To make a manual backup of your website you will need it’s database (DB) and its files. The DB can be found in your cPanel and the files can be saved onto your computer via FileManager or FTP.
- Login to your Web host cPanel.
- Locate the area for Databases and specifically find phpMyAdmin.
- Within phpMyAdmin on the left side you will find a list of your databases. Click the (+) sign to view its details.
- Locate and Click the Export button on the top of the page.
- Keep the “Quick – display only the minimal options ” ticked.
- Click the [Go] button.
- A pop-up window will appear to ask you where you want to save the file on your device/computer. Click [OK] and you will be prompted with a file folder location for you to choose. Note: I suggest to create a new folder with the date of the backup. Save your copy of the DB and files into this folder.
Now that you have your DB saved you will want to save your WordPress Website files. Go back to your cPanel and locate the sections called Files and specifically FileManager.
- Locate the Public_html folder
- Highlight using your right mouse the WordPress folders called
- wp-admin
- wp-content
- wp-includes
- And highlight all of the files below it.
- Once highlighted, then click the Compress text/icon in the top menu.
- Choose your Compression type. Click Compress Files.
- The Archive zip file will be created. The compression results will be shown. Click Close to close the Compression box results.
- In your file directory, you will see a new zip file called wp-admin.zip
- Highlight it and locate the Download button on the top.
To finish, download the zip file to the same file location you downloaded your DB to. You can keep the files zipped or unzip them within your folder that has the DB. Either way, you now have a manual copy of your website’s Database and all of its WordPress website files.
