BuddyPress Ning To BuddyPress Plugin

Fed up with Ning?

We heard you! Introducing the WPMU DEV fully supported powerful user import tool that just works!

This plugin is designed to fully import all of a Ning network’s users,
their custom profile fields, and avatars to BuddyPress.

Ning to BuddyPress User Importer plugin

Following the simple install, you just activate the Ning to BuddyPress User Importer plugin and use your new “Ning Importer” menu item under the BuddyPress menu to easily import all of your Ning network members.

BuddyPress > Ning Importer page

While members are being imported the plugin displays a user-friendly status page with a nifty list of user avatars, details, and current progress as the import page refreshes and processes the import file in batches of 5 members.

Members being imported

All imported members receive a fully customizable introduction email with their login link, username and password.

Example of email sent to imported Ning member

And on the off-chance you have a very large Ning member list that’s too big to upload via the plugin, you can alternatively use FTP to upload the file and import all of your Ning network members.

Neato heh? No more pesky Ning — now you can have a fully functional BuddyPress social network where you control the content!

Start by reading Installing plugins section in our comprehensive BuddyPress Manual if you are new to BuddyPress.

To Install:

1. Download the plugin file

2. Unzip the file into a folder on your hard drive

3. Upload /ning-buddypress-importer/ folder to the wp-content/plugins/ directory.

Upload ning-import folder to plugins directory

4. Login to your admin panel for WordPress or WordPress Multisite

5. In the dashboard of your main blog (the blog that is running BuddyPress) go to Plugins > Installed and (Network) Activate the Ning To BuddyPress User Importer plugin

Activate the Ning to BuddyPress importer

To Use:

1. Log into your Ning site

2. Go to My Network dashboard –> Members –> Management, under My Account scroll to bottom of page you can see the ability to download CSV file.

3. Click on Export All Member Data (.CSV) at the bottom of the Manage Members page and download the members .CSV file onto your hard drive

Downloading the Ning CSV file

4. Log into your BuddyPress site

5. Visit the “Ning Importer” menu item under the BuddyPress menu in your Network Admin page.

Ning Importer in BuddyPress menu

6. Click on Choose File then locate and upload your Ning members .CSV file.

If your CSV is too large, you can FTP it to the directory displayed on the page and rename it to “ning-export.csv”

7. Next click Upload

Uploading the Ning CSV file

8. Customize your Email notification.

All members are sent an email notification when their account is created.
It includes the login link, their username and password
The idea is you provide enough details so they are aware of what is happening and the process involved.
Please do not remove slugs USERNAME, PASSWORD and LOGINURL when customizing the email — otherwise your members won’t know their login details
You can adjust the profile fields once your Ning community has been imported

Customizing the email sent to imported Ning members

Here’s an example of the email they are sent:

Example of email sent to imported Ning member

9. Select your new Username Source and then click Import Members

When Ning members are imported a new username is created. Username’s are displayed on BuddyPress sites for features such as part of the URL for a member’s profile and for @replies in the activity stream
Display Name creates the username based on their Ning display name. For example, display name Jane Smith would create the username janesmith
Email prefix creates the username based on their email address. For example, an email address hotchick@gmail.com with a display name Jane Smith would create the username hotchick.

Selecting new username source

Here’s what it looks like as members are being imported:

You can see user avatars, details, and progress as the import page refreshes and processes the import file in batches of 5 members.

Please be patient while the import is happening. It takes time to send all those emails and scan the Ning profile pages to download and resize member’s avatars.

Members being imported

10. When the import is complete the results are displayed. If any errors were encountered or members skipped during import they will be listed on this results screen.

Adjusting the Profile fields

11. Click on Adjust Profile Fields to take you to the BuddyPress > Profile Field Setup page you where you can modify, delete, or edit any of the new profile fields that were created during the import process.

Profile fields are designed to that members can describe
themselves in a manner that is relevant to the theme of your network and help them to connect with other members.
At the very least you should adjust the field types as the importer will create them all as a “Multi-Line Text Box” type to prevent loss of data while importing. For example if one of your profile fields was “Gender”, you would change the field type to “Radio Buttons” or “Drop Down Select Box” and set the possible options to Male or Female.
You may decide that Ning default profiles such as Location, Country, Zip, Age, Birthdate and Hometown aren’t necessary for helping members to connect with each other — in which case you can delete them
You can read more about working with extend profiles in BuddyPress here!

Editing Profile fields

12. When you check your BuddyPress Member’s directory you will see that your Ning members have been imported including their Ning avatars and all profile fields!

13. When you are finished importing your Ning members you can deactivate the Ning To BuddyPress User Importer plugin via Plugins > Installed

Exmple of a Ning member moved across to a BuddyPress site