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Showing posts with label Settings - Other. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Settings - Other. Show all posts

Blogger Magic - Move Content Between Blogs

Some blog owners, who publish multiple blogs with different subjects, may decide that some subjects would be better discussed in a different blog.

With various posts published in one blog, the owner may decide that those posts should be published in a different blog, to continue discussion. The question now is how to move posts, from one blog to another?

The dashboard "Export / Import" feature, which is now labeled "Import & back up", lets us copy pages and posts from one blog to another. Just copying all pages and posts, though, will create problems with duplicated content.

If you are going to move specific posts from one blog to another - and continue to publish both blogs - you have to add extra steps to the process.


Use "Import & back up", on the Settings - Other dashboard page.



  1. Export all content from the first blog.
  2. Import all exported content, to the second blog, as "Imported".
  3. Publish imported content, selectively, in the second blog.
  4. Delete content re published, from the first blog.
  5. Setup custom 404 or custom redirects, from the first blog.
  6. Remove imported yet un published content, from the second blog.

Export all content from the first blog.

Using the "Import & back up" wizard, on the dashboard Settings - Other page for the first blog, click "Back up Content". This will export all pages and posts, in the blog, to the file which you select.

To make it easier, label the posts that you want to "move" to the other blog, before you start "Back up Content".


I labeled my posts "Move".




Now, "Back up Content", from the first blog.




Use the file manager provided by your operating system, to create or select a file / folder, and actually save the file.



Import all exported content, to the second blog, as "Imported".

Using the "Import & back up" wizard, on the dashboard Settings - Other page for the second blog, click "Import Content" - then find and select the file just created. This will import all pages and posts, as exported from the first blog - and place the imported pages and posts in the special "Imported" status, on the Pages and the Posts dashboard pages.


Continue with "Import Content", to the second blog.




Select the file that you just created, above.




And having Imported everything, there are the posts - including those labeled "Move".



Publish imported content, selectively, in the second blog.

Using the "Pages" and "Posts" dashboard pages, select the newly activated "Imported" menu, as you wish. This will list all imported pages and posts, in turn.

Find the pages and posts that you want moved, select them, and click "Publish". If you labeled the posts to be "moved", simply display, and Publish, all posts with the designated label.


And, I Published the posts labeled to be "moved".



Note that, once Published, the "Imported" status is cleared.

Delete or revert content re published, from the first blog.

To prevent problems with search engines detecting duplicate content, you can delete or revert to draft status, each post in the first blog, the you just re published in the second blog. If you revert to draft status, you will have backed up content and a recoverable page / post URL.

Again, if you labeled the posts, you can delete or revert posts using the label.

Setup custom 404 or custom redirects, from the first blog.

You cannot use a custom redirect to automatically redirect from the first blog to the second. You can, however, setup a custom 404 page, in the first blog - or make custom redirects to a custom 404 page, in the first blog - advising the reader that the post just requested is now part of the second blog.

The reader will still have to intentionally click to jump into the second blog - but until Blogger blogs are not used as spam hosts, this will be necessary to avoid making your blog look like a spam host.

And as noted, please don't use this technique to re use a single blog. Duplication prevention will generate suffixed URLs, for pages and posts exported then imported to the same blog.

Remove imported yet un published content, from the second blog.

As a type of basic hygiene, once all of the posts are moved ("published"), remove all imported content that isn't published. If you ever repeat the exercise, you won't enjoy the duplicated content, that you will have to identify, from having Exported then Imported, twice.


The "Import & back up" #Blogger dashboard wizard can be used to copy pages and posts, from one blog to another. Actually moving content requires more than just exporting from one blog, and importing to a second blog.



http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/06/blogger-magic-export-from-blogger-blog.html

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/hJ-WrGwnIFo

Blogger Magic - Export From A Blogger Blog

One of the most useful skills, when maintaining and publishing a blog, is backing up the content.

As you publish a blog, it's a very good idea to periodically backup the content - comments, pages, and posts. Sometimes, backed up content may save you hours of anguish.

Backed up content is not a waste of time or resources.

