The UpdraftPlus plugin is exactly as it sounds, a plugin to backup your WordPress website. A backup plugin should be one of the first plugins you ever install on your WordPress site. Along with a security plugin, but that is another post.
You can’t depend on your webhost to backup your site (although my webhost WPX Hosting does for free), it is your responsibility. Luckily the UpdraftPlus backup plugin makes this a simple job.
Some key features include:
- Restore backups directly from WordPress
- Schedule backups
- Send your site’s backups to the cloud for safe keeping
- Migration – move your site from one place to another easily
- Supports backing up multiple and non-WordPress databases
UpdraftPlus is easy to install and setup. Just install UpdraftPlus like you would any another WordPress plugin. Once the plugin is installed and activated you will notice a new menu option in your WordPress admin area named UpdraftPlus Backups.
If you just want to do a quick backup and download it to your computer then when you navigate to the UpdraftPlus settings page, simply click on the blue Backup Now button. This will start a new backup of your WordPress site. Once it is finished you will be able to download it under the Existing Backups tab. The amount time for the backup to finish will depend on the size of your WordPress site.
Of course, it is best practice to schedule your site’s backup so that you always have a good recent working backup. To setup a backup schedule simply click on the Settings tab and choose how often you would like the backup to run. I personally recommend that you backup your database daily if you publish a lot of content. The files backup includes uploads to the media library, plugin files, and theme files. Unless you are constantly altering your theme a weekly or bi-weekly backup schedule will work just fine.
When scheduling your site’s backups don’t forget to set a destination for the backup. You don’t want to save your backups on your web host. The backups will take up a lot of space and if something happens to your web host you may not have access to the backups. With UpdraftPlus you can send your backups to Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, or you can even have it emailed to you.
You set up the destination for your backups on the same page you schedule backups. Just scroll down a little bit and you will see your options. Choose the destination of your choice and the plugin will walk you through the rest.
Unlike some other WordPress backup plugins, you can restore any backup created by UpdraftPlus directly from WordPress. There is no separate script or file you have to copy over and install to perform a restore. This also makes it simple to move or copy a WordPress site to another location.
Installing a backup plugin should be one of the first tasks taken when creating a WordPress site. UpdraftPlus makes it very easy to schedule your backups so you don’t have to worry about it and can spend more time completing money making tasks in your business.
