Blogger in Draft, Google's beta channel for Blogger, now backs up blog content using Google Takeout.
Update: Looks like this is rolling out for everybody now (July 1). Takeout is now the only way to back up blog contents (posts, pages, contents).
Earlier this month, Blogger in Draft gained the ability to import backups downloaded via Takeout. Now, it exports them using Takeout only.
If this feature migrates to regular Blogger, it will replace single-file backup.
There is no change to backup for blog themes (from the Theme page), though the theme file is also included in Takeout backups.
Blogger in Draft is where Google tries out new features. Many of them go on to be part of regular Blogger. Until July 1, it was the only place to try out this feature.
The switch to Takeout means that backups will be much larger, including many files not actually needed for backup.
Takeout also offers the option of backing up to Google Drive or other service, and of scheduling automatic backups for a year.
I have revised my earlier report about the new backup to reflect this change.
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Today's image is a modified glyph from fontawesome (CC BY 4.0).
I don't really backup my blog. I don't see the point really. I only do it if I'm annoyed by a feature and the search the web for a fix via CSS.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people who felt this way up until they needed a backup.(at which point it was too late).
DeleteAny idea on if Google/Blogger will restore or add an option to do the direct download of the 'back-up content' xml file like before? I did that every time I updated my blog, and it was easy and quick. Now I'm having problems with Google Takeout. One, it replaced an easy 1-click process with a more complicated one. Two, the two times so far I've tried the Google Takeout back-up process, I've been blocked from downloading the back-up file with a 'can't verify the account is you' message.
ReplyDeleteBased on past experience I suppose that there are no plans to provide multiple backup methods. Just a guess.
DeleteThe "can't verify" block is troubling. Sounds like account confusion, but who knows.
May I ask you to take it to Blogger's help community? There you can upload a screen shot of the error message and share informatino about your setup and a link to the blog.
In my experience, there is a window after the launch of a new feature during which the developers have time to address unexpected issues. So it would be a good idea to report this to the help community.