Importing and exporting configuration settings

[wimg]

Over the last few weeks I had to set up a few new user groups, with different permissions and options, a bunch of new forums, new nexus (store) items, menu permissions, you name it. It is a recurring nightmare, uh, feature one goes through managing a board.

In order to compare the existing and the new ones, I ended up manually copying the details to an excel sheet or 2, 3, ..., 7, or more, so I would have all of the options next to each other and could compare more easily what I was doing.

It would really be great if it would be possibly to export configuration and permissions to a spreadsheet, and it would be great to reimport it again after making changes. It would essentially make going through a zillion menu options a lot less complicated, easier, and save a lot of arm, hand, shoulder and other fatigue problems, and not to mention RSI. But ease of work is th emain driving factor behind this proposal.

Ideally the setup of the export should allow for a choice between a member or app specific setup, or both, and have meaningful codes in what essentially would be a bunch of tables in excel.

In order to facilitate import back into the system, the export probably should include key-identifiers, which could be hidden, and some check that all would still be in place before importing the new settings.

I would assume that such an add-on would be of the "user be aware of what you are doing, no support, make a backup first, etc." type, but it certainly would make life a lot easier, considering the literally thousands of options one has with say 25 primary and secondary user groups, 40 forums, a store, blogs, and the rest.

Currently it is just way too easy to overlook stuff when clicking and scrolling through all windows and panes, again and again, just to compare the values, let alone updating them to reflect a proper structure.

I'll gladly provide a few examples if need be.

Thank you for considering this.

Kind regards, Wim

[TSP]

I agree, although they have made it slightly easier to at least copy a setting value to be used by the same setting to other nodes in IPS 4, so you could ensure they are the same for example. 

But I still agree there could be done improvements here. Personally I believe it would be achievable in the ACP, but I like your spreadsheet idea. 

Here is a topic I made that is related to this: 

[wimg]

Thank you for your support, much appreciated!

Warm regards, Wim