Backup, Restore & Data Migration

TL;DR: Export all your link data as JSON for backup or CSV for spreadsheets. Restore from a JSON backup to recover links, affiliates, categories, and tags. Migrate from Pretty Links or BetterLinks with automatic detection and conflict handling (skip or overwrite).

Export your data, restore from backups, download CSV spreadsheets, and migrate from competing plugins — all from one place.

Overview

Link Manager Pro provides four data management tools:

Tool	Purpose
Backup (JSON)	Export selected data as a JSON file
Restore (JSON)	Import data from a previously exported JSON backup
CSV Export	Download all links as a CSV spreadsheet
Data Migration	Import data from Pretty Links or BetterLinks

Access backup and restore at Link Manager Pro → Settings → Backup & Restore. Access migration at Link Manager Pro → Settings → Data Migration.

Creating a Backup

Back up your data as a JSON file. You choose exactly which items to include.

Selectable items

Item	What it includes
Links	All masked links and their configuration
Link Rules	Conditional routing rules attached to links
Clicks	Click tracking data
Affiliates	Affiliate partner records
Link Health	Health check results and 404 records
Redirects	Redirect mappings from broken links
Settings	Plugin configuration
Posts	Post-level link data

Steps

1. Go to Link Manager Pro → Settings → Backup & Restore.
2. Click Backup.
3. Select the items you want to include.
4. Click Start Backup.
5. Wait for the batched export to complete. A progress indicator shows the current status.
6. Click the download link when the export finishes.

How it works

The export processes records in batches of 50. Large datasets export in multiple rounds — you see progress update after each batch completes. The final JSON file is stored in a protected directory (blocked by .htaccess) and served through a nonce-verified download URL.

Restoring from Backup

Upload a JSON file previously exported from Link Manager Pro to restore your data.

Warning: Restore replaces existing data for the selected items. This is destructive — the plugin clears current records before importing. Always create a fresh backup before restoring.

Steps

1. Go to Link Manager Pro → Settings → Backup & Restore.
2. Click Restore.
3. Upload the JSON backup file.
4. Select the items you want to restore.
5. Click Start Restore.
6. Wait for the batched import to complete. A progress indicator shows the current status.

The restore processes records in batches of 50, the same as export. You can only restore files that Link Manager Pro originally exported — the plugin validates the file format before processing.

CSV Export

Download all your links as a CSV spreadsheet. Use this when you need link data in Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet application.

Exported columns

Column	Description
ID	Internal link ID
Slug	The short URL path
Target URL	The destination URL
Redirect Type	HTTP redirect code (301, 302, 307)
Source	How the link was created (manual, migration, etc.)
Click Count	Total clicks recorded
Autolink	Whether auto-linking is enabled (yes/no)
Keywords	Comma-separated auto-link keywords
Created At	Date the link was created

Steps

1. Go to Link Manager Pro → Settings → Backup & Restore.
2. Click Export CSV.
3. The CSV file downloads immediately.

CSV export streams the file directly — there is no batched processing or progress indicator. The download starts as soon as you click.

When to use CSV vs JSON backup

Use case	Tool
Restore data into Link Manager Pro	JSON Backup
Analyze links in a spreadsheet	CSV Export
Move data between WordPress sites	JSON Backup
Share link data with a team member	CSV Export

Pre-Migration Checklist

Complete these steps before you start a data migration:

• [ ] Back up your WordPress site (files and database).
• [ ] Note how many links, categories, and redirects your current plugin has — you use these numbers to verify the results.
• [ ] Verify Link Manager Pro is activated and working on the target site.
• [ ] Consider testing on a staging site first, especially for large datasets.

Migrating from Pretty Links

Link Manager Pro auto-detects Pretty Links by checking for the prli_links database table. If detected, the migration option appears automatically.

What migrates

Pretty Links data	Becomes in Link Manager Pro
Links (slug, redirect type, nofollow, sponsored)	Links with mapped redirect types and REL attributes
Groups	Categories
Clicks (cookie, IP, user agent)	Click records
Settings (redirect type, nofollow, bot filtering)	Plugin settings

Migration phases

The migration runs in order: groups → links → clicks → settings → finalize. The finalize step recalculates click counts for each migrated link.

