Upgrade from GDv1

Summary
Backup
Preparations
The Conversion
Breaking Changes
Last Steps

Summary

These docs will guide you through step by step on how to convert your GDv1 site to GDv2.
There are some manual steps that must be taken before your directory functionality will be restored so it is important to follow each step. A simple conversion may take 10 minutes but a complex design could take much longer.

Somethings that may require some manual steps are:

• Sidebars: GDv2 (except some of our own themes) does not add its own sidebars anymore and instead uses the built in theme sidebars, every GD widget has an option to only show on specific pages. The setup wizard can help insert basic info back for the details page, though you can add widgets back manually via the widget settings page.
• Top and bottom full width sections: As mentioned above we no longer add our own widget areas so these sections may be removed on your site. You do now have almost unlimited flexibility on what info you can show and where, page builders can also replicate almost any layout.
• Google Analytics: if you used our analytics section then this functionality has now moved to a separate free plugin, this can be installed direct from your dashboard under GD > Extensions.
• WPML: If you are using WPML you will again need to install a separate plugin from the GD > Extensions page.
• GD Home & Locations pages: In GDv1 these pages used widget areas, in GDv2 the GD Home is no longer used, you would simply use the front page, the locations page is still used but is just a standard page, you would just edit the pages as normal and ad blocks/shortcodes are required.

Backup Backup Backup

(We highly recommend that GDV2 upgrades be attempted on a staging/test site, using a backup copy of your live site.)

1. BACKUP your database.
2. BACKUP your files.
3. BACKUP any GD custom CSS or JS you may have added in GD settings, these settings have been removed in GDv2. You may also want to backup and disable any GDv1 specific code snippets.

Preparations

1. Disable any caching plugins such as GD Booster, Autoptimize, W3TC etc…
2. Disable any v1 code snippets that you might have added (this could cause issues during conversion as some functions names may have changed)
3. You may wish to install a coming soon / maintenance plugin while doing the conversion.

The Conversion

1. If you don’t have WP Easy Updates (WPEU) installed then it is recommended to do it now, it will allow you to update addons through the dashboard rather than via FTP.
2. Disable all GDv1 add-ons.
3. Update GD core plugin, you should see the update available in your dashboard. (if you are reading this before the wp.org release then download it here: https://wpgeodirectory.com/try-geodirectory-v2/
4. Update any required add-ons show in the conversion notice.
5. Proceed with the conversion, the conversion time will depend on the number of listings you have, in most cases this will take 1-2 minutes but for sites with hundreds of thousands of listings it can take much longer.
6. Run through the setup wizard which will allow you some basic sidebar and menu setup.
7. Resolve any admin notices you might see.

Breaking Changes

Some things from GDv1 to GDv2 have changes so much that they require some manual changes to restore the functionality.

1. Customization for V1 will not work for V2 in most cases. This includes PHP, HTML and CSS customization.
2. If you had Google analytics active then install the new GDv2 plugin for it. You can do this easily from the dashboard under GD > Extensions.
3. If you had GD Dashboard installed, delete it. It has been moved into core.
4. If you had WPML active install the new plugin for it. You can do this easily from the dashboard under GD > Extensions.
5. If you were using the listing contact form then install Ninja Forms and set that up, there is a Ninja template called “GeoDirectory Contact Form”.
6. If you had any CSS that you might want to move over then add it to the theme custom CSS.
7. If you were using the GD homepage then add any content you want back to the new GD Home page, you can simply edit the WP front page and add things via Gutenberg Blocks or Shortcodes, the same can be done for the locations page if that is in use.
8. If you were using GD Popular Posts, this has changed to GD LIstings element. All other GD shortcodes have changed, see them all here.
9. Make sure you have the information in the details page sidebar showing what you want. (if using a sidebar on the details page)

Last Steps

1. Disable maintenance mode.
2. Enable any caching plugins (GDv2 is now compatible with all caching plugins)
3. It is always a good idea to have your site listed under Google webmaster tools, it will let you know of any site issues like broken links it finds https://search.google.com/search-console

NEXT STEPS -> GETTING STARTED DOC