Transfer between Content Manager instances

A good business reason for coding against the Import and Export service to perform a transfer is to deploy implementation code (Schemas, Templates, Keywords) from a development server to a number of other Content Manager servers (typically following the "DTAP" sequence: Development, Testing, Acceptance, Production).

Writing custom code to perform a transfer allows you to control in detail how an import or export functions, and which configuration options you want to expose to the users of your custom client.

You can even create a custom client that requires no user interaction at all, but (for example) performs a scheduled export and/or import automatically.

Using the Import and Export service to transfer selected items from one Content Manager instance to another requires that neither instance is older than SDL Tridion 2013 SP1). To transfer items from or to an older Content Manager, use SDL Content Porter.

Do not use the Import and Export service for upgrading, backing up or restoring all of your Content Manager data. Instead, perform such tasks on the database level.