Backing up content - comments, pages (static pages), and posts (dynamic pages) is a very quick task - that consumes a minimal amount of resources.

Many people will benefit from a daily routine of backup. Backed up content can be used, in a variety of ways - if it is available.

Periodic backup of content is simple - and may save you much inconvenience.


Start from Settings - Other.




Click on "Back up Content".




Click on "Save to your computer".




Some operating systems may leave the browser, to save your content.

Click on "Leave".




Now, you use the file manager provided by your operating system, to select a file / folder, and actually save the file.



"Back up Content" is useful, in several tasks.

You'll find that daily backups uses a minimal amount of time, and computer resources. And even if you don't ever use the backed up content, you will be better off having it.


All of these tasks use the "Back up Content" wizard. Do this regularly - and you won't regret it. Just remember where you save the content. Setup one or more standard folders, on your local computer.



Using the "Back up Content" #Blogger dashboard wizard is a good task to do frequently - and regularly. It will save you a lot of time and trouble, if ever needed.

Recovering From A Corrupt Template - The Next Step

There are three possible dashboard wizards, used to recover a blog with a corrupt template aka "500 Internal Server Error".
  1. The Template Designer page.
  2. The Template page.
  3. The Template Editor ("Edit HTML") page.
With most blogs, one of the three can eventually be used, to install a clean, new template - and recover a blog that's offline because of the broken template.

Some blogs, unfortunately, cannot be recovered this way.

Some blogs have templates so badly broken, that no dashboard template wizard can be accessed - and used to restore the blog to operational status.

If there's no way to recover a broken blog by replacing the template, the next possibility is to recover the URL - and install a new blog at that URL.

  1. Create a new blog - with a clean, working, Blogger supplied template.
  2. Swap URLs between the old and new blogs.
  3. Export content from the broken blog - and Import to the new blog.
  4. Transfer / update Followers.
  5. Rebuild the template, and add gadgets.
  6. Provide notice to your Followers, readers, subscribers, and other viewers.

Create a new blog - with a clean, working template.

Use the dashboard "New Blog" button, and create a new blog. You'll only create the new blog, in this case, to recover the URL of the broken blog - so just use a random, non valued URL.

Choose a template similar to the one on the broken blog, from the dashboard Template page - and get your new blog online. Use a Blogger standard template, until you are satisfied that the problem won't continue.

Swap URLs between the old and new blogs.

Hoping that you can access the Settings - Basic ("basicsettings") page - first rename the URL Of the broken blog, to a second random, non valued URL. Then you can rename your new blog - created above - to the URL previously used by the broken blog.



Just Edit "Blog Address", twice, to swap URLs.

First, for the broken blog, to free up the current URL - then, for the new blog, to recover the current URL.


Now, your broken URL is back online, with a clean template - though without content.

Export content from the broken blog - and Import to the new blog.

Use the "Import & back up" wizard at the Settings - Basic ("othersettings") page for the broken blog, and export comments, pages, and posts. Then use the wizard for the new blog, and import the content just exported.

Transfer / update Followers.

If the broken blog uses Blogger Followers for community building, and you had a significant Followers community, the community will remain on the old, broken blog. This is the one down side of recovering a broken template using this technique.

Fortunately, the only specific problem is the effect upon the Followers community. The other half of Following - the blog feed - will be re established with the new blog, which will now have the desired URL being recovered. And the sooner you get the blog back online, the sooner you can rebuild / recover your Followers.

Rebuild the template, and add gadgets.

If you periodically back up the template, as you tweak it, this will be the easiest step in the recovery. Of course, since you are here because the template is broken, maybe you should rebuild the template, one step at a time. Try to not repeat the previous mistake.

Then add gadgets back, one at a time - and test carefully.

Provide notice to your Followers, readers, and viewers.

If you care about your community - Followers, readers, subscribers, and other viewers - a new post, briefly admitting to your mistake might be a good idea. You can even display your new post, as a Featured Post.



Sometimes, it's not possible to recover a broken #Blogger blog, using any of the Template dashboard pages, with a blog sidelined by a "500 Internal Server Error" broken template. If the URL has any value to you - or your viewers - you can recover it, using a new blog.

