Define what gets backed up

You decide in two places what goes into a backup: each backup plan chooses its content, and the exclusions of the website apply to all plans. By default, a plan backs up everything.

What you need

• the Extended view. The switch is at the bottom left of the page. Only this view shows content and exclusions.

Step 1: Choose the content of a plan

Open the Backup page. In the Backup plans tile, choose More … at the plan, then Edit. Under What is backed up, tick what the plan backs up and click Save. At least one checkbox must be ticked.

1. Database is the tables of this website.
2. wp-config.php is backed up. A restore never writes the file back.
3. wp-content is everything in this folder that does not belong to plugins, themes, must-use plugins or uploads: language files, drop-ins, folders of other plugins.
4. WordPress core is the folders wp-admin and wp-includes and the files that WordPress ships in the root folder.
5. Must-use plugins
6. Plugins
7. Themes
8. Uploads
9. Root folder is everything in the root folder of the website except WordPress itself and wp-content: .htaccess, robots.txt, verification files, .well-known and your own files.

Step 2: Look at the exclusion rules

Open the Settings page and unfold the Exclusions tile. The rules apply to the whole website and to every plan.

1. The notice says which rules are in effect: The default rules are in effect. or Your own rules are in effect.
2. A rule. The cross behind it removes it from the list.
3. Folder, name with * or extension is the field for a new rule.
4. Add puts the rule at the end of the list.
5. Folders that other plugins report as their cache or their log. These folders are always excluded, even in a place other than the usual one.

The default has 27 rules: caches, folders of other backup plugins, logs and system leftovers. A rule has one of these forms. Upper and lower case do not matter.

Form	Matches	Example
Name	a file or a folder with exactly this name, at any depth	Thumbs.db
Name with a slash at the end	the same, but folders only	updraft/
Name with an asterisk at the start or at the end	every name that ends or begins like this	*.log, backwpup*
Path that begins with a root	this entry and everything below it. An asterisk is only allowed in the last part.	wp-content/cache

The roots for paths are called wp-content, wp-uploads, wp-plugins, wp-themes, wp-mu-plugins, wp-core and wp-root.

Step 3: Add a rule of your own

Enter a rule in the field and click Add. The cross behind a rule removes it. As soon as you change the list, the notice above the list names your own rules.

1. The notice Your own rules are in effect. appears above the list as soon as you have changed it.
2. The new rule is at the end of the list. The cross behind it removes it.
3. Add puts the rule from the field at the end of the list.

Nothing is saved until you click Save at the end of the tile. The plugin checks every rule when you do. If one is wrong, the reason appears in red at the rule, and nothing is saved.

Step 4: Back up tables as structure only

Some plugins keep tables for sessions, logs, caches or statistics. Such tables grow large, and the website also runs without their content. Of ticked tables, the plugin backs up only the structure and leaves out the rows. On a restore, such a table stays as it is on the website, with its data. If it does not exist there, the plugin creates it empty.

1. The group of candidates: Sessions, Logs, Caches or Statistics.
2. A table with checkbox, name without the prefix, rows and size.
3. Other tables are tables you have added yourself.
4. Table name without the prefix is the field for another table of this website.
5. Add table takes the table into the selection.
6. The plugin’s own tables. Of these, only the structure is ever backed up.
7. Save saves rules and tables together.
8. Reset to defaults restores the default rules immediately and saves the ticked tables at the same time.

What is never backed up

• the plugin’s own folders with backups, logs and work files,
• every folder that holds a file named .donotbackup,
• another WordPress installation in a subfolder. That is a separate website with its own database. The log of the backup names the folder.
• tables of other websites in the same database.

If the plugin finds the tables of another WordPress installation in the database, a line about it appears in the Exclusions tile, directly above Save.

1. The notice Not backed up: … tables of another WordPress installation with prefix “…”. names the number of tables and their prefix.

If something does not work

Message	What you can do
must not start with a slash	Begin a path with a root, for example wp-content/cache.
unknown root: use wp-content, wp-uploads, wp-plugins, wp-themes, wp-mu-plugins, wp-core or wp-root	The first part of a path must be one of these roots.
only one * is allowed * only at the start or the end of the name * only in the last part of the path	Put a single asterisk at the start or the end of the last name.
This table does not exist on this website.	Enter the name without the prefix, the way the tile names the other tables.

1. The reason why the plugin refuses the rule. The cross behind it removes the rule.

Remove a refused rule with the cross and enter it again correctly.

Good to know

• A change applies from the next backup on, not to a backup that is running right now.
• In the Extended view, the row of a plan names its content. If all checkboxes are ticked, it says everything.
• The plugin never follows symbolic links in the folders. It backs up the link itself.
• If a second WordPress installation with a longer prefix lies in the same database, the plugin does not back up its tables. The Exclusions tile names the prefix.

See also

• Backup plans: tile and form
• The “Settings” page
• Restore only parts
• Manage backup plans with WP-CLI
• Settings and scope with WP-CLI

On the command line

WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.

With WP-CLI you show what the plugin counts as part of the website, and you set rules, tables and the content of a plan. --set replaces the whole list of rules.

# Show what belongs to the website: roots, tables, rules
wp cloneworx-backup scope

# Show the exclusion rules in effect
wp cloneworx-backup scope exclusions

# Replace the list of rules
wp cloneworx-backup scope exclusions --set="wp-content/cache,*.log,.DS_Store"

# Back to the default rules
wp cloneworx-backup scope exclusions --reset

# Back up tables as structure only
wp cloneworx-backup scope tables --structure-only="woocommerce_sessions,wfHits"

# Change the content of a backup plan
wp cloneworx-backup plan edit "Daily backup" --roots=db,wp-uploads