How To: Export/Backup Pages Using XML Dumps

If you run a small Wiki with not much to backup then this may be the option for you. If you run a Wiki quite a few pages on it on the other hand you may be interested in a 2 part post I made on fully backing up MediaWiki Wiki found here.

If you visit the Special page Special:Export on your Wiki you should find an interface similar to the one shown below.

This interface can be used to export small numbers of pages from your Wiki in XML format so that they can be uploaded again on another MediaWiki Wiki through the Special page Special:Import. The whole contents of a particular category can be exported by adding the category name (excluding the "Category" prefix) to the single line textbox at the top of the interface.

If you are looking to backup pages through the Special:Export I strongly recommend *un*checking the export setting "Include only the current revision, not the full history" as you will want the page histories saved for attribution purposes among others.

When ready, click the "Export" button and the pages specified will be made available to download in XML format, ready to be uploaded to another Wiki or stored as a backup.

Note: Special:Export should only really be used to backup a small number of pages as it was not intended to be uised to export large numbers of pages. Exporting large numbers of pages may result in connection failures and timeout errors among other problems due to technical limitations.