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Inaccessible Comments, On Some Popular Posts

Viewing comments, on some popular blogs, one may get the idea that not as many comments are being published, as are immediately visible.

With a large comment complement, comments are paginated - with some comments hidden behind a link, captioned "Load more". The "Load more" link is JavaScript based - and there is a problem.

The "Load more" link does not always work, on all blogs.

Comments on some blogs may be unreadable - with the "Load more" link not operational.


Some posts never display all comments.




Look at the bottom of the page, below the post.




And there is the "Load more" link.




And the link, as seen when one mouse over it, is shown to be JavaScript based.




And clicking on the link yields the caption "Loading ...".




And "Loading ..." never goes away - and we get no view of the missing comments.



I've seen this problem with blogs using both dynamic and non dynamic templates.

Both dynamic templates, and non dynamic templates, appear to use comments paginated behind "Load more" - and may exhibit this problem. I've seen this problem, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, for both template types.

I have reproduced this problem, using two blogs.

Here are two recently reported cases, reproduced in my testing today. I do not know how long both cases may be active.

http://slifkinchallenge.blogspot.com/2016/05/thank-you-yehoshua-duker-and-yosef.html
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/RotUfv8AwuU/discussion

http://istanbulkonstantinopel.blogspot.com/2014/03/study-in-turkey-2.html
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/7Yau3KKR9mo/discussion


Noting that both blogs are (natively) published in countries that are subject to local country codes (Israel and Turkey, respectively), I will deny that to be a simple affinity - since I viewed both blogs from my browser, as "blogspot.com", as I reproduced the problem. That said, that is an interesting coincidence, no?

There are several possible causes of this problem. Adding the above observation, some of these causes may be more or less relevant.

  • Comments feed setting.
  • Comment feed content / corruption.
  • Cookie / script filters.
  • HTTPS Redirect.
  • Occam's Razor.
  • Post template corruption.

Comments feed setting.

Features like the comment reply option, and blogs published to dynamic templates, require a full comment feed. It's possible that comment pagination, behind JavaScript links, is similarly sensitive to the comments feed setting.

This detail will affect everybody - both blog owner(s) and reader(s) alike. And it will probably affect all posts, uniformly.

The solution for this problem would involve checking - and correcting - the comments and feed settings, for the blogs involved.

Comment feed content / corruption.

Similar to the problem with the Blogger blog post published location, it's possible that some unknown detail in the data could interfere with script functionality.

If the problem involves content in one post - or a comment on one post, it's possible that comments for one post could be affected; but other posts could paginate comments successfully.

This detail would probably affect everybody, uniformly.

The solution for this problem will require determining what feed content detail causes the problem. This will probably involve affinity diagnosis.

Cookie / script filters.

Any problem which involves a JavaScript based link, both cookies and scripts are always going to be involved. Any filter that interferes with either cookies (identity) or scripts (link functionality) will always be a possibility.

Filters may affect either blog owners and / or blog readers, uniquely. A problem that involves some owners / readers will likely involve filters.

Thanks to the effect of country local domains, cookie / script filters may affect individuals geographically.

The solution for this problem is to check / open up script filters - and then check / open up cookie filters.

HTTPS Redirect.

Both blogs, identified above, appear to not be using the "HTTPS Redirect" option. It's not impossible that this is another feature, broken by the SSL Rollout.

Occam's Razor.

Considering the most simple alternative, is it possible that paginated comments are simply inoperative? Maybe, because of (or incidentally involving) the SSL Rollout??

Post template corruption.

Comments are part of the post template. It's likely that proper comment functionality also requires a clean post template. This detail will probably affect everybody - though it's possible that there could be code that is sensitive to some owners / readers, but not others.

The solution for this problem is to reset the post template, on the blogs involved.

The bottom line.

This problem, if not incidentally solved by a Blogger code change, will probably not be diagnosed, immediately.

More examples of this symptom are badly needed. Right now, we have seen only a handful of people with blogs that are popular - and generate comments in sufficient volume - and have reported this problem.



