With Site Preview, when you migrate your WordPress site to Kinsta, you can preview your site over yourWordPress temporary URL(e.g. https://sitename.kinsta.cloud) before you make it live, even if the database or hard-coded files still use your live domain or another domain. Site Preview allows you to view your site at Kinsta without having to make any changes to your site’s database, files, or your domain’s DNS records. This tool lets WordPress think the URL it should use is the temp URL,without the hassle of running a search and replace in your site’s database.
Enable Site Preview
To activate Site Preview in MyKinsta, head over to your site’sToolstab and click on theEnablebutton underSite Preview.
In theSite Previewmodal/pop-up that appears, enter your live site’s domain. This needs to be the domain that is currently configured within your WordPress install and is typically the live domain but could be a different domain, depending on where you migrated the site from.
Choose how long you want Site Preview to be enabled underAuto-disableand click theEnable Site Previewbutton.
Once Site Preview is enabled, open your site’stemporary URLin your browser, and you’ll be able to view the site just like you normally would on the live domain. You can also confirm that Site Preview is working by inspecting your site with your browser’s developer tools and looking for theX-Kinsta-preview-mode: activeheader on the Network tab.
If you’re happy with the migrated content and you want to make the site live, you candisable the site preview. To see what steps are required to make the site live, check out ourGo Live Checklist.
Disable Site Preview
Once you’re finished previewing your site, you can disable Site Preview. To do this, you have two options:
Option 1:On your site’sDomainspage, click theDisable Site Previewbutton next to the temporary domain.
Option 2:Head back over to your site’sToolstab in MyKinsta and click theDisablebutton underSite Preview.
Previewing a multisite
To preview a WordPress multisite, you’ll need to disable and re-enable Site Preview for each domain or subdomain you want to preview. The steps to preview a multisite are:
Enable Site Preview for the domain you want to test first (example.com) by entering the domain in theDomain of your sitefield in theEnable Site Previewmodal/pop-up.
Open your site’s Kinsta temporary URL in your browser and testthe sitethoroughly.
Disable Site Preview and re-enable it for the subdomain you want to test next (site1.example.com) by entering the subdomain in theDomain of your sitefield in theEnable Site Previewmodal/pop-up.
Open your site’s Kinsta temporary URL in your browser again and testthe subsitethoroughly. You’ll use the same Kinsta temporary URL to preview each site.Note:If you do not see the correct subsite, try clearing your browser cache or loading the URL in an incognito/private window.
Repeat until any subdomains you want to preview are tested. Turn Site Preview off for the last time.
Notifications
We send email notifications to theCompany Owner,Company Administrator, andCompany Developeruserswhen:
Site Preview is enabled by a user.
Site Preview is disabled by a user.
Site Preview is automatically disabled after the time selected in Auto-disable.
Note: If our Support team enables or disables Site Preview, we do not send any email notifications.
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