Steps

1. Go to Link Manager Pro → Settings → Data Migration.
2. The plugin detects Pretty Links and displays it as an available source.
3. Select Pretty Links as the source plugin.
4. Choose which items to migrate.
5. Set a conflict strategy: Skip (keep existing records) or Overwrite (replace with migrated data).
6. Click Start Migration.
7. Wait for batched processing to complete. Progress updates per phase.
8. Review the results summary: migrated, skipped, and failed counts per item.

Migrating from BetterLinks

Link Manager Pro auto-detects BetterLinks by checking for the betterlinks database table. If detected, the migration option appears automatically.

What migrates

BetterLinks data	Becomes in Link Manager Pro
Categories	Categories
Tags	Tags
Links (with scheduling/expiry dates)	Links with active_from / expires_at
Keywords	Auto-linking configuration
Passwords	Hashed link passwords
Geo redirect rules	Link rules with country_in conditions
Clicks (country, user agent)	Click records
Settings (redirect type, nofollow)	Plugin settings

Migration phases

The migration runs in order: terms → links → keywords → passwords → geo_rules → clicks → settings → finalize.

Steps

1. Go to Link Manager Pro → Settings → Data Migration.
2. The plugin detects BetterLinks and displays it as an available source.
3. Select BetterLinks as the source plugin.
4. Choose which items to migrate.
5. Set a conflict strategy: Skip (keep existing records) or Overwrite (replace with migrated data).
6. Click Start Migration.
7. Wait for batched processing to complete. Progress updates per phase.
8. Review the results summary: migrated, skipped, and failed counts per item.

Conflict Strategies

When migrating data, you choose how to handle records that already exist in Link Manager Pro.

Strategy	Behavior
Skip	Keep your existing record. The migrated record is ignored. Use this when you have already created some links in Link Manager Pro and do not want them overwritten.
Overwrite	Replace the existing record with the migrated data. Use this when you want the source plugin's data to take priority.

Warning: Overwrite replaces matching records permanently. Back up your data before migrating with the overwrite strategy.

The results summary shows how many records were migrated, skipped, and failed — so you can verify exactly what happened.

Troubleshooting

Backup download does not start

• Check that your server allows file downloads through admin-ajax.php.
• Verify you are logged in as an administrator with the required capability.
• Check your server's PHP memory limit — large exports need sufficient memory.

Restore fails or stalls

• Confirm the file is a JSON backup originally exported from Link Manager Pro. The plugin does not accept files from other sources.
• Check the file size against your server's upload_max_filesize and post_max_size PHP settings.
• If the restore stalls mid-batch, reload the page and try again. Partial restores may leave incomplete data — restore from a fresh backup.

Migration does not detect the source plugin

• The source plugin (Pretty Links or BetterLinks) must be installed. It does not need to be active, but the database tables must exist.
• If you uninstalled the source plugin and chose to delete its data, the tables no longer exist and migration is not possible.

Migration shows failed records

• Check the error messages in the results summary. Common causes include duplicate slugs and invalid redirect types.
• Run the migration again with the Skip strategy to skip already-migrated records and retry only the failures.

CSV export produces an empty file

• Verify you have at least one link in Link Manager Pro.
• Check your server's output buffering settings — some caching plugins interfere with streamed downloads. Temporarily disable caching plugins if the file downloads empty.

Post-Migration Verification

After migration completes, verify your data transferred correctly:

1. Test 3–5 sample redirects by visiting their short URLs and confirming they reach the correct destination.
2. Check that categories (from Pretty Links groups or BetterLinks categories) appear under Link Manager Pro → Categories.
3. Verify click data imported by comparing click counts on a few links against your source plugin. Click data only imports if you selected it during migration.
4. Open Link Manager Pro → Settings and confirm migrated settings match your expectations.
5. Compare the results summary totals (migrated, skipped, failed) against the counts you noted in the pre-migration checklist.

Rollback Plan

If migration results are not what you expected:

1. Deactivate Link Manager Pro from Plugins → Installed Plugins.
2. Reactivate your previous plugin (Pretty Links or BetterLinks). Your source plugin's data remains in the database — migration reads from it without modifying it.
3. If you need to undo changes to Link Manager Pro's data, restore from the WordPress backup you created before migrating.