What is my best upgrade path? (From 3.5.1 to what?)

[AusPhotography]

4.2.3 is going to be your best option.

vB5 you will lose functionality at this stage

[cellarius]

Addons I can just start over,

Just be aware that there are practically no addons for vB5.

[Zachery]

All of your core content: users, forums, threads, posts, etc will always be carried over in upgrades.

[MikeSD]

All versions of vBulletin you upgrade to, will preserve all of your current content (users, posts, threads, forums, etc). At least the default vBulletin data, not including custom data from addons. You can upgrade directly to any of the versions listed below, the upgrader will take care of the inbetween steps. You just have to let the upgrade run.

I would suggest upgrading to at least 3.8.9 if you want to maintain your current style/templates. This will be the least amount of work. Addons should continue to work, more or less.
4.2.4 would also be good, you'll need to figure out a new style and your addons will need to be updated too.
5.x is a massive change. You'll need to spend time prepping your community before the upgrade as it is a large interface and style change as well as UX change. But there are customers who like and prefer vBulletin 5 over other versions.

Really you should test which one you like the most.

My only real concern is the threads, forums and registrations. Addons I can just start over, even if it means giving up something I had before. I don't mind if I lose all my styles and such. I just want to maintain the structure of the fourms (forum titles, groupings, registrations, and threads. Can that be done, by going from 3.5.1 to 5.x? I mean, what would I have left, if I just went directly to 5.x?

[Zachery]

All versions of vBulletin you upgrade to, will preserve all of your current content (users, posts, threads, forums, etc). At least the default vBulletin data, not including custom data from addons. You can upgrade directly to any of the versions listed below, the upgrader will take care of the inbetween steps. You just have to let the upgrade run.

I would suggest upgrading to at least 3.8.9 if you want to maintain your current style/templates. This will be the least amount of work. Addons should continue to work, more or less.
4.2.4 would also be good, you'll need to figure out a new style and your addons will need to be updated too.
5.x is a massive change. You'll need to spend time prepping your community before the upgrade as it is a large interface and style change as well as UX change. But there are customers who like and prefer vBulletin 5 over other versions.

Really you should test which one you like the most.

[MikeSD]

I have 4 sites, using vBulletin. I wish to upgrade one of my sites. But I do NOT want to lose any of the threads. That site is currently at 3.5.1. So, that being the case

1) What is the best package to upgrade to, that requires the least amount of work, and preserves the existing threads and forums?


And by "least amount of work" I mean, I don't want to have to go through incrementally labor intensive steps of doing all the intermediate updates.

Is there one package, that I can install, that will import all the forums and threads, in one operation, from version 3.5.1?