*** Important ***
WordPress introduced a new content editor in version 5.0 called Gutenberg.
For tutorials on how to use the new Gutenberg content editor, go here:
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In other articles and tutorials, we look at the main difference between a WordPress Post and a WordPress Page and show you how to create a new WordPress post.
In WordPress, editing post content and deleting posts is very easy.
This tutorial shows you how to edit and delete single posts. It also explains to use the WordPress Posts Table for performing individual and multiple edits and post deletions and provides loads of great tips that will help you save time using WordPress.
Parts 1 and 2 of this comprehensive tutorial cover the following:
- Table Of Posts – Features
- Table of Posts – Screen Options
- WordPress Table Of Posts – Filtering Options
- Editing WordPress Posts
- Editing A Post In WordPress
- Editing Bulk WordPress Posts
- How To Delete Posts
- Deleting Single Posts
- How To Delete Multiple Posts
- Editing And Deleting Posts In WordPress – Useful Information
Accessing The Posts Panel
Log into your WordPress admin section, then go to the admin navigation menu and select Posts > All Posts …
(Posts – All Posts)
This brings you to the Posts section …
(WordPress Posts screen)
In this section, you can add, edit, and delete posts …
(Add, edit, and delete posts in the Posts area)
For a detailed tutorial on creating new WordPress posts, go here: Creating A New Post In WordPress
WordPress Table Of Posts
The Table of Posts includes your published posts, scheduled posts, private posts, sticky posts, draft posts (posts that have not been published yet), and posts that need to be approved by an editor or administrator before being published (pending posts).
Here are the main features of the Table of Posts:
The Table of Posts displays a list of all posts on your site in reverse chronological order (most recent first) …
(WordPress posts are displayed in reverse chronological order)
You can select checkboxes in the Posts Title column in the WordPress Table of Posts to bulk edit posts (see Part Two of this tutorial to learn more about bulk editing posts) …
(Select checkboxes to bulk edit posts)
Table Of Posts – Columns
Title
Each post title displays as a clickable link. Clicking on a post title lets you edit that post …
(Posts Table – Post Title column)
Hover over the post title to reveal options that will enable you to further manage the post …
(Hover over title area to view options)
You can perform the following tasks:
- Edit takes you to the editing screen for that post. You can also reach this screen by clicking on the title of the post.
- Quick Edit allows you to update your post details. For a tutorial about using the Quick editor feature, go here: Understanding The WordPress Inline Editor
- Trash removes a post from the Table of Posts and places it in the trash. From there it can be permanently deleted.
- Preview shows you what your draft post will look like when it is published. ‘View’ will take you to your live site so you can view your post. Which link displays here will depend on the status of your post.
Post status indicators next to the post title let you see if posts have been saved as Draft, Pending, Password Protected, etc …
(Table of Posts – Post Status)
Author
The Post author is displayed in the ‘Author’ column …
(Table of Posts – Post Author column)
If your website allows multiple authors to publish content, click on a specific author’s name …
(Table of Posts – Post author column)
This displays all posts that have been authored by the user …
(You can display a list of all posts authored by a user)
Post Categories Column
In this column, you can view post categories.
Click on a category …
(Categories)
And the Table of Posts displays all posts filed under that category …
(Viewing posts by categories)
Tags Column
Here, you can view all the tags that your posts have been published or scheduled to publish under.
Click on a tag in the column …
(Tag links are clickable)
And all posts which include that tag will appear in the Table of Posts …
(Filtering posts by tag)
Post Comments
The column with the “comments bubble” displays the number of comments associated with your posts. If comments have been left on posts, the number of comments will appear in the comment bubble next to the post.
