How to import Squarespace comments into Disqus
I googled this topic high and low. I finally e-mailed Squarespace tech support because I really wanted to use Disqus but I didn't want to lose my existing comments.
There is a long way around moving the comments from Squarespace to Disqus. I can see why Squarespace advised me that there was "no way" to do this, because I had to create a Wordpress.com blog in order to do so. Why would they refer me to WordPress to import my old comments?
Disqus has five options for importing:
- WordPress*
- Blogger
- MovableType
*Squarespace export is only formatted for importing into Wordpress
Importing Squarespace comments into Disqus
- Register for a wordpress.com account and create a new blog
- Use the Export feature under Settings in Squarespace to create an export file
- The export file will be available for download within a few minutes
- Log in to your new Wordpress blog, go to the dashboard and click on tools
- Click on Tools/Import and select Wordpress
- Upload the *.xml file you downloaded from Squarespace
- Wordpress will e-mail you when your import is complete
- Go to dashboard in WordPress, click on tools and export your posts
- Login to your Disqus account. Click on Admin, Dashboard and your site name
- Click on the Discussions tabs, Tools and Generic (WXR)
- *Upload the *.xml file of exported posts you downloaded from WordPress.
*Depending on Disqus traffic and how much you have to import this can take up to 24 hours or more. My import took three days. You can click on 'Details' to see the status of your import. Once you see a percentage of completion it won't take much longer for the import to complete.
Here's the thing... as if that wasn't tedious enough there's more.
In importing from your temporary Wordpress URL into your existing blog - the URLs will not be apples to apples. You'll see the comments imported into Disqus Admin but they still won't be visible on your blog. In this case you'll have to use the Disqus Migration tool to match apples to apples.
I've explained that here:
Disqus: How to change your url without losing your existing comments
The preface to this article: