Backing Up Your WordPress Files Manually

Your WordPress directory contains sub-folders e.g. wp-content, wp-includes etc and files e.g. wp-config.php, theme and plugin files etc required by your WordPress site. The wp-content folder contains all your themes, plugins, cache and uploads among other things. You cannot afford to lose this data. The wp-admin carries all the files required by your WordPress admin area, so you can’t afford to lose this as well. The wp-includes folder contains WordPress core files. This is the folder where all the major WordPress code lives. You definitely don’t want to lose this code.

To create a copy of your WordPress files, you just need to download your entire WordPress directory. How? You can login to your server via cPanel or using a FTP program such File Zilla or Transmit.

Backup Your WordPress Site via cPanel

This is so easy you can do it in the time it takes to brew a mug of coffee. Here’s the procedure:

• Login to your web host and navigate to cPanel. For most web hosts, the cPanel is usually the first page you encounter when you login
• Navigate to the File Manager, which should lead you to your public_html or Home directory
• From here, just locate your WordPress directory. This is the folder you want to backup
• Unfortunately, you can’t download the WordPress folder in File Manager without first compressing it. Worry not though, compressing a folder needn’t be challenging
• Click on your WordPress directory, and select Compress from the menu bar. Alternatively, right-click on the folder and choose Compress from the drop-down options menu that appears
• Choose the compression type e.g. ZIP, Tar, GZIP etc from the dialog box that opens. I always go with a ZIP archive
• Then just hit the Compress File(s) button and wait for the process to run its course. Your server will save your compressed WordPress folder
• Click on the archive you just created and choose Download from the menu. Alternatively, right-click on the archive and choose Download.
• Choose a secure location on your hard disk and save your backup
• And that’s it!

Tip: Upload the backup to your Dropbox account, Google Drive, burn it to a DVD/CD, email it etc – just make sure you have several copies to ensure you don’t lose your site should one of the backup dies.

If your web host uses a different control panel e.g. vDeck, Plesk, etc, you just need to locate your File Manager, and just follow the process i.e. Locate File Manager -> Locate your WordPress directory -> Compress -> Download. Repeat regularly.