Transfer between different versions of Content Manager

Content Porter can perform a transfer of content between different versions of the Content Manager of Tridion Sites (also known by one of its former names, SDL Tridion Sites, SDL Web or SDL Tridion.

Tridion Sites Cloud can perform exports and imports for the following versions of Content Manager:
Content Manager versionExport from this versionImport into this version
SDL Tridion 2013 SP1 HR1DeprecatedDeprecated
SDL Web 8 Cumulative Update 1DeprecatedDeprecated
SDL Web 8.5SupportedSupported
SDL Tridion Sites 9SupportedSupported
SDL Tridion Sites 9.1SupportedSupported
SDL Tridion Sites 9.5SupportedSupported

In addition, Tridion Sites Cloud is also able to import content that was exported using SDL Web 8, SDL Tridion 2013 SP1 HR1 or SDL Content Porter 2013. Such content could have been exported from any of the following releases:

  • SDL Tridion Content Manager 2013
  • SDL Tridion Content Manager 2013 SP1
  • SDL Tridion Content Manager 2013 SP1 HR1

Note that it is not always possible to transfer all data from one version to another because different versions of Content Manager have slightly different data models. Data that is incompatible with the older or newer version that you are migrating to fails on import. Tridion Sites Cloud logs that the item was skipped and why.

Data lost when transferring from SDL Tridion Sites 9.5 or later to any older version

As of August 2020 , the template-based publishing framework is considered legacy in favor of templateless, data-only publishing. As a result, if you export from SDL Tridion Sites 9.5 or later and try to import the package into an earlier version of the product that requires a template, you may get the following error:

Link to Component Template has invalid value

The solution is to update the Component to use an appropriate Component Template or skip the item.

Data lost when transferring from SDL Tridion Sites 9 or later to any older version

You can export content from SDL Tridion Sites 9 or later and import it into SDL Web 8.5 or earlier. The following restrictions apply:
  • Region Schemas (which includes Page Schemas) will fail to transport, because this item type did not exist yet in SDL Web 8.5 or earlier.
  • Any Pages that contain Regions will transport, but you will lose any Regions on the Page, including their metadata, Component Presentations contained within them, and the value of the Page Schema property.
  • The configuration of Custom Pages cannot be transported, because prior to SDL Tridion Sites 9, this information was not yet contained in application data.
  • Multimedia Type icons cannot be transported, because prior to SDL Tridion Sites 9, this information was not yet contained in application data.

Data lost when transferring from SDL Web 8 Cumulative Update 1 or later to any older version

You can export content from SDL Web 8 Cumulative Update 1 or later and import it into SDL Tridion 2013 SP1 HR1. The following restrictions apply:
  • Business Process Types will fail to transport, because this item type did not exist yet in SDL Tridion 2013 SP1 HR1.
  • Any Publication you export must have its Publication URL field set in its General tab.