18 Import Options for Pressbooks Content

Josie Gray

Last update: Aug 15/20

 

This chart compares the three methods of importing content that is already in Pressbooks. While these import options can ultimately have the same result, they each have their own use case.

IMPORTANT: These import routines only work for books marked as “public,” and they may not work if the book has All Rights Reserved or a Creative Commons licence with a -ND (NoDerivs) restriction.

Pressbooks Import Options
Import Option What You Need What This Option Does When to Use This Option
Clone a Book
  • The URL of the Pressbook you want a copy of
  • Creates an exact copy of an entire book
  • Adds a notice that it is a cloned version, with a link back to the original book (this can be disabled in Theme Options)
  • Provides the option to allow readers to compare the cloned book with the original (this can be disabled in Theme Options)
  • If you do not already have a book shell
  • If you want an exact copy of an entire book
  • If you want readers to be able to see how your version of the book differs from the one you cloned it from
Pressbooks/WordPress XML (.wxr or .xml)
  • An existing Pressbook to add content to
  • The Pressbooks XML file of the Pressbook you want a copy of
  • Creates an exact copy of an entire book, or
  • Allows you to select the parts and chapters you want imported
  • If you don’t want the features that come with cloning (the link between and option to compare the two versions)
  • If you want to select the parts and chapters to import (not possible when cloning)
Web Page or Pressbooks Webbook (.html or URL)
  • An existing Pressbook to add content to
  • The URL of the Pressbook you want a copy of
  • Creates an exact copy of an entire book, or
  • Allows you to select the parts and chapters you want imported
  • Allows you to import content from non-Pressbooks web pages
  • If you don’t want the features that come with cloning (the link between and option to compare the two versions)
  • If you want to select the parts and chapters to import (not possible when cloning) and don’t have access to the Pressbooks XML file
  • If you have web content not in Pressbooks that you want to import

License

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Publishing with Pressbooks Copyright © 2021 by Josie Gray is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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