Some #Blogger blog owners, who publish blogs with posts that receive large volumes of comments, report inability to display all comments published. Comments, when displayed in large volumes, are paginated behind JavaScript based links - and some links, when clicked, don't seem to work.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/7Yau3KKR9mo/discussion
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/RotUfv8AwuU/discussion

Export / Import, And Page / Post Publishing Limits

Not all blog owners understand the connection between page / post import, and spam limitation.

We see the occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about page / post import, and daily publishing limits.
Why I can not import content, to my blogs?
Note that "Automatically publish" is selected, in the blog discussed here.

I've suggested a few times that use of "Automatically publish all imported posts and pages" is a bad idea, when importing many blogs - because it abuses the computer and home Internet connection.

Here, we see another reason for not using "Automatically publish".

Import, with "Automatically publish", will exceed the daily publishing volume.

Blogger limits daily posting volume. Any blog with more than 40 - 50 pages / posts, when it is exported then imported, will be a problem - if "Automatically publish" is selected during "Import".


"Sorry, you have exceeded the maximum number of entries."



If you import, and publish as you import, you will exceed the daily publishing limit. Your import will fail - because you are publishing more than the daily limit.

Without a daily limit, spammers could flood post their blogs.

If this limit was not in place, spammers could flood their blogs with pages and posts, by simply creating multiple blogs with multiple pages / posts, export from each blog, then import to other blogs - and publish while importing.

If Blogger is to control spam, they have to limit page / post publishing. With the daily limit of 50 pages and posts / 24 hours, that is slightly more than 1 page or post every 1/2 hour - allowing for no sleep, or other non blogging activity.

People have to be encouraged to do something, besides publish - or how do you get material, for the blog? If people are going to publish a blog - and do other things besides publish a blog - there has to be a daily limit.

Genuine blog owners have to not spend all their time publishing their blogs.

Blog owners need to be encouraged to publish blogs with informative, interesting, and original content - so people will read the blogs, and search engines will index the blogs. Automated blog content, a favourite way of "bulking up" a blog with spam, has to be discouraged, to give genuine blog owners a chance.

Without a daily limit, people who publish blogs with personal content would be at a disadvantage to spammers who publish pages and posts with automated content. Using Import, with no limits, would be an excellent way to publish spam in a never ending daily activity.

Use "Import & back up" in 3 steps, to avoid the limit block.

  1. Export pages and posts, from one blog.
  2. Import pages and posts, to a second blog.
  3. Publish imported pages and posts, at a limited rate, selectively.

That is the best way for genuine blog owners, to use the Export / Import ("Import & back up") option.



#Blogger has a daily page / post publishing limit, to encourage blog owners to publish blogs with informative, interesting, and original content. Automated page / post publishing is allowed - but subject to a daily limit.

Without a daily limit, spammers would abuse the Blogger infrastructure, with mass produced and scraped content - and Blogger would become one more spam haven.

"Export / Import" Is Now "Import & back up"

Blog owners who need to export blog content are reporting confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
I'm trying to export my blog, but when I click "Settings > Other", there is no "Export" option!
Not all blog owners realise that the "Export" wizard is now "Back up".

Changes in functionality may perplex blog owners, too.

There are various ways to use "export" and "import" features, that may involve Blogger, and non Blogger content hosts.

Not all content will transfer, equally well - whether a Blogger or non Blogger host is involved, as either the source or target. The Blogger blog owner, using "Import & back up", will be responsible for resolving any differences.


"Import & back up" is now used to export and import Content (pages, posts & comments).




"Import Content" is used, as previously.




"Back up Content" is the former Export wizard.



"Import Content" is used, as previously.

When you import content, consider the multiple possibilities of XML files.

  • Archive / Backup comments, pages, and posts.
  • Archive / backup templates.
  • Publish newsfeeds in Atom and RSS.

Observe the nature and source of any XML file, whenever importing. "Import Content" will work best, with comments, pages, and posts backed up from Blogger.

  • It may, or may not, work with content Backed up ("Exported") from other content hosting services.
  • It may, or may not, work with templates, Backed up from Blogger or from a third party source.
  • It won't work, with newsfeed content - or other XML data files.

