Import a website

The module AI Website Import (ai_website_import) copies an existing website into Odoo from its address. It reads the pages of the site, rebuilds each page from your website’s own building blocks and shows everything for review before anything is created. It does not copy the HTML of the other site: texts, pictures, links, lists, cards, questions and forms are taken over and put into Odoo blocks, so the result can be edited in the website editor like any other page.

You describe what you want in your own words, for example “Copy it exactly” or “Copy it and change the colours to blue”. What the instructions leave open and matters is asked as a question with choices.

Note

Blog posts and products of the imported site are handled by two bridge modules that install themselves with the Blog and eCommerce apps (see Blog posts and products in an import).

Who can use it

Only administrators who are also website designers can import a website (the import downloads content from the internet). A chat model is recommended: without one, the pages are laid out by rules and the texts are kept as they are (see Limits and troubleshooting).

Start an import

You can start an import in three ways:

• Open Website ‣ Configuration ‣ Import a website. The list shows the earlier imports; click New.

• In the website editor, click New and choose Import website. The import targets the website you are on.

• Ask the AI panel, for example “Copy the website https://www.example.com into a new website, with a blue colour scheme” (see Import from the AI panel).

In the form, fill in:

• Website address: the address of the site to import, for example https://www.example.com. Only public internet addresses are accepted.

• Import: Into an existing website (then choose the Target website) or Into a new website (then give the New website name).

• On the Instructions tab, your wishes in plain words (see below).

Then click Start.

Instructions in plain words

Write what you want as you would tell a colleague. Some examples:

• “Copy https://www.example.com exactly.” The texts are kept word for word and the layout follows the source.

• “Copy it and suggest SEO improvements.” The review lists SEO suggestions per page, which you tick.

• “Copy it and change the colours to blue.” The design takes a blue colour scheme instead of the source’s colours.

• “Copy only /about and /services, and publish the pages.”

• “Copy it into a new website and translate it to Spanish.”

The AI turns the instructions into the options below the text, which you can also set by hand before starting:

• Use AI: lay out the pages with the AI (on when a chat model is configured).

• Fidelity: Copy exactly or Improve the texts.

• SEO: Keep as it is or Suggest improvements.

• Design wish: for example “blue colour scheme”.

• Translate to: a language to translate the texts into.

• Max Pages: the number of pages to read (50 by default).

• Scope: Every page or Only listed pages, with the Pages to import, one path per line (for example /about).

• Publish the pages: off by default, so the pages are created unpublished.

• Menu: Add next to the current menu or Replace the menu.

• Replace the homepage (existing website only) and Rebuild the footer.

• Content changes: other wishes, one per line.

What you state clearly in the instructions is never asked again.

Questions

When something important is open, the import asks before it goes on. The questions appear on the Questions tab, each with choices and often a field for another answer. Examples:

• “Create a new website or import into My Website?”

• “Replace the current menu of My Website or add the imported pages next to it?”

• “Replace the homepage of My Website with the imported homepage?”

• “Apply the colours and fonts of the imported site to My Website?”

• “Primary colour: keep #1a5f2a or use #1f4fbf / #2563eb / #1d4ed8?”

• “Rebuild the footer of My Website from the footer of the imported site?”

• questions about the languages, the blog posts, the products and their currency.

Some questions come before the site is read, because they change what is read; others come after the analysis. Answer them and click Continue, or click Use the suggested answers to take the pre-selected choices.

Reading the site

After Start, the form shows a progress bar with Pages found, Pages read, Pages ready and Pictures. The work continues while the form is open and, in the background, every minute, so you can close the form and come back later. Cancel import stops it.

The import reads the site politely and safely:

• only pages of the same site (with and without www.), starting with its sitemap, then following links up to four levels deep;

• the site’s robots.txt is respected (the import identifies itself as eYssenImport); a site that protects its robots.txt is not read;

• at most two requests per second, 15 seconds and 5 MB per page, HTML pages only;

• at most 300 pictures per import and 30 per page; further pictures keep the block’s default picture.

The import recognises common platforms (WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow) and, on WordPress, also reads the public list of pages. Everything that happens is written on the Log tab.

Languages

A multilingual source (language versions such as /es/…, language links or language switchers) is imported in its main language, the language of its homepage. The import asks which other languages to import as translations of the same pages. Those translations are written with the page, its SEO texts and the menu items; the texts are matched by structure, and the AI translates only what cannot be matched. Languages that are not active yet are activated and added to the website during the import.

