This is all you need to do on your WordPress.com account. Now you need to import your information to your stand-alone WordPress installation. If you have one installed, login with your admin username and password. If you want to install a fresh WordPress application, check out our WordPress installation tutorial for more information on how to do this.Once you login, select the Tools menu from the left column and chose Import.
This page will show you the available sources you can import content from. Scroll down and select WordPress as an import type.
A popup will open asking you to install the WordPress Importer plugin. Click on the orange Install Now link to proceed.
Once the plugin files are downloaded, select the Activate Plugin & Run Importer link.
You will be redirected to the actual plugin page. Now click the Browse button, select the .xml file you have previously saved on your computer and click on the Upload file and import button.If the content which you want to migrate is quite large the corresponding web server's timeout value can be reached before the data is fully copied. In this case you need to reupload the .xml file. The system keeps a record for the migrated content and will proceed with the remaining data. Repeat the procedure until you receive a confirmation that the process is successfully completed.
Since you will be inserting new posts and pages WordPress needs to know who will be their author. On this page you can either select an existing user as posts author, or you can create a new one for the imported data. Note that you should check the Download and Import file attachments checkbox if you want your photos and other attachment to be transferred too. Finally, click on the Submit button.
That's it! Your data is now transferred from your WordPress.com account to your stand-alone WordPress application.
Important! This will transfer only your content - posts, pages, media. All the plugins and themes you've used at WordPress.com are proprietary and not part of the transfer. You will have to choose a new theme and install all the necessary plugins you need additionally on your self-hosted WordPress site.
Migrate your WordPress data only
Sometimes you may want to transfer only the content from your WordPress site from one application to another (between two different WordPress installations). In such cases, WordPress provides you with an easy mechanism to move your posts, comments, users, attachments and other information with just few clicks. To do this, first login as administrator in your existing blog backend and select Tools -> Export from the left menu.
On this page chose whether you want your Posts, Pages and other available content transferred or you want all the content to be exported. For the purpose of this tutorial, we've chosen to move all the content. Then press the "Download Export File" button and save the .xml file to your computer.Now, login to your new WordPress installation and chose Tools -> Import from the left menu. On this page select "WordPress" in order to import content from your previous WordPress installation.
On the next page you have to select whether you want the new content to be posted with an existing author or under a new username. Make sure you check the "Download and import file attachments" checkbox. This will allow WordPress to move correctly your posts including all the photos and other media you've inserted into them.
Finally, press the Submit button and your content will be imported into your new WordPress application. That's it! Your posts and media are now successfully migrated!
EmoticonEmoticon