When you need to transfer a site to a different workspace such as a client's starter workspace, there are a few key tips to make your life easier and the transfer more seamless.
First here's what you need to know,
- Sites can be transferred, but Site Hosting Plans cannot. You'll need to cancel the plan before transfer, and re-establish it on the new workspace.
- If you have a custom domain, it will likely need to be re-verified with a different verification TXT record before it can be applied to the transferred site.
- For you to admin the site in the new workspace ( if that's your goal ) your workspace needs to be on a Freelancer or Agency plan, and your client's workspace needs to invite you as a guest.
A Seamless Transfer Process
Here we're assuming the most complex situation-
- The site is in your workspace, on a paid site plan, with a custom domain
- You want to transfer it to your client's workspace
- You need to be able to manage the site after it's been transferred
- You want effectively zero downtime
Pre-Prepration
Make sure both workspaces are setup first.
Your workspace needs to be Freelancer or Agency, your client's can be on the free Starter workspace plan.
Have your client invite you as a Workspace guest before you begin the transfer- you'll want that access to complete the setup efficiently.
Prepare the New Site
Clone the site
Instead of transferring the site itself, we are going to clone it first, and transfer the clone. This approach enables us to setup the new site with new hosting before the original site is taken offline.
It also leaves the current production site LIVE as a reference while you're configuring the new site's redirects, SEO settings, Apps, Recaptcha, and so on.
Transfer the clone
Accept the transfer in your client's Workspace.
Setup a Hosting Plan for the New Site
You need this to complete the next steps in the configuration.
Configure the New Site
Use your old site as a reference if needed;
- Redirects
- Recaptcha
- Apps
- Integrations
- SEO Settings
- etc.
Remember, once you cancel your plan on the old site, these settings will no longer be available, so check them carefully.
Also, make certain to disable subdomain indexing, if you do not want your webflow.io staging site to appear in search engine results. Currently [ 01-Jul-2024 ] this setting re-enables after you transfer a site to a new workspace. Transfer the Site
This is the window in which the site will go offline.
Transfer the Domain(s)
To add the domain to your new site, you typically need to remove it from the old site first.
Webflow is continually improving systems and processes, so I would recommend that you first try Adding the domain to your new site without removing it from your old site. Completing the TXT verification step before removing the domain from your LIVE site is the ideal scenario.
Assuming that's not possible, you'll need to use this process instead;
- Remove the domain from your old site first
- Immediately add it to your new site
- Immediately re-verify it, this may mean an updated TXT record is needed in your DNS
Publish your site
Publish, and test your site to make certain everything works.
Test your site
Make sure to test all of the features of your new site.
The old site still has a hosting plan which means it can still act as a complete reference for your hosted site settings, in case you've missed anything.
Shut Down your Old Site
Once the new site is fully running, you can cancel the hosting plan on the original site.
We recommend you keep that site in your workspace as a backup for archival purposes, just in case anything happens in the client's workspace that damages the new production site.
