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Importing Theme Demo Data

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Plus only

Due to WordPress.org Theme Repository Guidelines, theme options import/export functionality is deemded plugin-territory and is only available in the Plus themes.

Demo Data

Demo data is provided on request via our support system.

Using the theme's built-in options import/export functionality it is possible to use the sample theme data to create a site configuration similar to our theme demo page.

To avoid overloading the theme code with functionality that you would only use once (or perhaps a couple of times) during the lifetime of the site, we have chosen to use WordPress' existing import/export functionality and not integrate such functionality in the theme.
As a result, importing the theme demo data involves several steps, described below:

1. Companion Plugins

Start by installing and activating all companion plugins you intend to use with the theme (if you are unsure which ones you will be using with the final site, install and activate all of them to be able to import their sample content):

  • Cryout Featured Content - provides custom post types for the landing page's Icon Blocks, Featured Boxes and Text Areas. This plugin can be downloaded from your account and installed manually or installed automatically from the theme's management page.
  • Cryout Serious Slider - provides the sliders functionality. This plugin is available in the WordPress.org repository and can be installed both the standard way or automatically from the theme's management page.
  • Contact Form 7 - our suggested plugin for forms functionality. This plugin is available in the WordPress.org repository and can be installed both the standard way or automatically from the theme's management page.
  • Jetpack by WordPress.com - provides the Portfolio and Testimonial post types supported by our themes. This plugin is available in the WordPress.org repository and can be installed both the standard way or automatically from the theme's management page.
    You will need to manually activate the additional post types after plugin activation for them to be available at the data import step.

The content created by the Team Members plugin is not currently fully compatible with WordPress' export/import functionality. You will need to manually reconfigure it if you will be using it.

2. Activate the theme

Navigate to WordPress' Themes section and activate the Plus theme you will be using.

3. Import the demo data

Navigate to Tools » Import and click the Install Now link under WordPress. This will activate the import functionality in your WordPress. Once this is done the Run Importer link will be displayed instead. Click it to proceed.

On the next screen, select the provided demo data XML file and click Upload file and import.

On the next screen you will be provided with the option to import the example user or assign the content to one of your existing users. Enable the Download and import file attachments checkbox to also import media files (images) - skip this if you have already attempted to import multiple times and the process has failed due to timeouts.

The process will take 1-2 minutes in most cases. When done, you will be presented with a confirmation message that all has been imported successfully, or which parts of the demo data have failed to be imported. This will always happen if you did not activate some/all of the companion plugins. The rest of the imported data (excluding the plugins that weren't available) will still be usable.

If you import the demo data XML file multiple times, some content elements will simply be overwritten while others will be duplicated (for example, menu items). If the import step times out or otherwise fails, reset the site and start from scratch to ensure you don't have duplicated content on the site.

Some hosting providers severely limit the allowed memory usage and processing times for shared accounts. The import procedure should generally complete in about 1-2 minutes for our demo data, but in some cases this may take longer (due to the fact that images need to be retrieved from our own demo site). This can cause the import process to time-out and fail.
If this happens, try to raise the time limit (the most usually hit limit) and/or the memory limit for your account (at least temporarily while performing the import). If that is not possible, you might need to skip the media import step (and manually add your own media images later).

4. Import the theme options

Navigate to the theme's management page, under Appearance » Theme Plus Theme. Under the Theme Options tab click the Import Theme Options button.
On the next step select the theme options XML file and click the Import options button. This will overwrite all existing options.

5. Final configuration tweaks

You will need to perform two additional manual steps to complete the demo setup procedure:

  • Navigate to WordPress' general Reading options and assign a static page as the homepage - the demo data includes an example Home page (you can also set a static page for the blog section if you intend to use one - the demo data includes a Blog page).
  • Navigate to WordPress' menu management and assign the menus to their appropriate locations (the demo menus are named similarly to their target locations).

Reset site and start fresh

Sometimes you might just want to start from with a fresh, clean WordPress installation. You can do it the classical way (delete the database and run the setup process again) or you can use the Advanced WordPress Reset plugin to simply clean up the database and reset the site to a fresh state.

Depending on the complex setup you have configured in the past, this plugin might not always be able to remove every bit of content. You can check manually after the reset and remove anything that has survived the procedure.