Some days ago, a friend of ours told us that he had changed his SEO plugin. Before, he used SEO Press, and now he uses Yoast SEO. So he wanted to move all the SEO titles and descriptions from SEO Press to Yoast. For cases like this, we have created this tutorial, in which we’ll show you how to rename custom fields in WordPress posts.
You can do that with the WP Sheet Editor plugin, you can quickly rename the meta keys, so the old fields are recognized by the new plugin.
This works for all the plugins. For example, you can migrate information from one reviews plugin to another, or one ecommerce plugin to another, etc.
This plugin allows you to edit thousands of posts, pages, and any other custom post type in seconds. It displays all items in a spreadsheet that contains advanced search and bulk edit tool that allow you to save a lot of time and clicks.
You can download the plugin here: Download Posts, Pages, and Custom Post Types Spreadsheet Plugin - or - Check the features
Once installed and activated, you need to go to WP Sheet Editor > Edit Posts, to open the spreadsheet for posts.
Now just follow these simple steps to rename custom fields in WordPress posts or change their meta keys.
1- Go to the column you want to update
You can right scroll to search for the column you want to rename, or you can use the “Locate Column” field that is on the toolbar. Just enter the column name and hit enter in your keyboard, and the plugin will take you to the selected column.
2- Change the column or meta key
Once you find the field you want to edit, you have to right-click and select the option “Edit meta key”.
This will open a pop-up that will ask you to enter the new meta key.
Important tip: If you don’t know the meta key of the new plugin fields, just do this:
- Go to the column of that new plugin.
- Right-click on the column.
- Select “Edit meta key”.
- Once the pop-up is open, copy the meta key, and go back to the column you are editing.
Done!
With these really simple steps, you can rename custom fields in WordPress posts or change their meta keys. There might still be some fields that need to be filled in, but don’t worry because you can do it freely in the spreadsheet and thus save a lot of time.
If your case is the same as our friend’s, with SEO fields, here is a related tutorial on how to import SEO titles and descriptions for thousands of posts from Excel or Google Sheets.
You can download the plugin here: Download Posts, Pages, and Custom Post Types Spreadsheet Plugin - or - Check the features