The wizard’s test import brings in five listings. That is enough to prove your connection, your field selection, and your theme all work together, and small enough that a slow server still finishes it.
Run it before you import anything at scale. Five listings that arrive correctly tell you the same thing 5,000 would, in a fraction of the time.
Running it
- Reach the Test Import step of the wizard, or reopen the wizard from MLS Import Settings → Setup Wizard.
- Read Listings Found. This is how many listings in your MLS match the filters you set on the previous step.
- Click Run Test Import. The button starts a background job and returns straight away.
- Wait, then reload the page. Properties Imported appears once listings have landed.
The import runs in the background rather than in your browser, so closing the tab does not cancel it. That is also why the count does not tick upward live and a reload is what shows you progress.
If Listings Found shows 0
The Run Test Import button does not appear at all when nothing matches, and the screen offers a link back to Import Configuration instead. Nothing is wrong with your connection. Your filters are narrower than your MLS data.
- Widen the price range. A minimum that is too high is the most common cause.
- Clear the city selection. Leaving cities empty matches all of them.
- Clear the property type selection. Same principle.
Remove filters one at a time until the count is above zero. That tells you which filter was excluding everything, which is worth knowing before you build real import tasks.
If a city you know exists returns nothing, check how your MLS spells it. Filters match the values in the feed, so a city entered as Saint Petersburg finds nothing when your MLS publishes St Petersburg.
Checking the result
Once the count appears, go and look at the listings themselves rather than trusting the number.
- Open the property list in your admin. Under a supported theme that is your theme’s properties screen, and in Standalone mode it is MLS Properties.
- Open one listing and check the important fields arrived: price, address, bedrooms, status.
- View it on the front end. This is where a wrong theme mode shows itself, because the listing exists in the admin but the public page is not the one you expected.
If nothing arrives
An import that starts but never produces listings has stopped somewhere in the background job. The place that records why is Action Scheduler, which ships with the plugin.
- Open Tools → Scheduled Actions in your WordPress admin.
- Find the
mlsimport_background_process_per_itemaction. - Pending means it is queued and waiting for WordPress to run it. Visiting your site’s front end nudges it along.
- Failed means it stopped, and opening it shows the message that says why.
A test import that sits in Pending on a quiet site is normal, not broken. WordPress runs scheduled work when someone visits the site. Load your home page in another tab and check again.
After the test
The import the wizard created is a real Import Task, listed under Import Tasks. Open it and you get the full set of filters, not the short list the wizard showed. Raise its listing count, refine the filters, and run it for real when you are satisfied.
The five test listings stay on your site. Keep them, or remove them and start clean.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the test import take?
Usually under a minute once the background job starts. The wait before it starts can be longer on a site with no visitors, because WordPress triggers scheduled work on page visits rather than on a clock of its own.
Can I import everything from the test screen instead?
No, the test is fixed at five listings. To import in volume, open the task the wizard created under Import Tasks and set the number of listings you want there.
How do I delete the test listings?
Delete them individually from the property list, or use Delete Properties on the Tools tab of MLS Import Settings, which removes properties by taxonomy term. With five listings, deleting them by hand is faster.
The listings imported but the photos are missing.
Photos are served from your MLS rather than copied to your server, so a missing image usually means the field carrying the media was not selected, or your MLS restricts photo access on your account. Check the field selection screen first, then ask your MLS what your feed includes.
Related
- The Setup Wizard, step by step
- How many listings can you import
- Verifying your MLS connection
- Choosing your theme mode
If the test import finishes with zero properties and the scheduled action shows no failure, send us your MLS name and we will check what the feed returned.