Scheduling the Import

Once you've saved a new or existing import with Automatic Import enabled, DMS displays a command to paste into the cron section of your hosting panel.

The command appears in two places:

• On the final step of the import wizard, right after saving.
• On the run screen of any import already saved as automatic (where Start Import becomes Start Manual Import).

Choosing a command

Use the dropdown to switch between four forms of the same job. Depending on your hosting or server configuration you may need to change the default wget to php, curl, or WP-CLI.

Method	Command	Use when
wget	wget -q --spider "https://example.com/?dms_import_id=12&dms_automatic_secret=KEY"	Default. Works on most shared hosts.
php	/usr/bin/php -q /home/user/public_html/index.php dms_import_id=12 dms_automatic_secret=KEY	wget isn't available, or you want to bypass HTTP and web-server timeouts.
curl	curl --silent "/home/user/public_html/index.php?dms_import_id=12&dms_automatic_secret=KEY"	curl is present but wget isn't.
wp-cli	wp dms import 12	WP-CLI is installed. Best option for large feeds.

Copy the exact command from your own import screen — the URL, path, import ID, and secret key are specific to that import.

Prefer WP-CLI for large imports

The wp dms import <id> command runs outside the web server, so there is no HTTP timeout to hit. It also suspends save_post, wp_insert_post, transition_post_status, and cache-purge hooks during the run and shows a progress bar, which makes big feeds noticeably faster and lighter on the database.

Adding the cron entry

Paste the command into your hosting panel's cron section (cPanel: Advanced → Cron Jobs; Plesk: Scheduled Tasks), or add it to a crontab directly:

0 */6 * * * wget -q --spider "https://example.com/?dms_import_id=12&dms_automatic_secret=KEY"

That example runs every six hours. Pick a frequency that matches how often your provider refreshes the feed — importing more often than the source changes is wasted work.

If you need help generating the crontab schedule, use this helpful tool: crontab-generator.org.

Running it manually

The automatic import runs in one pass with no browser involved, so you can test the schedule at any time:

• Open the generated URL in a browser (for the wget / curl forms). A blank page means the request was accepted.
• Or run the php / wp command from a shell.

Then check DMS → Import/Export for a new log entry with the Automatic badge.

Each automatic run still writes a full import log, so you can review counts and errors exactly as you would after a manual import.