bbPress Codex

Import Forums

Supported Platforms

• Advanced Electron Forum v1.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2384)
• bbPress v1.1/v1.2 (This also includes BuddyPress Group Forums)
• Drupal v7.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2375)
• FluxBB v1.5.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2383)
• Invision
• Mingle
• MyBB v1.6.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2378)
• Phorum v5.2.19 (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2382)
• phpBB v.3.x
• PunBB v1.4.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2379)
• Simple Press v5
• Simple Machines Forum v2.0.x (beta testing for bbPress 2.5 see #2380)
• Vanilla v2.x
• vBulletin v4.x

You can also make your own custom importer using the included Example.php located in /bbpress/includes/admin/converters/Example.php to setup an import from any SQL database.

Getting There

1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard
2. Select the ‘Tools’ tab select ‘Forums’ from the navigation menu
3. Select the ‘Import Forums’ tab at the top of the screen.

Configuring the Importer

Database Settings

• Select the source platform that you are importing from, bbPress, phpBB etc
• Database Server: Leave as ‘localhost’ unless your hosting provider requires you to use an IP address.
• Database Port: Use default 3306 if unsure
• Database Name: Name of the database with your old forum data
• Database User: User for your database connection
• Database Password: Password to access the database
• Table Prefix: (If converting from BuddyPress Forums, use “wp_bb_” or your custom prefix)

Optional Settings

• Rows Limit
• Delay Time
• Convert Users
• Start Over
• Purge Previous Import

Importing the Data

• Click ‘Start’

Finalizing the Import

• After importing your forums/topics/replies you need update the relationships between forums, topics, replies, and topic tags, and users from the ‘Repair Forums’ tool and run each of these tools individually as substantial database overhead is created whilst running these tools.

Imported user passwords

When Convert Users is enabled, supported importers preserve each imported user’s legacy password hash in WordPress user metadata. The password is not converted to a WordPress password hash during the bulk import.

The first time an imported user successfully logs in, bbPress uses the selected importer to verify the submitted password against that stored legacy hash. bbPress then replaces it with a normal WordPress password hash and removes the temporary importer password metadata. An incorrect password does not change the account or remove the metadata.

In bbPress 2.6.18 and later, this first-login password upgrade does not connect to the source forum database. Once the import has completed and been verified, the source database does not need to remain online for supported first-login password upgrades. Keep a backup until the migration has been fully validated in case the import itself needs to be rerun.

Some importers and password formats intentionally require users to reset their passwords instead. Test an imported account before retiring the source system, and provide users with the standard WordPress lost-password link when a password format is not supported.

Troubleshooting

• For specific FAQ’s and known issues for each importer visit that importers codex page.
• If the import gets ‘stuck’ whilst importing topic or replie see Import Troubleshooting

Redirecting your old URL’s

• At this stage we do not have any documentation on redirecting your old URL’s to the new bbPress URL’s. You can keep your existing phpBB forum and redirect your old URL’s to bbPress using the method here. There are some good examples on Stack Overflow: vBulletin, …, …