. I get an error that “The settings you uploaded are not for the current theme.”
November 28, 2018
Hi Jack. Sorry to hear about the hassle. I haven’t come across this error before. Which theme are you using? Can you perhaps send a URL to your site with the child activated so I can take a look? Thanks.