I inherited admin duties for this existing blog which uses Atahualpa 3.4.4.
http://www.crossfitworks.com/

I was asked to set up a second blog on the site which needs to look like the existing one.
http://www.crossfitworks.com/cfwkids/

Right now, it doesn't

I found out about the export/import option but it is not available in 3.4.4. Trying to upgrade the existing blog/theme to 3.4.9 threatens to erase our current configuration which of course is unacceptable.

So, how can I make the new blog look like the existing one?

Some additional info:

Both blogs were installed using SimpleScripts. I don't have the time or expertise to go manually digging around databases and config files at the CLI. I don't even know if I have those type of access privileges since it's on a shared hosting environment.

Any help to make this happen would be appreciated.

Update: I found out that I have FTP access, but not Shell access, if that helps.

First of all if you are going to upgrade I would go to 3.5.3 and apply the bug fixes.

If you upgrade by the MANUAL method as outlined in the New Versions and Updating thread the settings shouldn't be lost and if you have any issues you can just switch back to 3.4.4 since it will still be available.

With both sites at 3.5.3 the export and import should work fine with only the images needing to be copied over.

As outlined in the upgrade instructions always do a backup first and if you are unsure of anything ask questions.

If you have the capability you could also create a 3.4.4 dummy site and then do a manual upgrade to see how it goes without worrying about messing something up.

Thanks for the response, Larry. Based on your response, I have done the following:

- downloaded the 3.5.3 theme
- applied the two patches
- uploaded the 3.5.3 theme folder to the new blog
- activated the 3.5.3 theme for the new blog
- uploaded the 3.5.3 theme folder to the existing blog

I have not yet activated the 3.5.3 theme on the existing blog because I am not quite clear yet on what will happen when I do.

Will it know about the customizations done in the 3.4.4 version and somehow automatically apply them so that the 3.5.3 theme version will look exactly like the current 3.4.4 version?

What I don't want to happen is that I activate the 3.5.3 theme on the existing blog and switch to it, and then suddenly the site looks like the default atahualpa theme. In that case the export/import function wouldn't help me anyway if the new theme uses its own settings and ignores the existing 3.4.4 customizations.

Sorry - am I overthinking this?

If you could help me understand the process and how this will work (if nothing else for my peace of mind) I would appreciate it.

It should pick up the settings from 3.4.4. If you see only the credits or some other issue just switch back to 3.4.4 and post what happened. There is NEVER a 100% guarantee that all will go perfectly which is why a backup is recommended but I have done the process many many times without any major issues.

If you are really paranoid you could copy all the major settings into a text document.

Very cool - I believe it worked!

Both sites are now running 3.5.3.

I exported the settings from the existing one and imported it into the new one.

Forgot to copy the header image and favicon over but that was easily fixed.

Looks like we're in business and it wasn't as tricky as I was afraid it would be.

Thanks a lot for your help!