Many Squarespace users are excited about the upcoming release of Squarespace 6, the intuitive web publisher's next generation platform currently in beta testing. Squarespace website owners wonder if they'll be able to export content off of their old site and import it into Squarespace 6. I've had a chance to test out the import/export features of Squarespace 6, and I'm happy to share the details with you.
Importing Content from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 6
As a beta tester for Squarespace 6, I've been keeping an anxious eye on the progression of the import features in the new platform as the Squarespace team releases ongoing updates. I've been trying to import my blog on BigPictureWeb.com to my beta site since the Holidays, but I until recently I was met with bugs that would cause my import to crash.
Last week I tried to complete my import again and had complete success! Sure enough, I was able to import over two year's-worth of blog posts onto ContentScientists.com (my Squarespace 6 beta site).
The import worked very well overall. Entire posts came across, along with images, styling, and comments. The import wasn't yet perfect, but I believe the Squarespace team will polish out the quirks in no time as they ready Squarespace 6 for launch.
Squarespace 6 Import/Export Support Plans Outlined
In addition to the abilty to import content from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 6, the company plans to support many forms of import and export with the new Squarespace 6. Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena has confirmed in an email that Squarespace 6 will support:
- Squarespace 5 blogs and pages
- Galleries are not possible right now, but it's easy to re-drop images on Squarespace 6 galleries.
- Support for Wordpress blogs and pages
- Tumblr, including most post types
- Dropbox (Casalena reports this will work more like a sync)
- Plans also exist for Blogger and photo services
Casalena's email update was music to my ears. The Squarespace team realizes platform mobility will be a huge factor in the success of Squarespace 6. Curious Wordpress, Tumblr, and Blogger users, which combined make up the vast majority of Internet bloggers, will be more likely to try out Squarespace if they don't feel trapped. I'm sure many of them will never look back to their old systems once their content has been imported to Squarespace 6.
How important is the import/export features of Squarespace 6 to you? Are you more likely to start new projects on Squarespace 5 knowing that the import is working so well in the Squarespace 6 beta? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.