An export file is a starting point. Check what arrived.
Moving from Squarespace involves two different jobs: retaining the material your business needs and creating the website that will use it. A content receipt connects those jobs, so missing pages, downloads or functions become visible before launch.
Platform guidance reviewed 27 September 2026. Check the current provider instructions and your own agreement before acting.
What the native export gives you
Squarespace can export certain content in a WordPress-format XML file. The export supports one blog, but it does not carry across the site's style settings or custom CSS, and several page and block types are excluded. The format is a content-transfer route, not a complete copy of the visual site. Check its current supported-content list against your actual site. Squarespace's export documentation.
Choosing that export format does not settle the destination platform. The receiving provider still needs to explain how it will use the material and which parts of the site it will rebuild.
Make a content receipt
Start with the current public pages, rather than the export file alone. Give every important item a row and record what the receiving provider actually obtained. These are suggested project statuses, not results the tool can verify for you.
The table scrolls sideways on smaller screens.
| Item to account for | Record in the receipt | Useful acceptance evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Service and company pages | Current URL, approved text and destination | The complete approved copy is visible on the intended replacement page |
| Blog content | Each required post, date, author, media and URL | A comparison against the source inventory, including additional blogs |
| Images and documents | Original file, usage rights, alt text or description, linked pages | The retained file opens and is used in the agreed place |
| Design decisions | What should be preserved, improved or replaced | A representative page approved against that brief |
| Forms and integrations | Purpose, destination, account owner and required result | An authorized test reaches the actual receiving service |
| URLs and redirects | Keep, redirect or retire decision | The public destination behaves as agreed after launch |
Use four plain statuses: To retain, Received, Checked, and Exception agreed. Do not mark an item checked because a filename exists. Record the exception and its approver if something is intentionally omitted.
Give the design its own brief
Separate the content you want to keep from the presentation you want to change. A useful brief identifies the main buyer, the decision each page supports, the tone of the copy, the material available and the next step visitors should take.
Decide how future editing will work. A team that publishes every week may need a different arrangement from a business that asks a supplier for occasional changes. Confirm that workflow before choosing the replacement technology. Use the website brief builder.
Treat connected services as live dependencies
Record where enquiries, bookings, transactions and member access are actually processed. A link or embedded screen may belong to a separate service with its own account, subscription and permitted domains. Ask whether it stays, reconnects or needs replacing; agree and test the answer.
Keep domain registration, DNS and email in the handover too. Squarespace distinguishes pointing a domain, forwarding it and transferring registration. Choose the operation your destination needs rather than treating them as interchangeable. Squarespace's domain-move options.
Compare suppliers against the same receipt
Ask each provider to identify which rows it will deliver, which need help from you, and what is excluded. Keep one complete commercial summary, so a design quote, content import and ongoing services are not mistaken for the same commitment. The editable RFP pack gives you a common set of supplier questions and responsibility fields.
Before ending the old arrangement, approve the replacement, verify useful URLs and connected journeys, and agree who can reverse the launch if needed. A move can change search visibility; a tested URL plan helps prevent avoidable errors but does not guarantee rankings. Prepare the URL map.
UpOnUp creates original design, copy and build for agreed replacement business websites. Bring the content receipt to the scope discussion so the work and any specialist dependencies are clear.
Create your Squarespace replacement plan · Discuss the scope