You’ve just installed an activity log plugin on your WordPress site. You’re excited to finally have visibility into what’s happening behind the scenes. You navigate to the log and… it’s empty.
Of course it is. The plugin can only track events from the moment it’s activated. Those 10 years of posts, hundreds of pages, thousands of media uploads, and dozens of user registrations? All invisible. It’s like installing a security camera and only being able to see what happens from today forward.
What if you could travel back in time?
That’s exactly what Simple History’s backfill feature does. (Yes, “backfill” is a nerdy database term. We couldn’t think of a better one.) It imports your existing WordPress content into the activity log, complete with original creation dates and modification timestamps. Your log isn’t empty anymore—it’s populated with years of history.
How the Backfill Feature Works
When you activate Simple History on an existing WordPress site, the plugin automatically scans your content and creates historical log entries. This happens quietly in the background, about 60 seconds after activation.
The result? Instead of seeing “No events found,” you’ll see entries like:
- “Post ‘Welcome to Our Company’ was created” — dated January 15, 2015
- “Page ‘About Us’ was modified” — dated March 22, 2018
- “User ‘sarah_editor’ registered” — dated September 3, 2019
These aren’t fake timestamps. Simple History pulls the actual creation and modification dates that WordPress stores for each piece of content. You’re seeing real historical data, presented in a familiar activity log format.
What Gets Imported
The backfill feature works with all major content types:
Posts and Pages
Every published, draft, pending, and private post gets logged with its original creation date and last modification date. If your site has been running since 2010, you’ll see entries going back to 2010.
Media and Attachments
Images, documents, videos—all your media library items are included. This is particularly useful for tracking when specific assets were added to your site.
Custom Post Types
Running WooCommerce products, portfolio items, testimonials, or any other custom post type? If it’s public, it gets backfilled. This makes the feature valuable for complex WordPress installations, not just simple blogs.
Users
User registrations are backfilled based on their registration date. You’ll see when each user account was created, giving you a complete picture of your site’s user history.
Free vs Premium: What’s the Difference?
The backfill feature is available in both the free and premium versions of Simple History, but with different capabilities:
| Feature | Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic backfill on activation | Yes (up to 100 items per type, within retention period) | Yes (unlimited) |
| Manual backfill on demand | — | Yes |
| Select specific content types | — | Yes |
| Choose custom date ranges | — | Yes |
| Re-run backfill anytime | — | Yes |
For most small to medium sites, the free version’s automatic backfill provides a solid historical foundation. You get up to 100 of your most recent items per content type, limited to content within your retention period (60 days by default). This runs automatically when you activate the plugin.
For larger sites or specific needs, the premium version gives you complete control. Import everything with no limits—go back years or even decades. Select exactly which content types matter to you, focus on a specific date range, or re-run the import whenever you need to.
Who Benefits Most from This Feature?
Site Owners Who Inherit or Acquire Sites
Bought a website? Took over management of an existing project? The backfill feature gives you immediate historical context. Instead of starting blind, you can see when content was created and last touched.
Agencies Onboarding New Clients
When you take on a new client’s WordPress site, understanding its history helps you make better decisions. Backfilled data shows content patterns, user activity timelines, and helps identify neglected areas.
Security and Compliance Auditors
While backfilled entries don’t replace a proper security audit, they provide valuable context about when content was created and who created it. For compliance documentation, having a historical record—even a basic one—is better than having nothing.
Content Managers and Editors
If you’re responsible for maintaining a large content library, seeing when posts were last modified helps you identify stale content that needs updating. The backfilled log becomes a content audit tool.
What You Should Know
Backfilled entries are simpler than real-time logs. When Simple History captures an event in real-time, it records detailed information: exactly what changed, who made the change, what the values were before and after. Backfilled entries contain what WordPress already stores—creation dates, modification dates, and authors—but not the granular change history.
The best time to install Simple History is day one. Backfill is a great catch-up feature, but it can’t recreate the detailed logging you’d have if Simple History had been running all along. If you’re setting up a new WordPress site, install Simple History early.
Visual indicators keep things clear. Backfilled entries are marked in the log so you can distinguish them from real-time captured events. There’s no confusion about what was actively tracked versus what was imported.
Get Started
The backfill feature is available now in Simple History. If you’re already using the plugin, update to the latest version and you’ll see the option under Tools → Backfill.
New to Simple History? Download it free from WordPress.org and the automatic backfill will run shortly after activation.
Want full control over what gets imported? Simple History Premium unlocks manual backfill with custom date ranges, content type selection, and unlimited imports.
Your WordPress site has a history. Now you can see it.