Title: Retrieving Posts from Old WP Files
Last modified: August 31, 2016

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# Retrieving Posts from Old WP Files

 *  Resolved [ChaseC](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chasec/)
 * (@chasec)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/)
 * I once had several personal websites built in WordPress on the web, but removed
   them two or three years ago. I copied the files to my hard drive but doubt that
   they are a complete backup due to potential invisible files, etc. that may not
   have copied.
 * My question: Is it possible to retrieve and copy the text from the old blog posts
   from these files? And if so, how would I do this? I don’t care that much about
   the photos and layouts. I’d be quite happy just to have the basic text. Two of
   the domains are long expired and one remains active but with an entirely new 
   website in its place.
 * Thanks for any help.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [Justin Greer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/justingreerbbi/)
 * (@justingreerbbi)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000734)
 * Hi [@chasec](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chasec/),
 * The only items you can extract from actually WP files structure that has been
   backed up is your uploads, themes and plugins. What you are looking for is the
   database file. This file must be exported from the hosts database manage (phpMyAdmin
   etc.). You would need to have an export or something on those lines.
 * If you do not have a database backup, you will not be able to extract any blog
   posts or pages. WordPress runs dynamically and does not actually write data to
   files.
 *  Thread Starter [ChaseC](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chasec/)
 * (@chasec)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000741)
 * Thanks. Assuming I did do a proper export of a backup (far from certain but perhaps
   I did), what filename am I looking for, and how would I access it?
 *  [Justin Greer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/justingreerbbi/)
 * (@justingreerbbi)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000742)
 * If you do have a Database export it could have any types of extensions but the
   most common is .sql.
 *  Thread Starter [ChaseC](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chasec/)
 * (@chasec)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000743)
 * I do have two or three SQL files with the name of each site on them. I can view
   them in my text editor and see the occasional passage of text surrounded by a
   bunch of coding. Is there a way to access this on my Mac in a more usable format?
 *  [Justin Greer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/justingreerbbi/)
 * (@justingreerbbi)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000745)
 * I am not aware of any way to extract posts directly from a SQL per-say but what
   you could do it setup a WordPress instance using your old .SQL file and export
   the posts using the WordPress export feature. Then simply import them into your
   new blog.
 *  Thread Starter [ChaseC](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chasec/)
 * (@chasec)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000749)
 * That sounds to be not too far outside my realm of my WP expertise. Just a little
   research and I should be able to figure it out.
 * THANK YOU!
 *  [Justin Greer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/justingreerbbi/)
 * (@justingreerbbi)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000751)
 * You’re welcome. We are here if you need help with anything else as well. Good
   Luck

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The topic ‘Retrieving Posts from Old WP Files’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 7 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Justin Greer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/justingreerbbi/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/retrieving-posts-from-old-wp-files/#post-7000751)
 * Status: resolved

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