Neve fix
Neve Starter Site Import Failed or Stuck? How to Finish It
The progress bar reached the content step and stayed there. A Neve starter site import is several jobs in a row, run by a companion plugin from Themeisle, and it stops at the first one your server refuses. The useful question is which job, because each has a different cure.
What you are seeing
- The progress bar sits on one step and never moves on
- A message says something went wrong and points to the documentation
- Pages arrived but their images are gray boxes or missing
- The home page still shows your latest posts in place of the demo
- Running it again produced two of every page and menu
Why it happens on Neve
Most common first.
- 1
The server ends the request before the content step finishes
Importing content means creating every demo page and downloading every demo image in one long request. Many shared hosts cut a request off after a fixed number of seconds, or when PHP runs out of memory. The importer waits for an answer that never arrives and the bar stops where it was.
- 2
Something is turning away the REST API
The importer talks to your own site through the WordPress REST API. A security plugin that restricts the API, a firewall rule at the host or a maintenance-mode plugin can each refuse those calls. This failure shows early, usually before a single page appears.
- 3
Your host cannot reach Themeisle's servers
The demo's content file and every image in it are fetched from Themeisle during the run. A host that limits outgoing connections can stop the import cold, or let the text through and leave the images behind.
- 4
A required plugin would not install
Each starter site names the plugins it was built with, such as a page builder, a blocks plugin or a forms plugin, and the importer installs them first. If file permissions are wrong, the disk quota is full or an outdated copy is already present, that first step fails and nothing after it is attempted.
- 5
The site was not empty to begin with
Starter sites are designed for a fresh install. On a site with existing pages, menus and Customizer settings, the import adds its content beside yours and replaces the Customizer wholesale. A second attempt adds everything again. Nothing is broken, strictly speaking. There is simply twice as much of it.
How to fix it, in order
Least invasive first. Stop at the step that fixes it.
- 1
Back up, or better, import on a staging copy
The importer writes pages, menus, widgets and Customizer settings in one pass and has no undo. Take a full backup first. If the site already holds real content, create a staging copy at your host and run the import there.
- 2
Read which step failed
Open the Starter Sites screen in the Neve dashboard (under Appearance on older versions, a Neve menu of its own on newer ones) and look at where the run stopped. The error message, or the last step the progress list reached, tells you whether it was plugins, content, the Customizer or widgets. That name decides what you do next.
- 3
Install the template's plugins by hand
The import dialog lists the plugins the template needs. Install and activate each one yourself from Plugins, Add New. Update Neve and the starter-sites plugin while you are there. Then rerun the import with those plugins already in place, which takes the first step off the list of things that can fail.
- 4
Clear the path for the importer
Temporarily deactivate security, caching and maintenance-mode plugins. Then open Tools, Site Health and look for a REST API or loopback warning. If Site Health reports the REST API as blocked, the import cannot work until that is resolved, by you or by your host.
- 5
Give the content step more room
Raise the PHP memory limit and the maximum execution time from your hosting panel's PHP settings, or ask the host to do it. On tight hosting, if your version of the import dialog offers separate switches for content, Customizer and widgets, bring the content in alone and run the rest afterward.
- 6
Clean up before a third attempt
If two runs left duplicates, do not stack another on top. On a new site with nothing to lose, reset it with a database reset plugin and import once. On a site with real content, delete the demo pages, media and extra menus by hand, or restore the backup you took at the start.
Keep it from coming back
- Import a starter site once, on a fresh install, before any real content exists
- Try it on staging first if the hosting plan is a small shared one
- Remove the starter-sites plugin once the import is finished and checked
- Replace every demo page, image and menu in the first week, while you still know which ones they are
The permanent fix
A faster Next.js build, with a CMS made for your business
A starter site is a fast way to get a design and a slow way to get your own. If the import keeps failing because the hosting cannot carry it, or it succeeded and the site is still the demo a year later, the template was standing in for a decision about what the site should be. A Next.js build with a custom CMS starts from your pages instead of a demo's, serves them as static files and has no importer, companion plugin or builder to install first.
| On Neve today | On Next.js with a custom CMS | |
|---|---|---|
| What you keep updated | WordPress, the theme, its builder and every bundled plugin, all in step | Nothing on a schedule. There is no theme or plugin stack to fall out of step |
| How a page is served | Built from the database on each visit, through the theme and its builder | Built ahead of time and served as finished files from servers near the visitor |
| How you edit it | A general-purpose builder with every option the theme ships | A CMS built around what your business actually changes: services, prices, photos, posts |
| What can break it | An update to any one of those parts, or a license that lapses | A change someone makes on purpose, tested before it goes live |
Your content, your addresses and your rankings come with you: every page is moved, every old address is redirected, and you get a login to an editor that only shows what you need. A repair is still the right call for many sites, and we will say so when it is.
Want this fixed on your Neve site?
Tell us what you are seeing. We look at the site, tell you plainly what is wrong and what it takes, and quote a fixed price before any work starts.
Which of these sounds like you? (pick any)
Frequently asked
Because the same limit is reached every time. A stall during content usually means the server ended the request while images were downloading. A failure at the very start usually means a blocked REST API or a plugin that could not be installed. Repeating the import without changing anything repeats the result.
On an empty site, yes, though it is cleaner to reset first. On a site with content, each run adds another copy of the demo pages and menus and overwrites the Customizer again. Clean up or restore the backup before the next attempt.
The pages were created but the image downloads failed, usually because the request ran out of time or the host blocked the outgoing connection. The text arrives intact and the image blocks point at files that never landed. Rerunning the content step on a clean site with higher limits normally fills them in.
Not for the free ones. The starter library holds free templates and premium ones, and the premium ones need an active Neve Pro license on a plan that includes them. If a template shows as locked, the import has not failed. The license is missing or does not cover it.
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