ReadyMadeWeb

Use tp2wp.com

It’s a service that converts Typepad or Moveable Type data to the WordPress native import XML format.

I believe the problem you’re encountering is due to Typepad storing images without extensions, something that WordPress does not handle well.

Our Typepad conversion process at TP2WP.com fixes this problem. After converting your .txt export into .xml, our importer renames your image files with the proper file extension. That way, WordPress recognizes them as .jpg, .png, or whatever other sort of file attachment you’re using.

The service is available at TP2WP.com and our importer is available in the WordPress plugin directory.

Justin,

This can be caused by the MTIF export file from TypePad being parsed incorrectly. This is a common occurrence because of the MTIF file’s fragile markup method.

We created a conversion process at tp2wp.com that turns your MTIF file into WordPress XML format (WXR) so that you can avoid these issues.

Our converted parses the MTIF file, looking for the many edge cases that might otherwise cause an import to break and show HTML code, and then applies XML markup.

Check out the TP2WP converter at https://tp2wp.com or and contact us there for more info.

— Cord Blomquist

Daniel,

We’re creating a new importer that doesn’t hit the same memory and php execution time limitations. We’re going to break up the import into smaller actions that repeat over and over again, rather than one very long and very ram-hungry action. This should mean that the importer will work on nearly any server without the need to break up import files into pieces.

Regards,

Cord Blomquist

Executive Director
ReadyMadeWeb LLC
readymadeweb.com
Office: 707-RDY-MADE
Mobile: 202-615-0600

Avi, our most recent versions of the importer handles TypePad keywords and categories converting them to WordPress tags and categories respectively.

Daniel, have you solved this problem or did you hit a dead-end on this? If you’re still grappling with this issue, I’d be glad to delve into the specifics of it with you.

You may be experiencing a problem with PHP execution time or memory limitations imposed by your host. I’d suggest contacting network solution’s tech team to get support on these two topics.

If SquareSpace will export WordPress XML, then you should use the “WordPress” option under Tools -> Import. It will tell you to “Install the WordPress importer to import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags from a WordPress export file.” This means you just need to download and install the default WordPress importer. Given that SquareSpace is producing WordPress XML, it will be as though you are importing from another WordPress blog.

Using multisite would certainly split up your editorial staff, but you’d be splitting up everything else as well. If your goal is to divided your staff into separate editorial tracks or “silos” then you should be looking to solve that specific problem with a plugin, and there are many that could solve this problem.

“Role Scoper” may fit your purposes here. It’s a well-maintained plugin that will allow you to “Assign restrictions and roles to specific pages, posts or categories.” Notice “categories” at the end of the that quote!

Also, if you need help converting your MovableType data over to WordPress, we have a service that does just that at tp2wp.com.

andrewpaulbowden,

I would recommend using custom content types and custom fields here. You can implement this easily using ReedWrite, a plugin written by one of my colleagues.

You may also want to check out tp2wp.com, a service that ReadyMadeWeb has build to convert TypePad data into WordPress’s WXR import format.

— Cord Blomquist

Brent,

If you’re still having trouble, we’ve launched a service to convert TypePad export files to WordPress WXR import files at tp2wp.com. You may want to check it out as it preserves all permalinks, comments, images, and other files.

Cord Blomquist

ReadyMadeWeb

I posed this question to John O’Nolan, a WordPress core developer, who forwarded my question to core committer Aaron Jorbin. O’Nolan responded by saying (I’m paraphrasing) that there isn’t any official documentation on the WXR standard, but that reverse engineering a WXR export should give me all the information I need.

O’Nolan also noted that data more complex than blog post content is likely best dealt with through a database conversion/migration, rather than an import. I tend to agree here.

I found these two links to be of some help in my effort to reverse engineer the WXR standard:

https://ipggi.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/the-wordpress-extended-rss-wxr-exportimport-xml-document-format-decoded-and-explained/

https://blog.olalindberg.com/2008/12/13/write-your-own-wxr-file-to-migrate-custom-cms-to-wordpress/

The latter link specifically deal with attachments, something crucial for my current project.

I hope this helps anyone else who is curious about WXR.