Upgrade from GovIntranet to Govintra

This guide is for administrators of an intranet still on the GovIntranet theme (version 4). The upgrade is a theme switch: activating Govintra migrates your settings, widgets and page templates in a few minutes; allow longer to check the intranet afterwards. You need a Govintra subscription: see Prices and subscriptions and What is Govintra?.

What you need before upgrading to Govintra

  • WordPress 6.2 and PHP 8.0 or later. GovIntranet needed only WordPress 6.0 and PHP 7.4; WordPress will not activate Govintra below these.
  • An administrator account. Only users who can install or switch themes see the installer and migration notices.
  • Your subscription key. Govintra reads the key GovIntranet already stores.
  • A tested full backup of files and database. There is no “switch back” step: recovery means restoring the backup.
  • A development copy to try it on first. One key covers one production and one development site.
  • Screenshots of the homepage, Appearance → Widgets, Appearance → Menus, the Customiser and your active plugins.
  • A copy of your Additional CSS from the Customiser. Govintra does not carry it across.

Update GovIntranet to the latest version first

Go to Appearance → Themes and install any GovIntranet update offered; the Govintra installer ships in the latest 4.101 release (4.101.20). Updates need your subscription key, so if none appears check it under Options → General → Subscription.

Install Govintra from the GovIntranet notice

Administrators of an up-to-date GovIntranet site see a notice headed Govintra 5.x.x is available! GovIntranet checks your key with help.govintra.pro at most once every 12 hours, so it can take up to half a day to appear, and never appears if Govintra is already installed or someone selected Dismiss, which is permanent.

  1. Select Install Govintra. GovIntranet downloads and installs the theme without changing the live intranet.
  2. On the Installing Govintra page, select Activate Govintra to switch now, or Return to Themes to activate later.

If you see No subscription key found or Could not retrieve the Govintra download URL, check the key and retry; otherwise fix the WordPress error shown or use the manual route.

Install Govintra manually

Use this if the notice does not appear or you run the free edition of GovIntranet, which has no installer.

  1. Open Download theme updates, enter your subscription key, select Get downloads and download the Govintra theme zip and any Govintra plugins you need. This uses no site slot.
  2. Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme, choose the zip and select Install Now.

Upgrade a site that uses a GovIntranet child theme

With a GovIntranet child theme, the installer installs the Govintra parent, then asks you to upload your Govintra-compatible child theme through Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme. Activate the child theme, not the parent: it runs the same migration, and switching between Govintra and its child theme keeps your subscription slot.

Activate Govintra and let the migration finish

Activating Govintra (or your Govintra child theme) from Appearance → Themes starts a two-stage migration.

At activation, Govintra migrates Customiser colours and header images, moves widgets into the new widget areas (old HT and [[honours]] text widgets become Govintra and Wonderwall widgets), maps common Glyphicons to Font Awesome names, updates staff profile fields, and deactivates HT Most Recent, HT Feedback, HT How Do I, HT Honours and HT Profile Nudge. You then see: Govintra migration started — Customiser settings, widgets, and user fields have been migrated. Page templates and content field keys are being updated in the background.

On the next admin page load, Govintra remaps page templates (old news templates become the Comms hub) and content field keys, then shows: Govintra migration complete — page templates and ACF field keys have been updated. Open any admin screen, such as Dashboard; if a notice says updates are pending or activation timed out, open another.

Notices also list other superseded plugins Govintra has deactivated, and (Renamed plugins available) HT plugins such as HT A to Z with Govintra replacements: install the new plugin, then deactivate the old.

Not migrated: Additional CSS; button and header text colours (Govintra derives these from the background); utility bar widgets, which move to Inactive Widgets.

Run the migration tools under Tools

Three tools under Tools migrate data the theme switch leaves alone. Each skips items already migrated, so running twice is safe.

  • Migrate Avatars: imports profile photos from old avatar plugins; needs the Staff directory module on.
  • Migrate Wonderwall: turns old honours posts into Wonderwall entries in batches; a notice says how many are waiting.
  • Migrate Likes: imports likes from HT Like It, Love It and similar plugins (a notice names them); run it before deactivating them.

Check your intranet after upgrading to Govintra

Work through the Govintra post-migration checklist for options, icons, templates and widgets, and the intranet options guide for the new settings. Keep GovIntranet and the deactivated plugins installed until you are satisfied, then delete them.

If the upgrade to Govintra goes wrong