Review

When the analysis is done, the import shows Review. Check the tabs before you import:

• Pages: every page found, with Include, its title, the source address, the New address, the status and the list of Blocks chosen for it. Untick the pages to leave out and change a new address if needed.

• Design: the colours and fonts found on the source, the five colours and two fonts that will be used, and Apply colours and fonts. A colour wish such as “blue” is turned into a palette whose text stays readable on the primary colour.

• SEO: the suggestions, each with a tick box (see below).

• Menu and redirects: the menu that will be created, the Footer of the source and the Redirects (301).

• Languages: the languages of the source and what happens with them.

• Compare: screenshots of source pages next to the imported pages (see below).

SEO and internal links

With SEO set to Keep as it is, titles, descriptions and headings are copied as they are. With Suggest improvements, the import checks the source with rules and asks the AI for better titles, descriptions, main headings, picture texts and keywords. It also suggests internal links:

• a link to a page that no other page, menu or footer links to;

• a clear text instead of a vague link text such as “click here” or “read more”;

• a new target for a link to a page that is not imported, when the website has a page at the same address;

• a link to the contact page on important pages (services, prices, about…).

Only the ticked suggestions are applied.

Addresses and redirects

Imported pages keep their original address when it is free on the website. Otherwise they get a new address, and a permanent (301) redirect is created from the old address, so links and search results keep working. On an existing website, the imported homepage becomes /home unless you replace the homepage. The redirects are listed on the Menu and redirects tab.

Compare pages

When the visual check is available on the server (see Visual check), click Compare pages to take screenshots of the next pages (three at a time by default). On a page line, Compare opens the source page and the imported page side by side; Take the pictures takes them again and List the differences with AI asks the AI for the visible differences. The source page is loaded without JavaScript, so pages that build their content with scripts look emptier than in a browser.

Import and undo

Click Import and confirm. The import creates everything on the target website at once:

• the pages, unpublished unless Publish the pages is on;

• the menu: added next to the current menu, or replacing it. A replaced menu is not deleted: its items are kept aside unchanged and come back if you undo the import;

• the homepage, only on a new website or when Replace the homepage is ticked;

• a brand kit “Imported from …” with the colours, fonts and logo of the review (see Website AI), applied to the website when Apply colours and fonts is on (always on a new website), and the social network links of the source;

• the footer, when Rebuild the footer is on (always on a new website);

• the translations, the blog posts and the products you chose, and the redirects.

The form then shows a summary and a link to the imported homepage. The import is listed in the AI changes as Website import (see AI changes and undo).

To remove the import, click Undo import and confirm. Everything the import created is deleted (pages, menu items, redirects, posts, products, pictures it downloaded, the brand kit, a new website) and the homepage, menu, design and languages of the website are restored. A language the import activated stays installed.

• If a later AI change touched the imported content, undo that change first (see AI changes and undo).

• If imported content was changed by hand since, the form shows Changed since the import: and only Undo import anyway is offered. It deletes the imported pages and records with your changes.

Import from the AI panel

The AI panel can run the whole import in the conversation. Ask, for example, “Copy the website https://www.example.com exactly” or “Copy https://www.example.com and suggest SEO improvements”. The assistant starts the import, asks the questions as choices, reports the progress and shows the review. Creating the import on the website is a change you confirm on a card, like any other website change (see Edit pages with the AI).

The assistant needs the Customize UI & schema capability, and you need the rights described above. Texts read from the other site are treated as untrusted data: they are shown to the AI marked as such, and once they are part of a conversation turn, every change in that turn waits for your confirmation.

Limits and troubleshooting

• Without an AI model, the pages are laid out by rules (a cover for the first heading and picture, alternating text and pictures, cards for repeated items, FAQ, contact form, text blocks) and the texts are kept as they are. Improving or translating texts needs an AI model.

• Pages built with JavaScript: the import reads the HTML that the server sends. A site that only fills its pages with scripts gives little content.

• Protected or private sites: pages behind a login, sites that forbid reading in their robots.txt and internal addresses are not read.

• What is not copied: scripts, iframes (YouTube and Vimeo videos are rebuilt from their address), inline styles and forms that send their data elsewhere. A form of the source becomes the website’s own contact form.

• Errors: when the import stops, the form shows the error and Retry continues where it stopped. Pages that could not be read are listed on the Pages tab with their error.

• More pages: the default limit of 50 pages can be raised to 300 by an administrator (see Requirements and settings).