WordPress – How to Schedule Automatic Exports and Imports

In this guide, we’ll show you how to schedule automatic exports and imports of WordPress content, using the Automations add-on for WP Sheet Editor.

WP Sheet Editor is a suite of WordPress spreadsheet editors that allows you to manage WordPress posts, pages, WooCommerce products, orders, and any other custom post type, using an intutive spreadsheet within WordPress.

You can boost your productivity with WP Sheet Editor’s tools for advanced search, bulk edit, export and import.

And to help you be even more productive, we have developed the new Automations add-on for any WP Sheet Editor spreadsheet.

This Automations add-on is the perfect tool to:

• Schedule automatic exports from WordPress to a CSV file
• Automatically import WordPress content from a CSV file on your server or on an external URL
• Schedule automatic bulk edits for thousands of items
• Automatically save changes made in the cells of the WP Sheet Editor spreadsheets

You can read this guide to learn how to install and setup the Automations add-on.

Note: This tutorial assumes you’re using at least one of the WP Sheet Editor spreadsheets, except the frontend spreadsheet editor, since Automations works on the backend only.

In the sections below, we show you how to schedule automatic exports and imports for your WordPress content.

How to schedule automatic exports to a CSV file

The Automations add-on for WP Sheet Editor allows you to schedule automatic exports of posts, pages, products, and any other post type.

These scheduled exports can run once or in recurring intervals.

When the scheduled exports are completed, you will receive an email with the export details and the link to download the generated CSV.

a) How to schedule automatic one-time exports for a later date

To schedule one-time exports from WordPress to a CSV file, we need to start by opening the Export tool.

Now we need to configure this one-time export by selecting these values:

• What columns do you want to export?: You have these three options:
  • Select individual columns by typing the column names
  • Select all active columns (excluding the columns that are hidden on the spreadsheet)
  • Select all columns (including the columns that are hidden on the spreadsheet)
• Which rows do you want to export: You have these two options:
  • All the rows from my current search: Select this either to export all the content from a search or all the content (in case you have not run any search).
  • Rows that I selected manually with the checkbox. Next to the ID column, you can tick the checkbox of each row you want to export.
• What app will you use to edit this file: You can select the application you will use to open and edit the generated CSV file.
• Name of this export (optional): You can add a name for this export here.
• Tick the Run this in the future checkbox
• Select the date and time: Use the date and time picker to select when you want this export to run.
• Notify this email when the process finishes: Add an email address to receive a notification when this one-time export is complete.
• Tick the Run once checkbox.
• Finally, click on Start new export.

Once you schedule this one-time export, you can view this scheduled job by clicking on View scheduled exports.

This is what the Scheduled exports popup looks like:

To understand how the scheduled jobs popup works, you can read this guide.

b) How to schedule automatic recurring exports

The Automations add-on allows you to schedule automatic recurring exports to a CSV file.

This can be useful to export new WooCommerce orders, new member or subscribers, or new donations every day to a CSV file. These are just some examples, but there are not limits to what you can do with automatic recurring exports for WordPress.

Depending on how you configure them, recurring exports run:

• Every X minutes
• Every X hours
• Every X days
• Every X weeks
• Every X months

To create a recurring export, start by opening the Export tool:

Now you need to configure this recurring export by selecting these values:

• What columns do you want to export?: You have these three options:
  • Select individual columns by typing the column names
  • Select all active columns (excluding the columns that are hidden on the spreadsheet)
  • Select all columns (including the columns that are hidden on the spreadsheet)
• Which rows do you want to export: You have these two options:
  • All the rows from my current search: Select this either to export all the content from a search or all the content (in case you have not run any search).
  • Rows that I selected manually with the checkbox. Next to the ID column, you can tick the checkbox of each row you want to export.
• What app will you use to edit this file: You can select the application you will use to open and edit the generated CSV file.
• Name of this export (optional): You can add a name for this recurring export here.
• Tick the Run this in the future checkbox
• Select the date and time: Use the date and time picker to select when you want this export to run.
• Notify this email when the process finishes: Add an email address to receive a notification when this recurring export is complete.
• Tick the Run in recurring intervals checkbox.
• Run every: Add a number and select the time unit:
  • Minute(s)
  • Hour(s)
  • Day(s)
  • Week(s)
  • Month(s)
• Finally, click on Start new export.

