Genesis - Demo content failed to import

Why do import errors occur?

First, import errors VERY common. It is actually expected that you will receive some demo import errors! Import errors are most often due to plugin content.

Why plugin content? — We strongly recommend installing all recommended plugins prior to importing the demo content. However, our themes also have a small number of optional plugins, such as WooCommerce and WP Recipe Maker. Since most theme users don't need these plugins, they are strictly optional and are not included in the automatic plugin installer.

But the demo content you are importing still includes all the optional plugin content. So for example, if you haven't installed WooCommerce, you will receive import errors for all of the WooCommerce products. Any errors for plugin-related content can be ignored. They do not negatively impact your site, and on their own do not indicate any issues with your demo content import.

Determine whether or not the content imported

Before going any further in this tutorial, it's important to determine if your content did, or did not, import.

Take a look at that screenshot above. Notice the "All done. Have fun!" line at the bottom:

  • If you imported the demo content and DID NOT SEE THAT LINE, your content did not import successfully. See the next section.
  • If you imported the demo content, saw some errors, and DID SEE THAT LINE, your content did import successfully. Do not try to re-import the demo content. We repeat: Do not try to re-import the demo content. This will cause duplicate content on your site. You can continue with theme setup. Do not continue in this tutorial.
Note: A few of our themes use the One Click Demo Importer plugin in lieu of the WordPress Importer plugin. For OCDI, an unsuccessful import would result in a 500 or 503 error. A successful import would result in an "Import Complete" message.

If your content did not import...

You have determined that your content did not import at all. This is relatively common, and is most frequently seen on sites hosted by a lower quality host (i.e. Bluehost, HostGator, & others). 

Websites that struggle to import the demo content have a low MEMORY LIMIT. Memory Limit = how much content can be installed/executed at once on a website. The memory limit is typically set by your host. Lower quality hosts = lower memory limit.

We've found that Bluehost sets the lowest memory limit of any host. This is one of many reasons we love & recommend SiteGround!

The solution: Increasing your memory limit

Increasing the memory limit on your site will allow the content to import successfully (*in most cases).

There are two ways to increase your memory limit:

  1. (Easiest) Contact your web host and ask them to increase your memory limit to 512M.
  2. (More advanced) Access your File Manager and edit the wp-config file following the instructions here.

Once your memory limit has been increased, go back to your theme's setup instructions and follow the instructions again to import the demo content.