How to backup and restore your Blogger blog posts

Thumbs up to Blogger for having ingeniously designed an easy way for us to backup our Blogspot blogs and be able to restore it in case the need arises.

Can you just picture the nightmare if all our posts strangely disappear one day for no apparent reason? Having spent much precious time, effort and hard work in writing and publishing them, only to have it all go up in smoke! I think I won't be able to stop crying then!

I've been blogging on Google Blogger platform for a few years now, but had never thought it necessary to backup my posts and comments, after all, Google is so solid and reliable, I reasoned! However, a recent email from the Blogger Team a couple of months ago had me mystified and set me thinking the worst!

Appended is an excerpt of Blogger's notification to me:

"Your blog at: httpxxxxxxxxxx has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at httpxxxxxxxxxx.

Your blog will be deleted in 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and your readers will see a warning page during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. Once we have reviewd and determined your blog is not spam, the blog will be unlocked and the message in your Blogger dashboard will no longer be displayed.......

We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this error."

Of course I responded immediately and all was fine within a few days. But, just thinking that my blog could have been deleted if I had overlooked this email or my computer went kaput coincidentally or I was vacationing during the grace period of 20 days, really gave me the shivers!

This experience had taught me to be wiser and sent me on a google search to learn how to save my blog posts. I'm not going to take risks anymore or procrastinate on this matter. And, I'd strongly recommend that you to do the same...you can never know when your precious blog(s) could go up in flames. You're not in control of your blog, Google Blogger is!

Learn how-to backup your blogspot posts and comments,
using the Export Blog feature in Blogger:

1. Go to Dashboard | Settings | Basic, and click on the Export Blog button.
   This will allow you to save your blog's entire current posts and comments in your hard disk.
   
   
   
   
2. A new page to export your blog will load. Click on Download Blog button.
   
   
   
   
3. The download manager window will pop up. Click OK to save the XML file to your computer's hard drive.
   (Update Nov 21: Computer can go bust without warning! Thus, to be doubly sure, best to save or backup your Export Blog's XML file at your email account as well. A little extra effort goes a long way).
   
   
   
   

Simple and easy steps, quick too isn't it?

However, take note that this Export Blog feature will only export your blog's current posts and comments already published at that time. You will need to repeat this process periodically, depending on how often you publish newer posts. Bear in mind too that this feature only backup your posts and comments, and does not save your blog's template and other page elements that you've configured for your blog.

Learn more in the following backup tips:

1. Backup individual blog post, using Blogger's BlogSend
   - this BlogSend feature allows each of your blog post to be automatically sent to your email address, which can then be collectively grouped as you wish in your email account. This is another way to ensure that all your posts are backed up, even the newer ones while waiting for your periodic Export Blog process as advised above.
   To do this - go to your blog's Dashboard | Settings | Email & Mobile. At BlogSend Address, type in your email address in the box provided, then click the Save Settings button.
   
   
2. Backup your blog's template
   - go to Dashboard | Layout | Edit HTML. Click on the Download Full Template to save a copy of it in your computer's hard drive.
   (Update Nov 21: it's strongly recommended to backup your Blog's template XML file at your email account as well because computer can go kaput at any time when you least expect).
   

Thus, should ever something unforeseen happens which results in losing all your blog posts, you can then use Blogger's Import Blog feature to import your blog's entire posts that you've saved as a backup copy earlier.

Learn how-to restore your blogspot posts and comments,
using the Import Blog feature in Blogger :

1. Go to Dashboard | Settings | Basic, and click on the Import Blog button.
   This will allow you to restore a previously saved copy of your blog's entire posts and comments into a new blog or your existing one.
   
   
   
   
2. A new page to import a blog will load. Browse and find the exported file (.xml) from your hard drive and fill out the word verification. By default, your imported posts will remain unpublished until you publish them from your dashboard later. You can however, check the box beside 'Automatically publish all imported posts' if you wish so. Then click the Import Blog button.
   
   
   
   
3. Almost instantly or within no time at all, your new blog is created or the entire posts with comments imported as seen in the screen shot below. You can then choose to publish all imported posts or select posts to publish.
   
   
   
   

Check out Blogger's help on how do I import and export blogs on Blogger.

Go on, procrastinate no more and backup your Blogspot blog posts regularly as an essential exercise! After all, it is so very simple, easy and quick!

Hope these blogging tips have put a smile on your face today! :)