Guides

Migrate from Buffer

Move your queue and connections

You’ve been using Buffer. You want to move to OpenPost. Here’s the full cutover plan so nothing gets lost: channel connections, queue slots, and the drafts you haven’t published yet.

Before you start

Open both tabs: Buffer on one, OpenPost on the other.
Pick a cutover date. Everything scheduled before it stays in Buffer; after, in OpenPost.
Don’t cancel your Buffer subscription yet — finish migrating first.

1. Export from Buffer

Export your drafts

In Buffer: Account → Export data. You’ll get a ZIP of JSON files. The updates.json contains every scheduled and drafted post.

Export your queue slots

Buffer doesn’t export these directly. Screenshot the Posting schedulepage per channel. We’ll re-create in OpenPost.

2. Connect the same channels in OpenPost

Go to Channels → Connectfor each social account you had in Buffer. OpenPost uses its own OAuth app, so you’ll re-authorize — this is expected. Connecting here doesn’t touch your Buffer connection; both tools can publish to the same account.

Don’t worry about duplicates yet. Each post is only published once — the first tool to fire wins. We’ll drain Buffer’s queue before enabling OpenPost’s queue.

3. Re-create queue slots

For each channel, go to Publishing → Queuesand re-enter the time slots from your Buffer screenshots. You’re done in 2 minutes per channel.

4. Import drafts

We accept a Buffer-compatible CSV through the bulk importer. Convert your exported JSON with the script below, then drop it into Publishing → Bulk import.

// convert.ts
import fs from "node:fs";
 
type BufferUpdate = {
  text: string;
  due_at: number; // Unix seconds
  profile_service: string; // twitter, linkedin...
};
 
const updates: BufferUpdate[] = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("updates.json", "utf8"));
 
const rows = updates.map((u) => ({
  content: u.text.replace(/\n/g, "\\n"),
  channel: ({
    twitter: "x",
    linkedin: "linkedin",
    instagram: "instagram",
    facebook: "facebook",
  } as Record<string, string>)[u.profile_service] ?? u.profile_service,
  schedule_at: new Date(u.due_at * 1000).toISOString(),
}));
 
fs.writeFileSync(
  "openpost-import.csv",
  "content,channel,schedule_at\n" + rows.map((r) =>
    `"${r.content}",${r.channel},${r.schedule_at}`,
  ).join("\n"),
);
console.log("Wrote", rows.length, "rows");

Run:

bash

bun run convert.ts
# → openpost-import.csv

5. Dry-run the import

Publishing → Bulk import → Upload CSV. Check the “Dry run” box. You’ll get a preview — rejected rows highlighted, character overages flagged, suggested fixes inline. Fix the CSV until dry run is clean.

6. Cut over

Field	Type	Description
Day 0	prep	Channels connected. Queues set. CSV dry-run is clean.
Day 1 morning	freeze Buffer	Pause every queue in Buffer. Drafts stay as drafts.
Day 1 afternoon	import	Run the bulk import for real. OpenPost schedules everything past the cutover time.
Day 1 evening	verify	Open the OpenPost calendar — should match what was in Buffer.
Day 7	cancel Buffer	After a week of parallel calendars matching expectations, cancel Buffer.

Don’t cancel Buffer on the same day you import. If anything looks off post-migration, you want the old system still available to reference.

What doesn’t migrate

Buffer Analyze dashboards— OpenPost has its own analytics, but historical Buffer metrics don’t import.
Buffer Reply inbox— OpenPost doesn’t (yet) have a unified inbox.
Pablo / Create— bring your own image editor; we’ll crop for you.

Help during migration

Email contact@infina.soand we’ll do a 30-minute screen share to walk through your specific case. Free on every plan during your trial.

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Last updated April 2026 Edit this page