Import and export templates

Under RowSprout → Import / Export you download templates as a file and add them to another site: from a test site to the live site, from one client’s site to the next, or as a starting point you reuse. The same page adds two example templates when you want to try RowSprout first.

To edit only a template’s rows in a spreadsheet, export and import its groups instead: see Import and export groups.

What the file contains

An export file (JSON) holds each template with:

• its title, content and Href (the URL pattern);
• its properties and groups, with every value;
• its save action and the URL of its featured image;
• its page-builder layout and the other settings stored with it, such as Elementor data and SEO settings.

Not included: the generated pages, because the other site generates its own, and media files. Images keep pointing at the site the file came from.

A child template always travels with its parent, and a parent with its child templates, so a file never contains a child without the rows it builds on.

Export templates

1. Go to RowSprout → Import / Export. The Export card lists your templates, with their child templates under them.

2. Tick the templates you want, or Select all in the header. Ticking a child ticks its parent too.

3. Click Download selected. Your browser saves a file such as rowsprout-templates-example-com-2026-10-08.json.

You can also export from RowSprout → Templates: hover over a template and click Export (Export with parent on a child template), or tick several templates and choose Export under Bulk actions.

Exporting needs the WordPress export capability, which administrators have.

Import templates

1. On the other site, go to RowSprout → Import / Export.

2. In the Import card, choose the export file and click Import.

3. A dialog shows what the file will do before anything is imported: per template, whether it is added as a New draft (or, with RowSprout Pro, which existing template it Updates), and which properties and groups are new, changed or removed. It also points out a parent template that is not in the file, groups that would get the same URL, and property types this site doesn’t have. Click Import to go ahead, or cancel.

4. Every template in the file is added as a new draft. Existing templates are never changed, and no pages are generated yet. A notice lists what was imported, with a warning for anything that needs your attention.

5. Open each imported template and check it, above all its Href: on the site the file came from, the same pattern would give the same addresses. Then publish it with Create & update pages to generate its pages.

Along the way, RowSprout adjusts the file to the new site:

• Placeholder tokens such as @code_town_123@ get the new template’s ID, also inside page-builder data and link fields, and a child template is linked to its imported parent. Group IDs stay the same, so a child’s rows stay linked to its parent’s rows.
• The featured image is set when the same image (same URL) is in this site’s media library. Otherwise you get a warning; RowSprout Pro can download it.
• Values of a property type this site doesn’t have, for example a Date property while RowSprout Pro is inactive, are kept unchanged, with a warning. Activate the plugin that adds the type to edit and use them.

Importing needs the WordPress import capability, which administrators have.

Only import files you trust

RowSprout treats an import file as untrusted: values go through the same checks as when you type them in the template, and nothing in the file can run code. Page-builder data and other settings stored with a template are only imported for users who may post unfiltered HTML (on a single site, administrators). For other users the template comes in without them.

Try RowSprout with sample data

The Sample data card below Import adds two example templates as drafts: city breaks in 12 European cities and food tours in 6, with their properties and groups. Click Import sample data, open one of them, and publish it with Create & update pages to see its pages generated. Delete them again whenever you like.

Multilingual sites

With WPML, the Export card lists the templates of the language chosen in the admin bar, like the Templates list does. Exporting a template together with its translations, and linking them again on import, is part of RowSprout Pro.

More with RowSprout Pro

RowSprout Pro

RowSprout Pro adds two options to the Import card and a choice of what goes into the file.

• Update templates that already exist on this site. A template exported from this site, or imported here before, is updated instead of added as a copy. RowSprout Pro recognises it by an ID of its own that every template gets, so this works from a staging site to the live site and back. The updated template keeps its status and save action, nothing is generated or deleted, and only the pages of rows that changed are marked as outdated. Generate them when you’re ready.
• Download missing images from the source site. Featured images and Thumbnail values that are not in this site’s media library yet are downloaded, once per image. The source site must be reachable from this server, and you need permission to upload files. Without this option, a Thumbnail value whose image is missing is emptied, with a warning.
• Thumbnail values are exported with the image’s URL and get this site’s media ID on import.
• Translations (WPML). A template is exported with its language versions. On import, each version gets its language back and is linked to the others again. You get a warning when a language is not active on this site, or when the template already has a version in that language.
• Choose what to export. Download selected opens a dialog with a block per template, headed with its title and the child templates that come with it. Per block, choose All or Selection, separately for the properties and for the groups. The title and URL properties are always exported, and a child group whose parent group is left out is left out too. Include translations (on by default) applies to the whole file; translations follow their original’s choice. Importing such a file as an update only changes what is in it: what was left out stays as it is.
• Scripts and AI agents. Export and import from the terminal with wp rowsprout export-templates and import-templates, or let an AI agent do it with the MCP abilities export-templates and import-templates. These always add new drafts; updating an existing template from a file is only possible in the admin.

For developers

Import and export were added in RowSprout 3.2, together with their hooks for add-ons: carry your own data in the file, add options to the forms, or point an entry at an existing template. See Import and export in the hook reference.