Export WordPress Posts to CSV with Custom Fields and Taxonomies

To export WordPress posts to CSV with custom fields, the fields have to be columns first. The Export tab of WOLF does not have its own field picker: it writes exactly the columns of the Posts Editor table, in their order, for all posts, the filtered posts or the ticked ones. So a good export is mostly preparation: add the custom fields, arrange the columns, filter the posts. Below is that workflow, what the file contains (including why custom field columns are headed Meta: key), how to open it in a spreadsheet without broken characters, the XML option, and what the export does not do.

What decides the rows and columns of the export

• Rows. If posts are ticked in the table, only they are exported. Otherwise the export takes all posts matching the current filter, or all posts of the current post type if no filter is applied. Ticks only work on the current page of the table (up to 100 rows), so for bigger selections use the Filters tab. One export covers one post type.
• Columns. Every column enabled in the Settings tab, in the same order, except the checkbox column. The ID column is always included, which helps when you match rows later.
• Formats. CSV, with a choice of delimiter (, ; | ^ ~), and XML. There is no separate Excel format; Excel opens the CSV, as described below.

Export posts with custom fields to CSV, step by step

1. Add the custom fields. In the Meta Fields tab, enter the ID of a post that has all fields filled under Get meta keys from any post by its ID, click Get, keep the keys you want to export and click Save meta fields. How to find the right keys is explained in the Meta Fields documentation.
2. Choose and order the columns. In the Settings tab, switch on the new meta columns and the standard columns and taxonomies you need, switch off the rest, drag them into the order the file should have, and click Save all settings.
3. Save the set as a columns profile if you will export the same columns again: open Columns profiles on the tools panel of the Posts Editor, type a name under New Profile and click Create. Next time, load the profile and the column set is back in one step.
4. Select the posts. Filter by category, status, date, author or a custom field value, or tick rows on the current page. The notice at the top of the Export tab shows what the export will be applied to.
5. Export. In the Export tab, choose the delimiter and click Export to CSV. WOLF processes the posts in portions of ten and shows the progress; keep the tab open until it reaches 100 percent. Then click download.

The Export documentation describes the tab itself; a practical example, a price list exported from property listings, is in bulk editing real estate listings.

Column names: why custom fields are headed "Meta: key"

Standard columns and taxonomies get the titles you see in the Settings tab, including titles you changed there. Columns of meta fields are always headed Meta: followed by the meta key, for example Meta: wpcf-number-of-bathrooms for a Toolset field, regardless of the title you gave the field in WOLF. The title is a label of the WOLF table; the post itself only stores the key and the value, and the export writes what belongs to the posts. The built-in Thumbnail column is stored as meta too, so its header is Meta: _thumbnail_id.

If the file goes to someone who needs readable headers, rename the first row in the spreadsheet. Since the order of the columns comes from your saved profile, the headers are always in the same places, and a saved spreadsheet template or a short macro can rename them every time.

What the values look like

The export writes the data as WordPress stores it, with a few conversions to make it readable:

Open the CSV in Excel or LibreOffice

The file is UTF-8 encoded. LibreOffice Calc asks for the character set and the delimiter when it opens a CSV; choose UTF-8 and the delimiter you exported with. Excel opened with a double-click guesses instead, and accented or non-Latin characters can turn into strings like é. Import the file instead: in Excel, use Data → From Text/CSV, set File origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8), check the delimiter and click Load.

In countries where the comma is the decimal separator, Excel expects semicolons between columns, so export with ; there. Use |, ^ or ~ when the delimiter would otherwise appear in your values a lot and the receiving tool lets you choose it.

Export to XML

Export to XML writes the same posts in the structure of a WordPress export file: an item per post with the enabled standard fields (title, content, excerpt, dates, slug, status and others), its terms as category elements carrying the term name, the taxonomy and the term slug, and the enabled meta fields from the Meta Fields tab as wp:postmeta key and value pairs. Array values are serialized. When the export is finished, click download XML.

It is a data file for tools that read XML, not a complete site export: it contains only the columns you enabled, and it is not meant for Tools → Import. To move content between WordPress sites, use Tools → Export. The file header names the user who exported it, with login and email address, so keep that in mind before you send it to someone outside the site.

What the export does not do

• No import. WOLF edits existing posts and exports them; it cannot create or update posts from a CSV file. Make the changes in the table instead, cell by cell or for many posts at once in the Bulk Edit tab. To create a handful of posts, the New Post button on the tools panel adds empty drafts that you fill in the table. To create many posts from a spreadsheet, use a CSV import plugin.
• No calculated columns. A value derived from two fields, such as a discount percentage from an old and a new price, is not filled automatically. Calculate it in the spreadsheet; or, to store such a value in the posts once, use the numeric operations of the Bulk Edit tab, which can change a numeric field and combine it with another numeric field using +, -, * or /, one operation at a time.
• No permanent file storage. The file is written to the plugin's ext/export/__exported_files/ folder and can be opened by its URL. WOLF deletes it when the next export starts and removes files older than two days, so download it right away.

Checklist

• The custom fields are saved in the Meta Fields tab and switched on as columns in Settings.
• The columns are in the right order and saved as a columns profile for next time.
• The notice in the Export tab shows the right selection: ticked, filtered or all posts of the right post type.
• The CSV is opened with UTF-8 and the delimiter you chose.
• Readable headers are renamed in the spreadsheet; meta columns always arrive as Meta: key.

If a column is missing from the file or a value looks wrong, open a topic on the WOLF support forum with the post type, the column and an example post.