Back up a Wordpress database with the WP-DB-Backup plug-in

The heart of any Wordpress website is the database but unlike photos and videos you won't find it as a file to back up, even when using the excellent FTP program Filezilla.

WP-DB-Backup regularly creates a backup of the database that it can email to you to keep your work safe. Without it, alternatives include the web tool PHPMyAdmin, which is not very easy to use.

There are a couple of ways to install this addon. The easiest is to search for it within your Wordpress admin pages.

Click on the Plug-ins list on the  left and then Add New. Type wp-db-back and click on Search Plugins. WP-DB-Backup should be the top option so click on Install Now.

Click on OK to confirm and the plug-in will be installed. You may need to enter your FTP details on some sites.

Alternatively you can click on the Download link in this article and then upload it to your Wordpress site once it has finished downloading. Click on Plug-ins and then Add New. Click on the Upload link. Click on Browse, find the file, click on it once and then click on Open. Click on the Install now button.

Once installed click on the Plug-ins link in the Plug-ins section. Find Wordpress Database Backup and click on the Activate link.

Click on Tools and then Backup to set up the backup. We recommend selecting all the tables on offer and selecting the links to exclude spam comments; there's no point wasting the space.

Backups can be saved to the server, immediately downloaded to your computer or sent to an email address. The latter option combines the convience of an automated backup with the security of keeping it somewhere else from your website.

We send our database to a Gmail address with a filter set up to automatically label and archive the backup emails. This means they never show in the inbox but are kept safe and easy to find. 

A schedule can be set for the backup. Hourly is probably too often for personal sites so once weekly is probably enough. Click on the schedule backup button and and it's all ready to go. 

The beauty of this plug-in is that after it has been set up you can forget all about it unless there is a problem with your website. These are rare but worth preparing for.

Should you ever need to recover your Wordpress database, this plug-in will give you a recent backup – and you'll be thankful.