Importing Files

Adding all the files in your site manually would be incredibly tedious and time consuming, so we have included four methods for you to automatically import all the files you need.

Importing files using one of these four methods will not delete any files you currently have listed. New files will simply be added to the list. If one of the imported files is the same as an existing file, the existing files Priority and Change Frequency values will remain, but the most recent Last Updated Date will be used.

A note on Spidering:

Spidering is the process of collecting all the files in a site. The spider starts with an initial page. It downloads the contents of the page, and extracts all the links (and optionally the images see Options Spidering Include Images) in the content. If the link is to another webpage, the process is repeated with that page until all the pages on the site have been checked. We are left with a list of all pages and files on the site.

Spidering from a live site

Select Import / Spider Live Site, click F5 or click the toolbar button with this image to open the Spider Live Site dialog box. Click Import Files to start the process. Once it has completed, the dialog box will close, and the all the files found will be added to the display.

This method of importing files is by far the slowest, and will chew up your bandwidth for large sites. It is only recommended if you don't have a local copy of your site available.

To view or edit the filters applied to this process, click the Filters button (see Filters)

Spidering from a mirror or local development site

Select Import / Spider Local Site, click F6 or click the toolbar button with this image to open the Spider Local Mirror Site dialog box. Enter the URL of the local mirror site, or select one from the list, and click Start to start the process. Once it has completed, the dialog box will close, and all the files found will be added to the display.

This import method was included for developers who have a web server installed on their computers (or local network), and host a development version of the website on that web server. This method is much faster than spidering the live site and the best method to use if your site has dynamic content (eg: php files).

To view or edit the filters applied to this process, click the Filters button (see Filters)

Spidering from your harddrive

Select Import / Spider Files, click F7 or click the toolbar button with this image to open the Spider Files dialog box. Click the folder button, select the file which represents the home page for your site (typically index.htm or index.html), and click Start to start the process. Once it has completed, the dialog box will close, and the all the files found will be added to the display.

This import method was included for website owners who dont use dynamic content (eg: php files), and have a copy of their website stored on their local harddrive. This method is faster than both the previous methods because it reads the files directly from your harddrive, rather than interacting with a web server. This is the preferred method because of its speed and accuracy.

To view or edit the filters applied to this process, click the Filters button (see Filters)

Importing all files from a folder and subfolders

Select Import / Import Files, click F8 or click the toolbar button with this image to open the Import Files dialog box. Click the folder button and select the folder you would like to import, select whether or not to include all subfolders, and whether or not to include hidden files and folders, select which types of files to import and click Start to start the process. Once it has completed, the dialog box will close, and the all the files found will be added to the display.

You may select whether or not to include certain types of files by checking or unchecking the relevant boxes in the Include Files section. These types relate to the File Types section of the Options dialog box (see Options File Extensions). All static Web Content files will automatically be included.

This import method is the fastest of them all, but much less accurate, since it will include all the relevant files in a folder, irrespective of whether they are part of the linking structure of your site. It is suggested that once this process has finished, you check to see that no unwanted files have been added to the list.

To view or edit the filters applied to this process, click the Filters button (see Filters)

virtual folders

saving the sitemap