After scheduling this recurring export, you can view it on the scheduled jobs popup by clicking on View scheduled exports.

In the screenshot below, you can view the scheduled recurring export we have just created:

To understand how the scheduled jobs popup works, you can read this guide.

How to schedule automatic imports to WordPress

The Automations add-on for WP Sheet Editor allows you to schedule automatic imports from a local CSV file hosted on your server or from a CSV file hosted on an external URL.

You can schedule imports one-time or at recurring intervals.

When the scheduled imports are executed, you will receive an email with the import details.

a) Schedule automatic one-time imports

To schedule a one-time import, start by opening the Import tool.

Now you need to configure this one-time import by selecting these values:

• Tick the Run this in the future checkbox.
• Select the date and time: Use the date and time picker to select the date and time you want the import to run.
• Notify this email address when the process finishes: Enter an email address here to receive an email when the import is complete.
• Select the Run once option.
• Name: You can add a name for this import.
• Source: You can import a CSV file from your server or a CSV file from an external URL.
• Next, you need to paste the File URL or the CSV file path.
• Click on Next.

Now you can select Import all the columns or you can Select individual columns to import.

If you don’t want to import specific columns, select the Select individual columns to import option and then select Ignore this column in every column you want to omit from the import.

Now let’s configure how the information will be imported to WordPress:

• Do you want to update or create items: In this field, you have these options:
  • Create new items and update existing items
  • Import all rows as new
  • Only create new items, ignore existing items
  • Update existing items, ignore new items
• If you select any of the options to update existing content, you will need to match the content in the CSV file with the content in WordPress by using a specific field. In this case, we’ll select the SKU field.
• Click on Next.

Finally, you’ll see a preview of how the info will look once it’s imported.

If everything is OK, you can click on The preview is fine, start import to schedule this one-time import.

Once you have scheduled the import, you can view it on the Scheduled imports popup by clicking on View scheduled imports.

Here you can see that the one-time import has been added to the scheduled tasks list:

To understand how the scheduled jobs popup works, you can read this guide.

b) Schedule recurring imports from local CSV file

You can also schedule recurring imports to run every X minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. You can import local CSV files hosted on your server or CSV files from an external URL.

Let’s start by opening the Import tool.

Now you need to configure this recurring import by selecting these values:

• Tick the Run this in the future checkbox.
• Select the date and time: Use the date and time picker to select the date and time you want the import to run.
• Notify this email address when the process finishes: Enter an email address here to receive an email when the import is complete.
• Select the Run in recurring intervals option.
• Select the recurrence using the Run every field and select the time unit:
  • Minutes
  • Hours
  • Days
  • Weeks
  • Months
• Name: You can add a name for this import.
• Source: You can import a CSV file from your server or a CSV file from an external URL.
• Next, you need to paste the File URL or the CSV file path.
• Click on Next.

Now you can select Import all the columns or you can Select individual columns to import.

If you don’t want to import specific columns, select the Select individual columns to import option and then select Ignore this column in every column you want to omit from the import.

Now let’s configure how the information will be imported to WordPress:

• Do you want to update or create items: In this field, you have these options:
  • Create new items and update existing items
  • Import all rows as new
  • Only create new items, ignore existing items
  • Update existing items, ignore new items
• If you select any of the options to update existing content, you will need to match the content in the CSV file with the content in WordPress by using a specific field. In this case, we’ll select the SKU field.
• Click on Next.

Finally, you’ll see a preview of how the info will look once it’s imported.

If everything is OK, you can click on The preview is fine, start import to schedule this recurring import.

Once you have scheduled the import, you can view it on the Scheduled imports popup by clicking on View scheduled imports.

Here you can see that the recurring import has been added to the scheduled tasks list:

To understand how the scheduled jobs popup works, you can read this guide.

Email notification for automatic exports and imports

When a scheduled export or import is complete, you’ll receive an email notification with the details of the scheduled job.

If it is an export, the email will include the link to the CSV file that has been generated.

Automatic exports and imports with Google Sheets

With the WP Sheet Editor – Google Sheets service, you can sync your WordPress website with your Google Sheets account schedule automatic exports and imports between WordPress and Google Sheets.