A copy of a website in Enhance, for testing

What you'll achieve

• make a complete copy of the website, as a separate website;
• open it and work on it without affecting your visitors;
• delete it when you no longer need it.

Before you start

• The copy is an extra website. You need a free slot in your plan: Store has 3 websites, Multi-site 15, Cloud 30, 60 or 100. On Starter (a single website) you can't make a copy; there, take a backup before the change (see Backup and restore from Enhance) or move to a bigger plan.
• The copy takes up as much space as the copied website, from your plan's space. Check on “Home”, under “Package subscriptions”.
• Emails are not copied: the addresses and messages stay only on the main website.
• Choose the copy's address. The simplest is a new subdomain of your domain, for example test.domeniul-tau.ro, which does not already exist on the main website. If the domain uses our nameservers, Enhance adds the DNS record automatically.
• Log in to Enhance at https://server.nbt-host.com. We use the English names, exactly as they appear on screen.

The steps

Make the copy

1. In the left menu, click “Websites”, then “Add website”.
2. Choose “Clone a website” (next to “Start from scratch” and “Install an app”).
3. Choose the website you are copying and enter the copy's domain, for example test.domeniul-tau.ro.
4. For a WordPress website, keep the option to replace the website address in the database, if the form shows it. That way the copy uses its own address, not the main website's.
5. Click “Add” and wait: for a large website, copying can take a few minutes.
6. The copy appears in the “Websites” list as a separate website, with its own files, databases and settings.

Work on the copy

• The subdomain's SSL certificate is issued automatically once it points to the server (see The free SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt)).
• For WordPress, log in to the copy's dashboard from its own “Apps” tab, with “Login to admin”, so you don't work on the main website by mistake.
• Stop the copy from being indexed, so Google doesn't see it as a duplicate website: in WordPress, under Settings » Reading, check the option that discourages search engines.
• The copy sends emails just like the real website (forms, orders). If you're testing a store, turn off emails to customers or use test addresses only.

What to do after testing

The copy isn't “pushed” over the main website on its own. You have two options:

• redo on the main website what worked on the copy: the update, the theme, the plugin. Before that, take a backup from the “Backups” tab » “Create backup”;
• if you've done a lot of work on the copy and want it to become the main website, write to us: we'll move it for you, without losing the emails or new orders on the main website.

Delete the copy

On the copy's page, “Overview” tab, click “Delete” and confirm. Double-check that you're on the copy (the test.… domain), not the main website: deletion is permanent.

If something doesn't work

• “You have reached your package's limit of websites”, or the option is grayed out. Your plan has no room for another website. Delete an old copy or move to a bigger plan.
• The copy opens, but sends you to the main website. For WordPress, the website address in the copy is still the old one. On the copy's WordPress page, under “General”, next to “Site URL”, click the pencil, enter the copy's address and click “Change”.
• “It looks like this domain already exists.” The subdomain you chose already exists on the main website. Choose another name or delete it from there first (see Subdomains and additional domains in Enhance).
• Copying fails with an error. Check your free space. If there's enough, write to us with the website's name.