Data & Uninstallation
Herodotus stores events and settings in standard WordPress tables. Take a database and uploads backup before a migration or destructive operation.
Stored Data
| Data | Storage | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Events | posts | herodotus_post content, title, excerpt and publication status |
| Categories and tags | terms / term_taxonomy / term_relationships | Event categories and standard tags |
| Date metadata | postmeta | Day, month, year, era and derived month/day and signed-year keys |
| Pro metadata | postmeta | Priority, upcoming flag, sources, location coordinates and import markers |
| Settings and cache | options | herodotus_settings and temporary transients |
| Media | Media Library and uploads | Featured images and imported images |
JSON Export and Import in Pro
- Open Herodotus - On This Day → Settings → Data.
- Choose the settings/events export offered by the JSON tool and download the file.
- On the destination with Free and Pro active, upload the JSON through the matching import form.
- Review imported event dates, categories, media and settings before making the destination public.
Event data includes title, content, excerpt, status, day, month, year, era, priority, categories, tags and image URL. Pro modules also transfer upcoming, source and location data. Image URLs are downloaded during import; the file is not a self-contained copy of the uploads directory. Keep source images reachable while migrating.
CSV Import in Pro
- Open the CSV/TXT import area in Data and download its CSV template.
- Keep one header row. Prefer separate day, month and year columns to ambiguous spreadsheet date formats.
- Upload a CSV, select its encoding if automatic detection is wrong, and generate the preview.
- Review recognized/ignored columns, errors and duplicate detection.
- Start the import and allow the progress process to finish. Review the result before uploading another file.
title,day,month,year,era,content,excerpt,status,categories,tags,image,priority,upcoming,source_name,source_url,location,lat,lng
Moon Landing,20,7,1969,AD,First crewed Moon landing.,,publish,space,,,,0,,,,,Supported canonical columns are shown in the template above. Title is required; usable events need complete date data. A combined date column is also supported in recognized formats, but separate numeric columns avoid locale ambiguity. Use CSV quoting for commas inside a value. Flags such as priority/upcoming use the values demonstrated by the downloadable template.
A single upload supports at most 3000 rows. Encodings include UTF-8, Windows-1252 and Windows-1251; the preview reports the encoding used. Enable duplicate skipping to compare CSV entries by title and full date.
TXT Day Files and ZIP in Pro
A day file contains one event per line beginning with a year. The day comes from a filename such as 1.txt or May-1.txt. Supply the month in the filename or select it in the form. A month in a ZIP name such as May.zip, or a folder inside it, can also provide the month.
Select multiple day files together or pack them in a ZIP. The 3000-row limit applies across the upload. A CSV upload is handled separately from TXT day files.
The full line becomes the event description. The title is the first seven words followed by an ellipsis and should be reviewed afterwards. Lines without a usable leading year are skipped and reported. Duplicate detection for day files compares full text and full date, including year/era.
Import History and Cleanup
Recent imports are listed in Data. The cleanup action targets events marked as created by that import, leaving events created through other routes alone. With Trash enabled they are moved to Trash; if Trash is disabled the interface warns that deletion is permanent. Read the action label and back up before cleanup. After a completed import, Upload another file starts the next upload without removing the events just created.
Deactivation vs Uninstallation
Deactivation turns a plugin off. Event content remains. Deactivating Pro resets Date Mode to Today and clears some Pro settings, including custom heading/CTA and source/location visibility controls, so do not assume every preference will return unchanged after reactivation.
Deleting Free with Remove Data on Uninstall off keeps the stored events and settings. With it on, deletion removes Herodotus events, their metadata and relationships, event categories, settings and matching plugin transients. It does not promise to remove every uploaded media file or every third-party/licensing record.
Enable Data Removal
- Back up your database and media.
- Open Herodotus - On This Day → Settings → Advanced.
- Enable Remove Data on Uninstall and save.
- Only when ready, deactivate and delete the free plugin from Installed Plugins.
Note: Data removal is permanent. Reinstalling cannot restore deleted events without a backup.
WordPress XML Export
Without Pro, use Tools → Export to export the Herodotus post type or all content, then import it with the WordPress importer. XML includes content and post metadata but does not include plugin settings. Media transfer depends on accessible attachment URLs; a full backup is still needed.