You're about to do something risky. Do you have a backup?
You're about to update WooCommerce. Or switch themes. Or let a client bulk-edit 200 products. The right move is to back up first. But "back up first" usually means opening a separate plugin, configuring a storage destination, and waiting.
So you skip it. You tell yourself the hosting provider has backups. Maybe they do. Maybe they're from last night. Maybe restoring them means a support ticket and a 4-hour wait.
What most people do instead
Every option adds friction that makes "I'll just skip it this time" the default.
A better way: one command, complete backup
Open the TrueCommander navigator. Type create backup. Hit enter.
Every file and every database table gets bundled into a single ZIP. You get a secure download link that expires in 1 hour. The whole thing takes seconds to minutes depending on site size.
Download links are single-use and authenticated. Token-based, admin-only, expires in 1 hour. The backup directory is blocked from direct URL access with .htaccess protection.
How it works
Complete site backup with built-in protections.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Command name | create backup |
| Includes | All files + full database |
| Output | ZIP archive with SQL dump |
| Download security | Token-based, admin-only, 1-hour expiry |
| Custom name flag | -archive_name=before-update |
| Cleanup flag | -remove_old deletes previous backups first |
| Can be used in |
Real example
It's Tuesday afternoon. Your WooCommerce store has 1,200 products and a client wants to update WooCommerce from 8.x to 9.0. Major version jump. Things could break.
You open the navigator, type create backup -archive_name=pre-woo-9, and hit enter. 38 seconds later: pre-woo-9_20260315_140200.zip, 142 MB, 4,218 files, 36 database tables. You click Download and save it to your desktop.
You update WooCommerce. Checkout breaks. You restore from the ZIP, roll back the update, and investigate. Total time lost: 10 minutes instead of a day.
Next week, you set it up as a daily Cron Schedule with -remove_old. Now it just happens automatically.
Goes further with TrueCommander
Manual backups save you in a crisis. Automated backups prevent the crisis.
Featured in:The 15-minute weekly maintenance routine — see how backup fits into a full site maintenance workflow with 5 other commands.