Is it possiable??

Ronald · July 03, 2018, 03:04:20 PM

If I made a new smf forum, is it possible to "only bring the members over" nothing else, no topics or postings, just the Members..

What's say aye?

Skhilled · July 04, 2018, 10:23:05 AM

You should be able to import only the members tables into the new forum. You may have to delete the current members table then import the other into the new one. you'll need to do it in phpmyadmin.

Ronald · July 04, 2018, 11:01:51 AM

Quote from: Skhilled on July 04, 2018, 10:23:05 AM
You should be able to import only the members tables into the new forum. You may have to delete the current members table then import the other into the new one. you'll need to do it in phpmyadmin.

I will absolutely be needing help in doing this..

We are going to be making a change to the forum, name change and forum topics. Making an entire new forum, and I want to just bring the members over nothing else..

Skhilled · July 04, 2018, 01:14:42 PM

As always...BACK EVERYTHING UP FIRST! LOL At least backup the forum with the members cause you can easily recreate a new forum for the new one, easy, peasy.

Ok, I'm sure you know how to get into phpmyadmin within cPanel. On the left, click the database associated with the forum you wish to gather the members from. On the right, you should see the "smf_members" table. If you wish to keep the membergroups for the members AND you have custom membergroups that you've created then you'll also want to get the "smf_membergroups" table as well. If you have custom membergroups and do not get the membergroup tables you'll have to recreate them in the new forum and add the members to those groups all over again.

1. At the top of the page phpmyadmin click the "Export" tab". Make sure the "Export method:" is set to "Custom - display all possible options" and "Format:" is set to "SQL".

2. Under "Tables:" uncheck all of the boxes on the left except for "smf_members" and "smf_membergroups" (if using). Make sure the Structure and Data checkboxes on the right ARE checked for those two tables only!

3. Go to the bottom of the page and click "Save". It should let you save the table(s) to your PC with a .sql extension.

You have just exported (saved) the tables you need to add to the new forum.

Now you need to go to the tables for the forum you wish to add the members to in phpmyadmin. Choose that database and drop (delete) the "smf_members" and "smf_membergroups" (if using) table by checking them then going to the bottom of the screen and choosing "Drop" from the dropdown the says "With Selected". This will delete those tables.

Now, go to the top of the screen and click the "Import" tab so you can add the table(s) you've saved earlier.

1. Under "File to import:" click the "Choose File" button. Navigate to the file you've exported earlier. Click the "go" button at the bottom of the screen and the import will start.

When it is done and was successful you should see a green block at the top of the screen saying so. You should be able to login to your forum and see the members and their respective groups.

If it was not successful you'll see a red block at the top of the screen saying what happened. If you see that, post it here and we'll try to solve it.

Ronald · July 04, 2018, 01:20:23 PM

In the new forum I have the member groups already.

If I were to do this now without closing the other forum, will the members still be on the other forums plus be on the new forum??

Skhilled · July 04, 2018, 01:23:05 PM

you mean you already have custom membergroups or the original ones?

Ronald · July 04, 2018, 01:27:04 PM

Quote from: Skhilled on July 04, 2018, 01:23:05 PM
you mean you already have custom membergroups or the original ones?

When I made the new forum, I add a couple more groups.. (from what I read, I should delete these groups)

In the old forum I have also added groups..(this is what I would like to bring over to the new forum)

Skhilled · July 04, 2018, 02:44:58 PM

Sorry, people visiting and cooking. But yes, if you want to keep the new groups as well as have the users to stay in those groups then you would need to also copy over the smf_membergroups table too.

Ronald · July 04, 2018, 04:12:12 PM

Quote from: Skhilled on July 04, 2018, 02:44:58 PM
Sorry, people visiting and cooking. But yes, if you want to keep the new groups as well as have the users to stay in those groups then you would need to also copy over the smf_membergroups table too.

Tried and failed..

Not too sure I did it correctly. Have no members on the new forum now..

I think the others just want to change the forum name for now..

settings_repair is this correct for changing the name and links.

Ronald · July 04, 2018, 06:35:37 PM

I tried again, failed miserably..

Going to do a repair_settings and change everything on the original forum..

Skhilled · July 05, 2018, 03:15:45 AM

You can also remove most posts by going into Forum Maintenance -> Topics -> Remove Old Posts. Set it for one day, any sort of topic, uncheck "But don't count stickied topics.", set it to "all boards". This should remove just about all topics and posts. I'm not sure if settings days to zero would remove them all or not but worth a try.

You could also move the boards to a new unseen category that no one has access to and delete them all. Or just delete the categories. For PM's you should be able to change the amount of PM's everyone can have to a very low number so smf will delete the rest.