Migrating from ExpressionEngine (EE) over to WordPress can be a complex process, depending on the amount of data and complexity of your website. EE users are stored in their own database table, called exp_members and this has a different structure than that used by WordPress for user/member information.

Fortunately, there are several approaches you can take to export your EE members.

There are a few ways to export members from ExpressionEngine and import them into WordPress. Depending on the level of technical experience you have, there’s probably an approach that would work for you.

There are a couple of tools available that allow you to easily export members from ExpressionEngine into a format compatible with WordPress so they can be imported as users in your WP site, and it’s not too difficult to export this data directly from MySQL.

#1 Engineer Recommended Method for Exporting EE Members for Import Into WordPress

When the question began circulating our department, we knew exactly the right approach to exporting members, it’s pretty easy.

“Export the exp_members table and you’re pretty much done…” said one engineer. Though, it may not be quite that simple, it really is pretty straightforward for anyone with experience moving databases or data around.

You can take an existing MySQL query for the exp_members table, which lists all of your users and their data. Then you’ll need to convert it into a format compatible with WordPress (the wp_users table). The column names will be different between EE and WP so you’ll have to make some changes before running the query.

Here’s a query that will give you results which use the column names and formats that you need for your wp_users table. Since the password schemes aren’t compatible, you’re correct in assuming that users will have to reset their passwords.

SELECT
username as user_login,
username as user_nicename,
email as user_email,
url as user_url,
screen_name as display_name,
FROM_UNIXTIME(join_date) AS user_registered
FROM exp_members

This is just a sample of the code, the exact query would depend on the version of Expression Engine you’re using.

When you run this query on your EE database, you can then export the results via phpMyAdmin in several formats, like CSV, and then you could import that resulting file into WordPress in a number of ways.

Note: All users will have to reset their passwords, as the password data is not easily transferable.

This method is more technical, and not really suited for all organizations. If you have an IT person or a dedicated developer, this approach is perfect.

We hope this information is useful for your organization and has helped you learn how to easily export members from ExpressionEngine into a format compatible with WordPress so they can be imported as users in your WP site. This guide provides step-by-step instructions and helpful tips for migrating user/member data from old EE websites over to new WordPress sites quickly and efficiently.