--- title: Migrating from GeoDirectory description: "**Using [WP All Import](https://www.wpallimport.com/) to migrate your GeoDirectory listings to Spaces is a breeze. We've tried different ways of migrating GeoDirectory Places, and we think we've found the most efficient way, however you may find that other methods are quicker…" url: "https://spacesengine.com/docs/migrating-from-geodirectory/" updated: "2022-01-04" category: Advanced Topics --- # Migrating from GeoDirectory **Using [WP All Import](https://www.wpallimport.com/) to migrate your GeoDirectory listings to Spaces is a breeze. We've tried different ways of migrating GeoDirectory Places, and we think we've found the most efficient way, however you may find that other methods are quicker and easier to use. There are two steps, the first migrates the main information into each Space, the second pulls over the contact information.** Before you begin, please **ensure you have made a backup of your database**. we also strongly recommend you test the migration using a **staging or development site**. ## First Steps Before you begin, please ensure you have installed and activated Spaces. You will also need to create a dummy Space. This will ensure that every piece of metadata will be detected by WP All Import. This should include all contact information on the **About Information** page, under **Settings**. It doesn't matter what data you add here, so feel free to enter, for instance, 12345 as a phone number and hello@example.com as an email. ## Creating Spaces in Bulk First, download and install [WP All Export](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-all-export/) from the plugins directory. It's free, and very simple to use. On the **New Export** screen, select **Specific Post Type**, and select **Places**. These are your GeoDirectory Listings. Then click **Migrate Places**. You can leave all the advanced settings (unless you feel they might relate to your migration) and just click **Confirm & Run Export**. Once the export is complete, download and save the **CSV**file. Now we need to use the export file to create our Spaces! We will be using [WP All Import](https://www.wpallimport.com/). On the **New Import** screen under **All Import**, select **Upload a file**. Select the export file from the last step, and then choose **New Items**. Finally, fromt he dropdown list, select **Spaces**, as that is what we are about to create! Click **Continue to Step 2**. Click **Continue to Step 3** (as we don't need any filtering). Now we need to map our fields to each other. This joins the dots between Places and Spaces. At this stage, it is worth watching the [videos provided by WP All Import](https://www.wpallimport.com/documentation/getting-started/wp-all-import-in-depth-overview/), to get a feel for how to do this. 1. Under **Title & Content**, drag the *title*to the top box, and the *content*to the editor. 2. Under Images, select **Download images hosted elsewhere** and drag *imagefeatured*to the box. make sure you have checked **Set the first image to the Featured Image (_thumbnail_id)** 3. Under **Custom Fields**, detect all custom fields. You have a choice to make here. Depending on the image you use for your GeoDirectory Listings, you can set the Space Avatar and Cover. Some images will suit either type better. We recommend setting the avatar, as this can then be used across other parts of the site, such as activity feeds and notifications. Depending on whether you are going to pull data into the **avatar**, **cover**or both, use the trash can symbol to remove all the other custom fields (we'll be adding contact information later in this tutorial). Then simply drag the relevant image field into the **Value**box. 4. Under **Taxonomies, Categories, Tags** tick **Space Categories**. Select **Each Space has multiple Space Categories** (actually, only one category appears on Spaces, but we can still add them all). In the box, drag over *placecategories*. Lastly, change the **Separated by** character to the pipe symbol (|), as that is likely what you will be using. If the categories in the right-hand pane are separated differently, go ahead and change this. 5. Under **Other Space Options**, drag *date*to **Post Dates** (deleting the word '*now*', obviously). Drag *slug*to **Post Slug**, and drag *authorid*to **Post Author**. 6. Finally, click **Continue to Step 4**. Auto-detect a **Unique Identifier**. Make sure that **Create new spaces from records newly present in your file** is ticked. The others aren't relevant at this stage. Click **Continue**. Check the **Summary**and lastly click**Confirm & Run Import**. You should now have a whole bunch of brand new Spaces. ## Adding Contact Information To map our custom fields, we will use the CSV generated by the GeoDirectory export function. Head to **GeoDirectory**, **Settings**, **Import/Export** and simply export your export your listings into a CSV file. Next, create a **New Import** in WP All Import. Upload your GeoDirectory CSV file, and this time select **Existing Items**. Select Spaces from the dropdown. Continue until you are at the mapping screen (step 3). We need to make sure we are updating the correct Space, so drag *post_title*over to the **Title** box. You can ignore everything else, apart from **Custom Fields**. There, detect your fields again. 1. Under **_about_phone**, drag *phone* 2. Under **_about_email**, drag *email* 3. Under **_about_website**, drag *website* 4. Under **_about_address**, drag each address element, separated by a comma. Spaces uses Google to process addresses, so this will make sure that enough address information is given. If you are using the default GeoDirectory settings, it might look like this: **{street[1]},{street2[1]},{city[1]},{region[1]},{country[1]},{zip[1]}** 5. Use the trash can symbol to remove all other custom field items. This is especially important if you have set an avatar or cover, as we don't want to overwrite them. 6. Click **Continue to Step 4** On the next screen, make sure that you are using the title to match the records. If you have Spaces with duplicate titles, this may cause an issue, and you should make your Places and corresponding Space have a unique name, even temporarily. Tick **Update existing spaces with the data in your file**, and underneath, **Choose which data to update**. You should now ensure only **Custom Fields** is ticked, to make sure we don't overwrite any existing data. Under the **Custom Fields** checkbox, select **Update only these Custom Fields, leave the rest alone**. This will make sure that your avatar and cover aren't overwritten. Click **Continue**. Lastly, click **Confirm & Run Import**. Now check your Spaces have the correct contact information. You might immediately see that some of the action buttons are now clickable. If so, congratulations! You have successfully migrated your Places. ## Troubleshooting ### I added the contact information, but now my avatar or cover image has gone back to the default It is likely that you may have missed one of the checkboxes when you imported the contact information. but don't worry! Follow the steps above to add the contact information again, but this time use the original WP All Import file. The only custom fields should be avatar, cover or both. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully, or you will overwrite all the other contact information! ### Agh! None of this worked. I can't migrate my Places! While we found WP All Import, WP All Export and GeoDirectory easy to use, sometimes things don't go to plan. Please get in touch with the authors of those plugins for further support. They are likely to get you an answer far quicker than we could, as they are experts in their own products.