{"id":1642,"date":"2021-01-22T23:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2025-10-01T10:32:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T07:32:43","slug":"import-export-customizer-settings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/blog\/import-export-customizer-settings\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Import \/ Export Customizer Settings to a WordPress Child Theme"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>&#8220;Why should I bother to learn how to import \/ export Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme?&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; you&#8217;re thinking. \ud83e\udd14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, as awesome as child themes are, they do come with a couple of downsides, and especially if you&#8217;re moving to a child theme later on &#8211; <em>after<\/em> using the parent theme for a while and already having it configured to fit your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This post shows <strong>why exporting Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme is important<\/strong>, how to prepare yourself to do it, and how to move all your settings safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, let&#8217;s make sure everyone&#8217;s on the same page and have a quick word about what child themes are and when to use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Child themes protect your customizations<\/strong> \u2013 they let you update parent themes safely without losing design or code changes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>But child themes don\u2019t inherit Customizer settings<\/strong> \u2013 switching later means you risk losing all your design tweaks unless you export\/import them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Two main solutions exist<\/strong> \u2013 either use your theme\u2019s built-in import\/export tools (e.g., Blocksy) or install a plugin like Customizer Export\/Import.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>It saves massive time<\/strong> \u2013 instead of re-doing settings manually, you can transfer them in seconds, even across multiple sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What child themes are<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In plain English:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A child theme inherits the design and the functionality of its parent theme.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The main power of child themes is that you can modify those inherited characteristics (design, features, other elements) and keep your modifications independent of the parent theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this means in practice is that you&#8217;re ensuring that your modifications won&#8217;t go away if you ever update the parent theme &#8211; which would happen if you modified the code of the parent theme <em>directly<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the hood, child themes have a straightforward core structure. The most minimal child theme &#8211; one that just inherits all features from its parent and doesn&#8217;t have any custom characteristics &#8211; only consists of a <code>style.css<\/code> file (to establish the child theme declaration) and a <code>functions.php<\/code> file (to enqueue the child theme&#8217;s stylesheet).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to learn more about building a child theme, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.wordpress.org\/themes\/advanced-topics\/child-themes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">this guide<\/a> from the official handbook at WordPress.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When to use child themes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we said above, child themes are <em>THE<\/em> way to go if you want to modify any WordPress theme while still keeping the theme&#8217;s core functionality, and treating it as the foundation of whatever you&#8217;re working on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With child themes, you can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>keep your modifications separate from the parent theme,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>safely update the parent theme without losing your original changes,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>focus on just the parts that you want to modify without having to worry about the rest of the theme,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>make debugging easier since all your changes are in one place and can be easily turned off by switching back to the parent theme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On a slightly more technical note, you can use child themes no matter what part of the parent theme you want to modify. Child themes will do a great job helping you tweak the parent&#8217;s HTML structure, CSS styles, JS code, or whatever else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The main problem with the everyday use of child themes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, so child themes are great, like, 99% of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are, however, some specific issues that you might stumble upon now and then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This brings us back to the problem with importing \/ exporting Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s the thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you switch to a child theme, all the hard-coded features of the theme will be inherited by the child. In other words, everything that the theme&#8217;s developer put in the source files will be available in the child theme as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What the child theme won&#8217;t inherit, however, are all the settings and adjustments done by the user inside the WordPress Customizer. And this isn\u2019t a small issue \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/kinsta.com\/wordpress-cms-market-share\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">nearly 7 in 10 WordPress users rely on the Customizer<\/a> for their design and branding tweaks, so losing these settings can mean hours of rework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This can be a big problem when you&#8217;re switching to a child theme later on &#8211; once you&#8217;ve been using the parent theme for a while and have it set up just the way you like it. By default, <strong>the child theme won&#8217;t inherit any of these settings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luckily, we can fix that easily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to import \/ export Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Assuming you don&#8217;t want to be moving all your settings by hand, there are two main ways you can import \/ export Customizer settings to a child theme:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Use the parent theme&#8217;s built-in import \/ export features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>That is, of course, if your theme has those features. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s an example of how this works in <a href=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/\">Blocksy<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the WordPress Customizer, go into <strong>General \u2192 Customizer Import\/Export<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"859\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-export.png\" alt=\"Blocksy import export options\" class=\"wp-image-1644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-export.png 859w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-export-300x125.png 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-export-768x320.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 859px) 100vw, 859px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(You can use these features no matter if you&#8217;re on the main version of Blocksy or using a child theme already.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll see three possibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"395\" height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-options.png\" alt=\"Blocksy import options\" class=\"wp-image-1645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-options.png 395w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-import-options-141x300.png 141w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Export<\/strong> &#8211; this allows you to export your Customizer settings to a downloadable <code>.dat<\/code> file.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Import<\/strong> &#8211; here, you can upload a <code>.dat<\/code> file with the Customizer settings that you want to use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Copy Options<\/strong> &#8211; this last option allows you to directly copy the customizations from the current theme&#8217;s parent. Basically, it&#8217;s a shortcut so that you don&#8217;t have to first export settings from the parent and then come back to the child and import them by hand. With this option, this is all done in one go.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One more thing, when you click the button under <em>Export<\/em>, you&#8217;ll see that you can export your widget settings as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"621\" height=\"507\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-export-widgets.png\" alt=\"Blocksy export widgets\" class=\"wp-image-1646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-export-widgets.png 621w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/blocksy-export-widgets-300x245.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 621px) 100vw, 621px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can use this feature not only within the same website but between different websites, too. This is useful if you&#8217;re running an agency or have a couple of websites running the same theme as part of your business portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udca1 <em>Note; this import\/export feature will work for all child themes of Blocksy &#8211; no matter if you&#8217;ve got a child theme from a third-party developer, built one yourself, or you&#8217;re working on the official <a href=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/docs\/getting-started\/child-theme\/\">Blocksy Child theme<\/a> that came with your Blocksy package.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Use the Customizer Export\/Import plugin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a couple of plugins on the web that let you import \/ export Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme. Our favorite one is aptly named <strong>Customizer Export\/Import<\/strong>. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/customizer-export-import\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">get it from WordPress.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plugin installs like any other WordPress plugin. Once you have it activated, go to the WordPress Customizer. At the bottom of the sidebar, you&#8217;ll see the new <strong>Export\/Import<\/strong> section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"470\" height=\"390\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import.png\" alt=\"Export \/ import\" class=\"wp-image-1647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import.png 470w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import-300x249.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside, you can either generate a <em>settings export<\/em> file for your current theme or import a file prepared earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"424\" height=\"619\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import-2.png\" alt=\"Export \/ import options\" class=\"wp-image-1648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import-2.png 424w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/export-import-2-205x300.png 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the steps to use this plugin to import \/ export Customizer settings to a child theme:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Activate your parent theme.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Generate an export file for it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Activate the child theme again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Import the file through the Customizer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which is the better way to import \/ export Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, that is up to you. If you&#8217;re on Blocksy then the answer is pretty straightforward. You can jump into Customizer and import \/ export your settings in seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re on another theme, the Customizer Export\/Import plugin is still a solid choice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Give <a href=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/\">Blocksy<\/a> a try! See how easy it is to modify the theme in the Customizer without ever having to get your hands dirty in the source code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>If you have any questions about how to import \/ export Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme, let us know in the comments section below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post shows why exporting Customizer settings to a WordPress child theme is important, how to prepare yourself to do it, and how to move all your settings safely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[27,24,28,26,25],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-blocksy","tag-child-theme","tag-customizer","tag-export","tag-import"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14285,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/14285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}