And, as always, be careful when using the "Automatically publish ..." option, any time you import content.

"Back up Content" is the former Export wizard.

"Backup Content" will be most useful, when used to Import content to another Blogger blog. It may, or may not, work to Import content to another content hosting service.

"Backup Content" is most useful, when you plan how to use the content being backed up. And you will benefit, from regular use.

When moving content from, or into, another hosting service, note limitations.

Every content hosting service - Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, and many many others - will have their own data management policies. A backup / export file, created under any one service may, or may not, work under another service.

If you experience problems, you'll be arbitrating diagnostics provided by the source and target tech support groups - whatever you can find. You will be the point person, in dealing with any problems that involve multiple hosts.

Moving content between services is not a project for the beginning Blogger blog owner. It's similar in complexity to using a Blogger custom domain outside Blogger.



The recent redesign of the #Blogger dashboard "Export / Import" wizard, at Settings - Other, has perplexed some blog owners.

Not everybody knows that "Backup" is the same task as "Export". And few blog owners understand the complexities of using XML type files, with different sources and targets.

Confusion About The Post Feed Redirect Feature

The world of Blogger blogs contains a lot of confusing terminology.

Some Blogger features don't even have names. Some names, which I use, are terms which I made up on my own, years ago - simply because Blogger did not provide a name, at that time. One term, which Blogger did give us, still causes confusion. The term "Post Feed Redirect" seems to describe an option, in Blogger, to redirect the post feed to a different URL.

The Post Feed Redirect feature is used by some confused blog owners, improperly.

There are several specific cases, all too common.
This redirection, contrary to the term "Post Feed", also affects the comments feeds and the labels feeds, relevant to the blog where the setting is used.

Besides the fact that the option in question affects all feeds in the blog, the biggest confusion is that using the option does not actually redirect the feed - it redirects the references to the feed. People use this option in the expectation that it will change the URL of the feed. This option does not change the URL of the feed - it changes the URL used by references to the feed.

To change the feed references, successfully, you must have the URL mentioned by the setting already published, in a separate effort.
  • If you renamed the blog to a different BlogSpot URL, you can redirect the feed reference, from a stub blog, to the feed published under the new URL.
  • If you used a different service, like FeedBurner, to create a reformatted feed replica, you can redirect the feed reference to the FeedBurner feed URL.
  • In either case, the URL has to exist, from a separate effort.

If you are reading this post, look down the page, after the "Newer Post Home Older Post" links.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

There is an example of the original feed reference. The purpose of the post feed redirect feature, long ago, was to let the blog owners generate a different feed for the blog - maybe a FeedBurner republished post feed - and force that link to reference the FeedBurner republished feed.

If you use that link, and subscribe to the feed from this blog, you should get a subscription offer, using the FeedBurner feed for this blog.

The Post Feed Redirect simply lets people setup and use an alternate feed URL, without having to update the code for all links which reference the post feed - such as that link.

That's it - pure and simple.

If you have - even unintentionally - misused the post feed redirect in your blog, it's easy to correct the mistake. Just understand why you should correct the mistake.

Clear, Or Set, The Post Feed Redirect

One of the most mysterious settings, in our blogs, is the ability to redirect references to the blog feed.

Some people use the "Post Feed Redirect" setting improperly. When this is done, the problems created can be easily solved, by clearing the setting.
  1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
  2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
  3. If that option is incorrectly set, click on "Remove".
  4. Click on "Save settings".
  5. You're done.

If you actually need the feed redirected, it's similarly simple to set it.
  1. Go to the dashboard menu Settings - Other - Site feed.
  2. Look at the entry for "Post Feed Redirect URL".
  3. If that option needs to be set, click on "Add".
  4. Paste or type the correct URL, into the box.
  5. Click on "Save settings".
  6. You're done.
The setting, for this blog, for instance, is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Nitecruzr-Blogging

Just understand what the setting does, how to clear, and how to add, the setting - and when you should use it, or not use it.

How You Should Backup Your Blog Will Depend Upon How You Plan To Restore It

We see signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, from blog owners concerned with malware / spam deletions, and with other unexplained disasters in Blogger.
How do I backup my blog, to protect the contents against unfair spam deletions?

