Matthew Reilly

<p>Menu Backup & Restore protects every WordPress menu, both classic <code>nav_menu</code> menus and block-theme <code>wp_navigation</code> posts edited in the Site Editor, with automatic backups, one-click restoration, and powerful import/export capabilities. Transfer menus between sites seamlessly with intelligent per-item mapping that rewrites page, post, and category references for the target site.</p>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Automatic backup of menus when they are updated</li>
<li>Works with both classic menus (<code>nav_menu</code>) and block-theme menus (<code>wp_navigation</code> posts edited in the Site Editor)</li>
<li>Site Editor inspector panel — back up, restore, rename, or apply a backup from another menu without leaving the editor, with a Navigation block selected</li>
<li>In-place restore replaces the existing menu directly, no duplicate menus, theme locations stay assigned</li>
<li>Import and export menus as JSON files for portability or locally saved backups</li>
<li>Multi-menu export and import — select multiple menus or backups to export in a single file</li>
<li>Transfer menus between sites with intelligent object mapping, can be used to update menus from development to production sites without full site migration</li>
<li>Manual mapping interface to override automatic matches and map menu items to specific pages, posts, or taxonomies during import</li>
<li>Preserves complete menu structure: hierarchy, theme locations, CSS classes, and third-party plugin data (post_meta) icons etc…</li>
<li>Bulk actions — select multiple backups to export or delete at once</li>
<li>Rename backups inline with a click</li>
<li>Configurable maximum number of backups to keep</li>
<li>See who saved and created the backup</li>
<li>Tab-based interface for better organisation</li>
<li>Simple and intuitive user interface</li>
<li>No database modifications required</li>
<li>Lightweight and fast</li>
</ul>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<ol>
<li>The plugin automatically creates a backup whenever you update a menu</li>
<li>Backups are stored in the WordPress options table with complete menu structure (hierarchy, locations, CSS classes, custom post_meta)</li>
<li>Manage backups from the legacy Menus page (classic themes), the Appearance > Menu Backups page (block themes), or inline from the Site Editor inspector when editing a Navigation block — rename, export, delete, restore, or bulk-select</li>
<li>Restore any previous version with a single click, the existing menu is updated in-place, keeping theme locations intact</li>
<li>Export one or multiple menus as a single JSON file for portability or import to other sites</li>
<li>Configure the maximum number of backups to keep in the settings</li>
</ol>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>WordPress 5.0 or higher</li>
<li>PHP 7.2 or higher</li>
</ul>
<h4>What Users Have to Say on Reddit</h4>
<p>“That’s a super useful idea! Menus are so easy to wipe out by accident, and restoring from a full backup always feels like overkill. Nice work!”</p>
<p>“Really appreciate it, This will come in handy alot!”</p>
<p>“Oh man, I’ve done this before too. Lost a big menu while trying to rearrange items and it was gone in a click. Ended up re-building from scratch.<br />
This plugin sounds like a lifesaver — surprised WordPress hasn’t built something like this in by default.”</p>
<p>“Kind of an automatic backup vs having to schedule one.”</p>
<p>“that’s a killer quality of life plugin wp’s missing so many of those “one click undo” features for common mistakes”</p>
<p>“Great idea! I do this more often than I care to admit. This needs to be in Core!”</p>
<p>“Dude I literally do this all the time and actually did it less than an hour ago. I hate how the WordPress menu isn’t stored normally. Thanks for this!”</p>


Menu Backup & Restore + Import/Export

Protect WordPress menus with automatic backups, one-click restore, and import/export. Transfer menus between sites with ease.

Menu Backup & Restore + Import/Export vs BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin