Starting a backup job – immediately or scheduled

Backup jobs can be started either immediately or scheduled. You can choose between five different ways a job can be executed.

Immediate (manual) Execution of a Backup Job

In your WordPress admin area, you can find a list of all created backup jobs under BackWPup → Jobs. The table has the following columns: Job Name, Type, Destinations, Next Run, Last Run. Here you can not only see when your backups are going to start, but also start them manually if needed.

1. Hover your mouse over a job name. Under the name, a new line of links will appear.
2. Click on Run now to start the backup job immediately.

Execute a Scheduled Backup Job

The scheduling of backup jobs can be set while creating a new job or by editing an existing job (see screenshot above, link Edit). The settings for scheduling are under the Schedule tab.

Here can you find five ways to get a scheduled job started:

• Manually only – Choosing this option, the backup job will not be scheduled. Instead, you have to start it yourself manually as described above under “Immediate (manual) Execution of a Backup Job”. At BackWPup  → Jobs the Next Run column will be set to Inactive.
• With WordPress Cron – The WordPress Cron offers processes to be run automatically and scheduled. With BackWPup you can use the WordPress Cron to schedule the backup jobs. If you choose this option, more settings will be shown on the page where you can set the desired time of execution: monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or individually under advanced. At BackWPup  → Jobs the Next Run column will be set to the date and time you chose.

• With EasyCron.com – This is an external Cron server. If you encounter problems with the WordPress Cron, you can choose this as a replacement. You need an API key of EasyCron.com, which you can enter under BackWPup → Settings, in the API Keys tab.
• With a link – Copy the link that is displayed under this option, paste it into the address bar of a new browser window and hit enter. You will only see a blank page but BackWPup is working in the background and executes the backup job. This way can be also used for starting a job from another application.
• Use WP-CLI from the commandline – WP-CLI is a command line tool for WordPress, which is popular among developers. Backup jobs can be started with the command wp backwpup start <job-id>.

For beginners we usually recommend the option “with WordPress Cron”. A manual execution can be used after the creation to test if everything is working. All other options are more for advanced users.

In rare cases, jobs which are running with WordPress Cron may not work correctly. If you encounter this, please have a look at “My backup jobs don’t seem to run as scheduled“.