Most website owners don’t think about backups until they actually need them.
Whether it’s a plugin update gone wrong, your site getting hacked, or your server unexpectedly crashing, a recent backup can mean the difference between a quick fix and a complete rebuild.
That’s why more and more WordPress website owners are turning to cloud storage solutions like Dropbox. It ensures that your website files are safe, independent of the server, and always accessible.
Using a plugin like Duplicator, you can automate the entire process - no manual downloads or file transfers required.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we will show you how to backup your WordPress site to Dropbox using Duplicator.
Why Backup Your WordPress Site to Dropbox?
Whether you’re running a small WordPress site, an e-commerce store, or any other type of website, regular backups are essential.
A backup is a copy of your website that includes important files, folders, databases, website content, themes, plugins, and other information.
With a backup, you always have a copy of your website, even if a fatal error or security breach occurs. Later, you can restore your website to its previous state with just a few clicks.
Storing your WordPress backups on your computer’s hard drive or website server can be risky. If the hard drive fails or the website server is hacked, you will lose all your backups.
That’s why it’s a good practice to store your backups in multiple locations, including cloud storage services like Dropbox.
Dropbox is a popular file hosting service that lets you store and back up your files to the cloud. Best of all, you can access, save, and share those files from anywhere.
In this article, we will show you how to backup WordPress to Dropbox. Here is a quick overview of all the steps covered in this guide:
- Connect your WordPress site to Dropbox
- Creating a Dropbox backup of your WordPress site
- Restoring a WordPress backup from Dropbox
- Further reading on WordPress backups
Let’s get started.
Connect your WordPress site to Dropbox
The easiest way to create WordPress backups and save them to Dropbox is to use the Duplicator plugin. This is a beginner-friendly WordPress backup plugin that helps you backup, migrate, and clone your website.
Several of our partner brands trust Duplicator to handle their backups. They all agree that Duplicator is a reliable and efficient data protection solution.
We have also conducted in-depth research and testing on this tool.
One of the reasons we like the Duplicator plugin is that it can easily integrate with different cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, OneDrive, FTP and SFTP – SSH.
First, you need to install and activate the Duplicator Pro plugin. If you need help, see our WordPress plugin installation guide .
Note: This tutorial will use the Duplicator Pro plugin because it has integrated cloud storage capabilities. Duplicator also offers a free version that can be used to create backups of your website, but it does not support automatically storing backups in Dropbox.
Upon activation, go to Duplicator Pro » Settings from your WordPress admin panel and click on the License tab.
Next, enter your license key and click the Activate button. You can easily find your license key in your Duplicator account area.
Once that's done, you'll need to connect your Dropbox account with Duplicator.
Simply go to Duplicator Pro » Storage from your WordPress dashboard . Here you will see the Local Storage option where your backups will be stored by default.
Go ahead and click on the “Add New” button to add Dropbox.
After that, you can enter an easily recognizable name for your new storage option. For example, we named it "Dropbox".
The next step is to click on the “Type” drop-down menu and select the “Dropbox” option.
From here, you will see new settings for Storage options.
Go ahead and click on the “Connect to Dropbox” button.
After clicking the button, more settings will appear in the authorization section.
From here, you need to click on the “Authorize Dropbox” button.
Then, a new window or tab will open. Simply log in to your Dropbox account.
You can sign in with your Google or Apple account, or enter the email and password you used to sign up for Dropbox.
Once logged in, you will need to allow access to your Dropbox account.
Go ahead and click on the “Allow” button.
You will then see the authorization code.
All you have to do is copy this code.
You can now return to the browser tab or window where you configured your Duplicator Pro storage settings.
Go ahead and paste the code into the "Step 2: Paste the code from the Dropbox authorization page" field.
Once you are done, just click on the Finish Setup button.
You have now successfully added Dropbox as a cloud storage option to save your WordPress backups.
Creating a Dropbox backup of your WordPress site
The next step is to create a backup of your WordPress blog or website and save it to Dropbox.
First, you need to go to Duplicator Pro » Backups from your WordPress admin panel and click on the ‘Add New’ button.
