Migrate from
The Events Calendar to HappenBoard
HappenBoard Free copies your events, venues, organizers, categories, RSVPs and ticket attendees from The Events Calendar, with a dry run first. Tickets, prices and redirects stay in your hands.
How to migrate from The Events Calendar to HappenBoard
1
Back up, then install HappenBoard
A migration has no undo, so back up your site first. The Events Calendar can stay active or be deactivated: HappenBoard reads its data straight from the database.
2
Preview with a dry run
In HappenBoard → Settings → Migration, choose The Events Calendar and click Preview (dry run). You see what would be created, skipped or failed, and nothing is written.
3
Migrate for real
Click Migrate for real and leave the tab open while events are copied 50 at a time. If the run stops early, Continue picks up where it left off. On a server, run wp happenboard migrate tec.
4
Check, then switch your pages
Open the warnings to see the series that lost part of their pattern. Put HappenBoard blocks on your pages, then use Run again later: only new events come across.
What gets imported
| The Events Calendar |  | |
|---|---|---|
| EventsTitle, description, excerpt, status, start and end, all-day setting and featured image. Drafts stay drafts. | Events |  |
| VenuesName, description, address, city, country and map coordinates. State and postal code are not copied. | Venues | |
| OrganizersName, description, email, phone and website. Each event keeps its first venue and its first organizer. | Organizers | |
| CategoriesName, slug and description, still attached to their events. Parent and child levels are not kept, and tags are not imported. | Event categories | |
| Recurring eventsThe first rule of an Events Calendar Pro series: daily, weekly on chosen days, monthly by date or by weekday, yearly, ending after a number of dates or on a date. | Events Calendar Pro series | First rule |
| Excluded datesA date excluded on its own becomes a skipped date. Exclusions that repeat and extra rules are left out, and the result names each series concerned. | Exclusions | Single dates |
| AttendeesRSVPs, PayPal tickets and Tickets Commerce tickets. Each person’s seats for an event make one attendee: Going, Declined for an RSVP answered “Not going”, or Cancelled if the order was refunded or never completed. Nobody gets an email. Check-ins and WooCommerce attendees are not imported. | Event Tickets attendees | RSVP and tickets |
| Additional FieldsWith HappenBoard Pro active, the Additional Fields of Events Calendar Pro become custom fields, with their values. | Additional Fields | With Pro |
| Tickets and pricesTicket types, prices, the event cost and orders have nowhere to go in HappenBoard Free. With Pro, you create your ticket types again. | Tickets, cost | Not copied |
| Website and time zoneThe event website field and each event’s own time zone are not copied. Times are read in your site’s time zone. | Event fields | Not copied |
| Addresses and authorsImported events get new addresses built from their titles, with no redirects from the old ones. The original author and publish date are not kept. | URLs, author, date | Not kept |
Need help?
What stays the same
Your old data, untouched
HappenBoard only reads the data of The Events Calendar. Nothing in it is changed or deleted, so you can compare both before you switch.
Drafts stay drafts
Each event keeps its title, description, excerpt and status, so nothing goes live by surprise.
The same clock times
Times are read in your site’s time zone: an event that started at 19:00 still starts at 19:00.
The same images
Featured images are reused from your media library, not uploaded a second time.
Linked venues and organizers
Each event stays linked to its venue and its organizer, with addresses, map coordinates and contact details.
Categories on their events
Category names, slugs and descriptions come across and stay attached to their events, even with the old plugin deactivated.
Good to know
Tickets, prices and orders are not imported, and the old event addresses get no redirects. Before you deactivate The Events Calendar, note your ticket types to create them again with HappenBoard Pro, and add redirects for your most visited events with your SEO plugin.
HappenBoard in numbers
21
server-rendered blocks
11
ready-made patterns
5
built-in importers
4
calendar views
8
Site Editor templates
You ask.
We answer.
We’re featured in
Does The Events Calendar need to stay active?
No. HappenBoard reads its data straight from the database, so you can deactivate it before you migrate. Do not delete it with an option that wipes its data: that is where HappenBoard finds your events.
Will my old event URLs redirect to the new ones?
No. Imported events get new addresses built from their titles, and HappenBoard creates no redirects. Add redirects for your most visited events with your SEO or redirection plugin. The original author and publish date are not kept either.
Are tickets, prices and orders imported?
No, from no source. Event Tickets attendees do come across: RSVPs, PayPal tickets and Tickets Commerce tickets, with each person’s seats on one attendee. Their status follows the answer or the order: Going, Declined for an RSVP answered “Not going”, Cancelled for an order refunded or never completed. None of them gets an email. To sell tickets again, create your ticket types with HappenBoard Pro.
What happens to my recurring events?
The first rule of each Events Calendar Pro series becomes a HappenBoard repeat rule, and dates excluded one by one become skipped dates. Extra rules and exclusions that repeat are not copied, and a rule HappenBoard cannot express brings the event in on its first date. The result names every series concerned.
Can I run the migration with WP-CLI?
Yes. Run wp happenboard migrate tec –dry-run to preview, then wp happenboard migrate tec. The command works through your events 100 at a time and ends with the number created, skipped and failed for each type, plus a warning for each series to check.
Do I need HappenBoard Pro to migrate?
No, the migration is part of HappenBoard Free. With Pro active, the Additional Fields of Events Calendar Pro also come across, as custom fields with their values.
Works with
Turn your calendar into a box office
Sell tickets, take payments and check people in at the door.
Not the right fit? Your money back within 14 days.
Already on another events plugin?
Preview first, then import, even with the old plugin deactivated. Repeat rules from The Events Calendar, Events Manager 7 and Sugar Calendar come across, and you can export your events to CSV at any time.