You can view comments by clicking on the bubble …
(Clicking on the bubble lets you view comments for that post)
If any posts have comments that need to be approved by an administrator before they can be made public, these will display alongside the comment icon for that post …
(Comments – Posts Table)
The number of approved comments displays inside the post’s comment icon …
(Post comments – Table of Posts)
Note: Clicking on the comments bubble opens up the Comments section where you can moderate comments left on your posts by visitors …
(Comments section)
Post Date Column
The ‘Date’ column shows the dates for posts as follows:
- The Published date for all published posts,
- The Last Modified date for unpublished posts (e.g. posts set to ‘draft’ status), and
- The Scheduled date for posts scheduled for publishing at a future date …
(Date)
In addition to listing posts using the default ‘List’ view, you can also display your posts in ‘Excerpt’ view …
(Posts Table – Post Excerpts View)
Displaying posts in Excerpt View is explained in the next section.
WordPress Posts Panel – Screen Options
To view Table of Posts options, click on the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top right-hand corner of the screen …
(WordPress Table of Posts – ‘Screen Options’ tab)
The top section of the Posts screen will expand, revealing several options for configuring your Table of Posts …
(Table of Posts options)
Options are divided into the following sections
- Columns – This section allows you to tick/untick checkboxes to enable/disable information in the Table of Posts.
- Pagination – Enter the number of items to display on your page
- View Mode – Here you can select whether you want items to be displayed in ‘List View’ (default), or ‘Excerpt View’.
Remember to click the ‘Apply’ button to update your settings when finished …
(Save Posts options)
WordPress Table Of Posts – Sorting And Filtering
WordPress provides various features that let you filter, sort, and display your posts. Depending on the status of your posts, you will see the following links and the number of posts currently assigned that status:
(Post management section – Post status links)
- All – Clicking this link returns all posts.
- Mine – Click on this link to list only posts authored by you.
- Published – Clicking this menu filter brings up all published posts.
- Scheduled – Click on this filter to bring up a list of all scheduled posts.
- Draft – Click on this link to list all posts set to ‘draft’ status.
- Pending – Clicking this link returns all posts set to ‘pending’ status. (Posts listed as ‘pending’ need the review and approval of an Editor or Administrator before publishing.)
- Private – Clicking this link shows all posts set to ‘private’ status.
- Trash – Click on this menu link to bring up a list of all posts set to ‘trash’ status
Click the post menu links to filter by status …
(Table of Posts – Click menu links to view posts by status)
Below the post status links and next to the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu and ‘Apply’ button are two additional filtering options:
Post Filter – All Dates/Months
In the Table of Posts, you can filter posts by months. Show all dates is selected by default and displays all your posts.
To display all posts within a particular monthly range, select a specific month from the ‘All dates’ drop-down menu and click the ‘Filter’ button …
(Filter Posts by Dates)
View Posts – All Categories/Selected Categories
WordPress also lets you filter posts by category. By default, All Categories is selected and displays all posts.
To filter posts by category, select a specific category from the Posts > ‘All Categories’ drop-down menu and click the ‘Filter’ button …
(Filtering Posts by Category)
If you have a large number of posts spanning across many Post screen pages, you can use the Search feature to filter and display only posts that contain the search words you have typed into the search field …
(Search Posts function)
To clear the results of the search filter and list all posts again in the Table of Posts, click the ‘All’ posts filter link above the table …
(Clear the search filter results by clicking the ‘All’ link)
The search filter results will be cleared and all of your posts will be listed once again in the Table of Posts …
(Posts section – Table of Posts)
Next Step …
Now that you know a little more about what all the different functions and features of the Table of Posts are and how they work, the next step is to learn how to edit and delete your posts.
This is the end of part one of this tutorial.
Click below to read the rest of this tutorial:
How To Edit And Delete WordPress Posts – Part 2
Related WordPress Tutorials And Articles
The tutorials and articles below provide more detail about topics discussed above and how to use posts in WordPress:
- WordPress Pages And Posts
- How To Create A New WP Post
- How To Use The Inline Editor Function In WordPress To Edit Your Pages And Posts
- How To Schedule Posts In WordPress
- Creating A Featured Post In WordPress
- Password-Protecting Content On WordPress Pages And Posts
- Website Traffic Blueprint Part Four – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into A Traffic Machine
- Reattributing Posts To Another Author
- Adding, Editing, And Deleting Categories In WordPress Posts
- How To Configure Tags In WordPress
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