Mailchimp CPT Importer

A WordPress plugin that imports a newsletter from a public web page, such as a Mailchimp campaign archive page, into a Newsletter custom post type. Each import is saved as a draft so you can review it before publishing.

It reads the public HTML page, so you don't need a Mailchimp API key.

Features

• Newsletter post type: registers a public newsletter post type with an archive at /newsletter/. It supports a title, the editor, a featured image and an excerpt. Rewrite rules are flushed on activation, so the URLs work right away.
• Import screen: adds Newsletters > Import Newsletter, a form with one URL field. It's available to administrators (manage_options), and the request is checked with a nonce and the same capability.
• Automatic mapping: fetches the page with wp_safe_remote_get(), parses it with DOMDocument and fills in the post:
  • Title: the page's <title>, then its first <h1>, then "Newsletter imported on (date)"
  • Content: the inner HTML of <body>, without scripts, styles or meta tags, filtered with wp_kses_post(). Relative image and link URLs are made absolute.
  • Excerpt: the first paragraph with text, trimmed to 55 words
  • Featured image: the first image on the page, downloaded into the Media Library and attached to the post
• Drafts only: imported newsletters are saved as drafts. The success message links straight to the draft; errors (bad URL, HTTP error, empty page) are shown on the same screen.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• PHP 7.4+ with the dom extension, which most hosts enable by default
• The server must be able to make outbound HTTP requests to the newsletter URL.

Installation

1. Download this repository as a ZIP (Code > Download ZIP).
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, upload the ZIP and activate Mailchimp CPT Importer.

Or clone it into wp-content/plugins/.

Usage

1. Open a campaign in your browser and copy its public URL (for example, the "View this email in your browser" link of a Mailchimp campaign).
2. In WordPress, go to Newsletters > Import Newsletter.
3. Paste the URL and click Import Newsletter.
4. Click Review and publish it in the success message, check the draft and publish it.

Limitations

• The body keeps the email's layout tables and inline styles, so the post looks like the email. wp_kses_post() may drop some inline CSS properties.
• The first image on the page becomes the featured image, even if it's a logo.
• Only the featured image is downloaded. Other images in the content still load from the original host (for Mailchimp, its CDN).
• URLs on local or private networks are refused, because the plugin fetches with wp_safe_remote_get().
• It imports one URL at a time.

Changelog

0.2.0

• Success and error messages now appear on the import screen.
• The import checks the manage_options capability, not just the nonce.
• Rewrite rules are flushed on activation, so /newsletter/ no longer returns 404 until permalinks are saved.
• Cleaner content: no <body> tag, scripts or styles, and relative URLs are made absolute.
• Title and featured image fallbacks. Pages without a charset are read as UTF-8.
• The admin CSS loads only on the import screen. The text domain is now mailchimp-cpt.

0.1.1

• Imported newsletters are saved as drafts.

File structure

mailchimp-cpt.php               Main plugin file (loads includes, activation hooks, admin styles)
includes/cpt-newsletter.php     Registers the "newsletter" post type
includes/mailchimp-importer.php Fetches, parses and imports a newsletter URL
admin/import-page.php           "Import Newsletter" screen and form handler
assets/css/admin-style.css      Admin styles
readme.txt                      WordPress-style readme
LICENSE                         GNU GPL v2

Author

Rolando Escobar, WordPress developer. rolandowp.com

License

GPL-2.0-or-later. See LICENSE.