You can then name your backup package. You can also use dynamic tags to automatically name your backups, using formats such as date, time, and website title.
In this panel, Duplicator also gives you the option to select a template. We recommend leaving it as "Unassigned" as it will retain the settings from the last scan/build.
After that, you will need to expand the Storage section.
Here, you need to select “Dropbox” as the storage option to store your WordPress backup.
You can also change the Backup settings before backing up your website. By default, the plugin will package your website’s content, plugins, themes, database, and all other files.
However, you can customize your backup by selecting which parts of your website you want to back up. For example, you can archive only your WordPress database.
Once you’re done, just click on the “Next” button at the bottom.
On the next screen, Duplicator will scan your site and check that everything is OK before creating the backup. You will see a notification or warning about any issues that need to be resolved before backing up your site.
Once everything checks out, just click on the Create Backup button.
The plugin will take a few seconds or minutes to create the backup package. The specific time depends on the size of your files and folders.
Once the package is ready, it will be saved in your Dropbox. You can view your Dropbox location by clicking the Storage icon.
A new window will now open showing the location.
You can simply click on the link to view your WordPress backup in your Dropbox dashboard .[](https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-view-a-wordpress-backup-as-a-website/ "How to View a WordPress Backup as a Website (The Easiest Way)")
Schedule WordPress backups to Dropbox (Pro plugin only)
With Duplicator Pro you can schedule regular website backups and store them in Dropbox.
First, you need to go to Duplicator Pro » Schedule Backups from your WordPress dashboard and click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, you can enter a name for your backup plan and select a template. We recommend using the default template so that all files, folders, and databases of your website are backed up.
After that, you can select "Dropbox" as the storage location for the backup.
Then, you need to scroll down and choose when the plugin should automatically create backups.
You can choose to build the package hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, if you choose to build weekly, you can choose the day to schedule the backup.
You can also choose the start time for the schedule. Finally, make sure the Enable this schedule option is checked to ensure your schedule is active.
When you are finished, just click on the Save Schedule button.
Restoring a WordPress backup from Dropbox
Now that you have set up regular backups, a copy of your website will always be saved in Dropbox. This way, if a fatal error, data loss, or security breach occurs, you can easily restore your backup.
To restore your website, you first need to open your Dropbox account and go to the Duplicator Pro folder.
Next, go ahead and choose the website backup that you would like to download.
Just click on the 3 dotted icons and select the Download option.
From here, you can save the zip file to your computer.
After that, you have to go to your WordPress dashboard and head to **Duplicator Pro » Import **Backup . Go ahead and click on the ‘Choose File’ button.
Next, you can select the zip file from your computer to restore your website backup.
Once the file is uploaded, you can scroll down to view the package details. Simply click on the "Continue" button.
On the next screen, you will see an overview of your package. For example, it will show the number of posts, pages, media files, plugins, etc. that are in the backup.
Go ahead and click on the “Launch Installer” button.
After clicking the button, the Duplicator installation wizard will start.
First, you need to select the “Installation Type” for your plan. Then, select the “Restore a Single Site” option.
Next, you can scroll down to review the Verification checkpoint and make sure your system is ready to install the backup. If any warnings or notifications appear, you must resolve them before restoring the backup.
When you are finished, click the "I have read and accept all terms and notices" checkbox.
Then, click on the Next button.
A pop-up window will now open with the installation confirmation details.
You can click the OK button to continue.
The plugin will now extract the archive file from the package.
Once the extraction is complete, you will see the results of the installation. To complete the backup, you must click the "Admin Login" button and log back into your site to complete the installation.
You have now successfully restored your website backup from Dropbox.
Further reading on WordPress backups
Here are some useful guides to help you explore different ways to back up your WordPress site and expand your backup options:
- How to Backup Your WordPress Site
- A Beginner's Guide to Backing Up Your WordPress Site to Google Drive
- How to Connect Google Drive to Your WordPress Media Library
- How to Create WordPress Backups Using JetPack
We hope this article helped you learn how to backup your WordPress site to Dropbox. You may also want to check out our WordPress security guide .
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