Easiest ways to export Squarespace website data
Squarespace has a built-in feature that allows for exporting your organization’s website data in various formats. Below, we will cover the most common methods of exporting site data from Squarespace, as well as third-party options that may make this process simpler and more efficient for you and your team.
How to export your Squarespace site with the built in Export Tool
Exporting site data from Squarespace is pretty straightforward.
The first option to try is built in. We always suggest Squarespace site owners to try this method first before attempting to rebuild or hire a service provider. This native export feature is found within your ‘Settings’ section of your dashboard on the left side menu bar.
From there, its easy to just select “Export Site Data” which will prompt you with an alert asking if you would like to proceed with the export. This will download a compressed file containing all of your site’s content and assets.
Squarespace also provides the option to backup an entire website as well as individual pages, collections, blocks and galleries. All of these options are available from the same “Export Site Data” feature mentioned above by selecting which elements you would like backed up in addition to downloading a full copy for archival purposes.
Third-Party Export Options
For those who would like more control and customization options, there are a few third-party export solutions that can be used to export content from Squarespace websites.
If you plan to import your Squarespace content into a self-hosted WordPress site using a WordPress Importer, your images may not migrate with the rest of your content. Instead, WordPress may only pull the referenced links (or the URLs) for the images, so when you deactivate your Squarespace site, the image links also deactivate, and the images disappear. There are some workarounds, but the exact methods really depend on the size of your media library (i.e. 10 images or 100,000 images).
To ensure that your images fully import and display correctly on your WordPress site, the easiest workaround for smaller sites is to simply import your Squarespace content into the Wordpress.com version of the platform, which copies your images to WordPress’ servers. After importing, ensure all your images appear in WordPress’ Media Library. Then, simply use any of the many tools available to migrate a WordPress website to the correct hosting platform.
Alternatively, if you prefer using WordPress Importer, we recommend manually downloading your site’s images and uploading them to your WordPress site directly. Some users report success in getting to the media library within the exported Squarespace data, others find the data less than useful.
Next steps
If you’re still struggling to export your site from Squarespace, or if this guide feels a little too technical for your team’s capacity, then we suggest reaching out to someone with experience migrating Squarespace website data. Minimally, working with a freelancer could provide some quick insight into the correct path for you to migrate, or if your website and organization’s requirements are complex, then a professional service provider specializing in migration would be suggested.
Our engineers are experts in working with Squarespace, so please reach out and ask any questions you may have.
