Convert Posts to Portfolio (or Any Custom Type Posts) on Wordpress 3.4

Since the release of WordPress 3.0, developers now have the ability to create custom post types by adding a few lines of code to a themes functions.php. This took WordPress from being a CMS that can manage posts and pages to being able to manage anything the user can think of rather easily. You no longer have to add custom fields to posts- you can add high level support to your own types, creating their own theme page files and admin areas.

The most popular use of this custom post type is to create "portfolio" posts. You can find it in some latest WP Themes. Since portfolio posts are not normal or blog posts, they don't show up in global posts list. Their categories and tags are also separated from normal posts.

Portfolio Items in Choices WP Theme is a custom post type.

This new feature can be a problem for some WP site owners - like me - who already had their portfolio posted as normal posts. If they install a latest WP themes with portfolio posting feature, their current portfolio posts will be shown up as blog posts.

This problem can be solved by using some WP plugins that are able to convert normal posts to custom type posts. I have tried these plugins below to convert my normal posts to custom type posts.

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Post Type Convertr

This is a plugin for converting lots of posts or pages to a custom post type (or vice versa). In the 'convert from...' select option you will get the lists of all the post types stores in your current database and in the 'convert to...' option you will get the list of all the current registered post types. In addition to this you can also convert from one taxonomy to another and the lists are populated just as that of post types.

Post Type Convertr WP Plugin

Although the plugin is currently stated that only "Compatible up to: Wordpress 3.3.2", I have tried it and it works fine on Wordpress 3.4.

Pros:

• Bulk Conversion
• Able to convert many post types and taxonomies.

Cons:

• Unable to choose which post categories to be converted to.
• Not all taxonomies are listed under "Convert to..." list box. In my case, I couldn't find portfolio_category to convert category to.

[Plugin Link]

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Convert Post Types

This is a utility for converting lots of posts or pages to a custom post type (or vice versa). You can limit the conversion to posts in a single category or children of specific page. You can also assign new taxonomy terms, which will be added to the posts' existing terms.

Convert Post Types WP Plugin

Although the plugin is currently stated that only "Compatible up to: Wordpress 3.3.2", I have tried it and it works fine on Wordpress 3.4.

Pros:

• Bulk Conversion
• Ability to choose which (normal/blog) post categories to be converted to.
• Able to convert many post types and taxonomies.

Cons:

• You'll need to create some custom type post categories first to assign the normal post categories to.

[Plugin Link]

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NOTE: You cannot activate both plugins above simultaneously. Only one of them can be activated at a time. Otherwise, you'll find a fatal error message.

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Post Type Switcher

If you'd rather convert posts to customs posts one at a time, use this plugin. This plugin has abilities to convert:

• Page to Post
• Post to Page
• Page to Attachment
• Post to Custom

Post Type Switcher WP Plugin

This plugin is compatible for Wordpress up to version 3.4.

Pros:

• Doesn't ruin post taxonomy associations. You can switch back any custom post to normal post without loosing its categories.

Cons:

• You need to selectively change a posts type from one to another.
• This plugin can only change the 'post_type' property of a post, not the taxonomies (e.g. categories, tags, etc.)

[Plugin Link]