Not many concerned blog owners realise the first principle of backups, known by any experienced network administrator.
  • Never plan a backup, without first planning the restore.
How you backup your blog depends upon several details.
  • What problem do you expect, to require a backup?
  • How do you plan to recover, from a problem?

One of the simplest solutions for a backup, which some Blogger experts will suggest, is to use the Export / Import wizard, in Settings - Other.
  • Before disaster strikes, Export your posts and comments.
  • After disaster strikes, simply Import your posts and comments, from a convenient backup.

Besides backing up comments and posts, backup the template.

Similarly, some experts may suggest backing up the template.
  • Before disaster strikes, use the dashboard Template "Backup / Restore" wizard, to backup the template.
  • After disaster strikes, use the wizard to restore the template.

But consider other components, too.

There are many components of a Blogger blog - not just the comments, posts, and template.
  • Accessories.
  • Comments.
  • Decorations.
  • Gadgets.
  • Posts.
  • Layout.
  • URL.
Before you plan how to backup your blog, you need to decide which of these features is most important to you, and what problem from which you wish to recover.

Backing up accessories right now is not so easily done.

The accessories (decorations, gadgets) is one component of the blog which is most frequently missed, after a deleted blog is recreated / restored using a "comments / posts / template backup" restore strategy. Both graphic decorations, and XML based gadgets, may not be easily backed up, and may present a challenge when the blog is restored, or recreated.

XML gadgets, such as bloglists and linklists, may contain a lot of detail, which is installed into the blog one entry at a time - and there is no known way to automate a backup or restore of these gadgets.

The URL cannot be recovered, by creating or restoring.

Recovering the URL is one of the most subtle details, that may not always be considered by many blog owners. The URL is relevant in two ways. Most blogs which are important enough, for the owner to want to backup, have acquired reputation - both with people (readers, subscribers, and viewers), and with search engines.

Some blogs will link the various posts to each other - as I do with this blog. In either case, the recovered blog is not as useful, unless the URL is also recovered.

If the blog is deleted, the URL may not be recoverable.

If the blog is deleted by Blogger - or by the owner - the URL may not be available, for blog recovery. When Blogger deletes a blog as a suspected abusive content host, the URL is locked to the blog. The only way to recover the URL is to have the blog reviewed, and restored to availability.

When a blog is deleted by the owner, the blog must be restored by the owner - within 90 days after deletion. In either case, a backup is useless.

If you have a personal blog, containing just posts (and maybe comments from known family or friends), backing up the comments and posts makes sense. For a publicly known blog, containing various accessories, and having a known URL, you'll want to plan your backup / restore strategy using a bit more effort.

Blogger Magic - Activating The Blog Feed

One of the neatest - and easiest - techniques, to make your blog available to a larger audience, uses a replica of the blog posts - the blog newsfeed.

Most blogs, when new, have the feed activated by default. Oddly enough, some blogs - even published publicly - do not publish a newsfeed.

Some blog owners, wondering why their blogs are not being indexed by the search engines, are perplexed.
Why isn't my blog publishing a feed?
If you want full visibility, activate the blog newsfeeds.

You activate the various newsfeeds, for the blog, from the dashboard Settings - Other - Site Feed wizard.

Routinely, you'll have one setting - "Allow Blog Feeds" - and this setting will affect all feed options equally. If you select "Custom", you can enable or disable any of the 3 feed options, separately.
  • Blog Posts Feed
  • Blog Comments Feed
  • Per-Post Comment Feeds

Each setting will have 3 possible selections - Full, Until Jump Break, Short, None.

(Note): If you enable a feed, it is available to anybody with a feed reader, either a feed reader that they personally use, or one built in to a blog. There is no option to limit feed access - feeds are available, equally, to all interested parties. This is why feeds are not published by limited access (private) blogs.

If you fear that unknown parties might steal content from your blog by using your feed, don't publish a Full feed, publish a Short feed. This will require anybody wishing to read a complete post to access your blog, rather than reading it in their newsreader.

In most cases, though, a "Full" setting, for all feeds, is best.

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