How To Import A Demo

Importing a demo is a guided, multi-step run: Canvas checks your server, installs anything the demo requires, downloads the package, then imports the content, media, settings, widgets and menus in order, showing the progress of each step. Nothing starts until you confirm it, and every finished run can be undone. Read this page before your first import, and return to it if a step reports an error.

Before You Start

Two things need to be true before the wizard will run:

A valid Canvas license is activated, because the demo library is a licensed feature. Without one the screen offers Activate License instead of importing.
A recent backup exists. The confirmation dialog shows a Backup Recommended notice for a reason: import and rollback both modify your content, settings and media, and a backup is the one recovery path that does not depend on anything going right.

How To Review A Demo Before Importing It

Starting screenCanvasDemo Import.

Find the demo on the Browse Demos tab, using the search box or the All Categories filter, then open it. Clicking anywhere on the card opens it, and so does pressing Import on the card, because both lead to the same dialog. Nothing is imported at this point, so open as many demos as you like while you decide.

The dialog describes what the demo would bring:

The preview image, name and description, so you can confirm you opened the right design.
Import details: the number of pages, the number of posts, the download size and the category.
What is included, a checklist of the material the package actually carries, such as portfolio items, forms, menus, products or a one page layout.
Plugins this demo uses, each with its state on your site: installed and active, installed but not active yet, or not installed yet. Canvas installs or activates whatever is missing while the import runs, so a plugin listed here is a note, not a task.
Activate this demo site-wide, ticked by default, with a line under it stating exactly what that choice does. Untick it to import the demo pages on their own. The decision is covered fully in Site Wide Versus Page Scoped Import.

Press Cancel to close the dialog with nothing done. Pressing Escape or clicking outside the dialog does the same.

A demo your license does not cover still opens, so you can read what it contains, but it offers Activate License in place of the import action.

How To Run The Import

Press Start Import. That press is what begins the run, and it is the only thing that does.

The wizard then works through its steps, and the list on the left shows each one as pending, in progress, done, skipped or errored:

Check Requirements verifies your server and anything the demo depends on. Its checks are described in Demo Import Problems.
Install Plugins installs and activates any plugin the demo requires, such as WooCommerce for a store design. A plugin you already have installed is activated rather than downloaded again.
Download Demo fetches and extracts the demo package.
Import Content, Import Media, Import Settings, Import Widgets and Import Menus bring the pieces in, in that order. Media reports its progress item by item, because it is usually the longest step.
Finalizing wires everything together, and Complete offers Visit Site, Browse Demos and Rollback.

If a step fails, the wizard offers Retry and, for non-essential steps, Skip. Retry first, because most failures are transient network or timing issues.

How To Undo An Import Straight Away

The completion screen carries Rollback beside Visit Site, so a run you regret can be undone without leaving the screen. It removes the content that run created and restores the settings it overwrote, and content you built yourself is never touched. Confirm the warning and the page reloads into the restored state.

The same action stays available afterwards on the Import History tab, which updates as soon as a run finishes rather than waiting for a page reload, so the new run and its Rollback are there the moment you switch to it. How To Remove A Demo covers both, along with removing every import of a demo at once.

How To Resume An Interrupted Import

An import that stops mid-run, a closed tab, a server restart, is not lost. Return to Canvas > Demo Import and a notice reports that the import was interrupted, with two choices: Resume continues from the step that was running, and Start Over removes any content that attempt had already imported and begins again. Resume is the right default, because the completed steps do not need repeating. Nothing restarts on its own, so the page is safe to reload while you decide.

Pitfalls

The demo grid will not load. The screen reports a load failure and asks you to refresh. This is the site failing to reach the demo service, so check the server's outbound connectivity if a refresh does not cure it.

Import is not offered on a card. Importing requires an active license, and a card can also require a higher plan than the site's license carries, in which case it offers an upgrade instead. Opening the card still works, so you can read what the demo contains before deciding whether to upgrade.

The import completed but the site looks unstyled. Check the wizard's step list before anything else: a skipped or errored Import Settings step means the design's options never arrived, and running the import again completes them.