Imports stuck, slow, or missing documents Pro

One-click migrations (Documents → Import & Export → Migrate) run in the background so a large library never ties up your browser. That background design is also the source of most "it’s stuck" reports — here’s how it actually behaves and what to check.

How an import runs

The import processes your source plugin’s library in small time-budgeted chunks driven by wp-cron, with its position saved after every chunk. One import runs at a time, a lock prevents two copies racing, and each imported document is stamped with a source marker — which is why re-running an import never creates duplicates and an interrupted import resumes where it left off.

"The progress number hasn’t moved"

Background chunks fire with WordPress cron, which only runs when your site gets traffic. On a quiet staging site, an import can sit still simply because nothing has visited. Three fixes, any one of which works:

• Open any wp-admin page — if the scheduled event was dropped, FileDeck re-arms it on the next admin view and the import continues.
• Visit the site’s front end a few times.
• If your host disables WP cron in favour of a real cron job (DISABLE_WP_CRON), make sure that server cron is actually firing — that’s the thing driving the chunks.

"Documents are missing after the import"

Check these in order:

1. Are they drafts? If you chose "import as drafts" (a good idea), the imported documents are waiting under Documents → Drafts for review — publish them when you’re happy. Some documents arrive as drafts even when you chose Publish: anything the old plugin kept unpublished or private, WP Customer Area files with no owner FileDeck could match, and Download Attachments files that weren’t listed on a public post.
2. Is the source plugin still active? The importer reads the old plugin’s data in place, so it should stay active until the import finishes. Deactivating it mid-import pauses progress until it’s back (nothing is lost — the import resumes).
3. Does the source item have what the importer moves? Each importer card lists exactly what comes across for that plugin — for example, some source plugins keep no per-document download counts or access rules, so there’s nothing to migrate for those fields. The migration guide for your specific plugin spells out the mapping.
4. Did the finished-import notice say some items could not be imported? Then those items are not in your library yet. See the next section.

"Some items could not be imported"

If FileDeck can’t turn one of the old plugin’s items into a document (its file is no longer where the old plugin says it is, for example, or WordPress refused to save the new document), the import carries on with the rest. When it finishes, the notice on the Migrate screen says how many items didn’t come across and names them (the first 50, with a count of any more), each with the reason it failed: for example, that its file could not be found where the old plugin says it is, that it is in the old plugin’s trash, or that WordPress would not save the new document (with WordPress’s own message). If you click Stop import part way, the notice says how far it got and lists the items that failed before you stopped it. Documents → Settings → Health shows the same list until you start another import.

Put right what an item’s reason describes (put its file back, say, or take it out of the trash), then click Import again on that notice. Documents that already came across are skipped, so only the failed items are tried again. If an item still won’t come across, email support@getfiledeck.com with the list from the notice, reasons included.

"A document came in without its file"

If the file is one FileDeck already keeps protected for another of your documents (a restricted or view-only one), the import doesn’t share it with a new document: the new document comes in without a file, and the finished-import notice says how many did. Library Health lists each one under Imported without its file. Attach the right file from the document’s edit screen, or delete the document if it duplicates the one that already has the file.

"I ran it twice by accident"

That’s fine. The source markers mean already-imported documents are skipped, not duplicated. Re-running is also the right move after adding new documents to the old plugin — only the new ones come across. Afterwards, Library Health lists anything an import left to finish, such as restricted documents whose original is still public.

CSV imports behave differently

A CSV import is driven by your file rather than the old plugin’s database — if rows are skipped, the import report says which and why (usually a missing title or an unreachable file URL). Fix the rows and re-import; existing documents aren’t duplicated.

Still stuck? Email support@getfiledeck.com with the source plugin’s name and roughly how many documents it found — that number appearing on the Migrate card is the quickest health check.