Changing to NextGEN Gallery

So I took the plunge and decided to change from using myGallery to use NextGEN Gallery. For a while I ran both plugins but in the end I worked out a procedure to exclusively use NextGEN.

I had several hundred images in quite a number of different posts and pages, and I was not looking forward to going through and updating each post so I looked for some “shortcuts” to try on my localhost test site as this is not a procedure for the faint hearted (even with appropriate backups taken)…

Step 1 – After installing NextGEN Gallery I used the myGallery Import:

  • A few odd characters managed to break the import but once I had tracked these down (apostrophises and copyright symbols) all of the images were imported very quickly and easily.
  • Unfortunately the ID number of the images was updated, so I exported both the NextGen and myGallery picture tables and merged the data together so that wp_mypictures id was copied into wp_ngg_pictures pid matching on the filenames (which were thankfully unique across all of the subfolders).
  • Keeping my fingers crossed I then imported the merged data, overwriting what was alreaady in wp_ngg_pictures – it worked!!

Step 2 – Updating the album / gallery pages

  • With only half a dozen pages this was easy to update manually opening each page and changing the tags from [mygal= to to

    no images were found

Step 3 – Updating several hundred pictures in quite a number of posts and pages

  • Thankfully the way I displayed images within posts was fairly consistent using the thumbnail and linking to the fullscreen version. The only difference was whether they were floated to left or right.
  • Using search & replace within wp_posts I first changed [inspic= to We cannot display this gallery was replaced by ,100,,,left] – and that replaced all of the images floated to the left and I just had to repeat using right instead of left.
  • A quick search for “left,” “right,” and “fullscreen” found a couple of posts with images that did not conform to my usual incorporation of images, but these were easy enough to change by editing the post in the normal fashion.

Step 4 – Cleaning up

  • Deactivate myGallery and have a browse through the site to spot any images that are missing.
  • Delete myGallery tables and options.