There may come a time when you need to convert ACF custom fields from an existing website to another type of custom field plugin.
Maybe a company hired you to customize their website, and you don’t like working with ACF, or ACF no longer meets your requirements, or whatever reason.
Maybe a company hired you to customize their website, and you don’t like working with ACF, or ACF no longer meets your requirements, or whatever reason.
Converting ACF fields is easy!
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not difficult at all. You don’t even need to export or import anything.
Step 1 – Check your existing ACF fields
Text and text area fields don’t have any special settings to convert from ACF to JetEngine.
Some other fields do require certain settings.
Some other fields do require certain settings.
- For checklists etc., ‘Return Value’ should be set to Value.
- For Images, ‘Return Format’ should be set to ‘Image URL.
Step 2 – Create the exact same fields in JetEngine
Exactly the same fields, means that it’s useful if the name is approximately the same (for the end user), and that the JetEngine Name/ID is exactly the same as the ACF ‘Field Name
- Install JetEngine
- Go to Meta Boxes
- Create the same fields
- Make sure the ACF ‘Field Name’ match (name_field) is equal to JetEngine ‘Name/ID’
- Choose for object type: Field
- Choose for Checklist: Source ‘Bulk manual input’ and check ‘Save as array’
- Choose for Image Field Type: ‘Media’ and Value Format: Media ID
Step 3 – Verify the data in your post
Make sure the ACF fields and the JetEngine fields are assigned to the same post type. If you open a post now, the ACF and JetEngine fields should both be in there, and the values should be exactly the same. If this is not the case, something is wrong with your ACF and/or JetEngine settings.
If the values are the same, you can deactivate the ACF plug-in.
If the values are the same, you can deactivate the ACF plug-in.
Step 4 – Adjust your layout (template)
The last step is to set the correct new custom fields for each block in your layout (template, element). Make sure to clear your cache regularly or even temporarily disable it, to prevent problems or misunderstandings.
Note
This works for almost all ACF and JetEngine fields, except the data-picker field. For that, you need someone to make a custom script for you, or the data has to be transferred manually.
Do you want to see this on video? This video was made by Mark, from Wicky design.