In other tutorials, we look at the difference between WordPress Posts vs WordPress Pages and show you how to create a new WordPress post.
WordPress makes the process of editing content and deleting posts a relatively simple and easy process.
In this tutorial, you will learn about editing and deleting a single WordPress post. It also explains to use the WordPress Posts Table for performing individual and bulk post edits and deletions and includes additional tips that will help you save time using WordPress.
Parts One and Two of this comprehensive tutorial cover the following:
- The WordPress Table Of Posts Explained
- WordPress Table of Posts – Screen Options
- WordPress Table Of Posts – Post Sorting And Filtering Options
- Editing WordPress Posts
- Editing Individual Posts
- How To Edit Multiple Posts
- Deleting WordPress Posts
- How To Delete An Individual Post In WordPress
- How To Delete Bulk Posts In WordPress
- Editing And Deleting Posts In WordPress – Additional Tips And Information
Contents
Accessing The Posts Section
Log into your WordPress site, then go to your navigation menu and select Posts > All Posts …
(Posts – All Posts)
This brings you to the WordPress Posts area …
(Posts section)
Here you can add, edit, and delete posts …
(Add, edit, and delete posts in the Posts page)
If you need help creating new posts, go here: How To Create A New WordPress Post
How To Use The WordPress Table Of Posts
The Table of Posts lists your published posts, posts scheduled for publishing, private posts, sticky posts, draft posts (posts that are yet to be published), and pending posts (posts that need to be approved by an editor or administrator before being published).
Here are the main features of the Table of Posts:
The WordPress Table of Posts displays a list of all posts on your website displayed in reverse chronological order …
(Posts are displayed in reverse chronological order)
Posts can be selected for bulk processing by clicking on the checkbox next to each item (see Part 2 of this tutorial to learn more about bulk editing posts) …
(Select checkboxes in the Posts Title column to bulk edit posts)
Table Of Posts – Column Sections
Post Title
Each post title is displayed as a clickable link. Click on the post title link to edit your post …
(Post Title column)
Hover over a row in the posts list to see action links that allow you to further manage the post …
(Hover over post title area to view options)
The following links are available:
- Edit takes you to the Post editor. You can also reach this screen by clicking on the post title.
- Quick Edit allows you to update post metadata. We have written a step-by-step tutorial on using Quick Edit here: Understanding The Inline Editor Of WordPress
- Trash removes your posts from the Table of Posts and places them in the trash. From there you can permanently delete them.
- Preview shows you what your draft post will look like when it is published. ‘View’ takes you to your live site to view the post. Which link is displayed depends on your posts’ status.
Indicators let you see if a post has been saved as Draft, Sticky Post, Password Protected, etc …
(Table of Posts – Post Status)
Author
The Post author is displayed in the ‘Author’ column …
(Post Author column)
If your site contains multiple authors, click on an author name …
(Table of Posts – Post author column)
This displays all posts that have been authored by that user in your Table of Posts …
(You can display a list of all posts authored by a user)
Categories
This column displays post categories.
Click on a category in this column …
(Categories column – Posts Table)
And all posts filed under that category will appear in the Table of Posts …
(List of posts by categories)
Post Tags
This column displays your post tags.
Click on a tag in this column …
(Tag links are clickable)
And all posts which include that tag will show up in the Posts table …
(List of posts displayed by tags)
Post Comments
The column with the “comments bubble” shows the number of comments made for your posts. The number of comments is displayed in the comment bubble next to each post.
You can view post comments by clicking on the bubble …
(Click on the bubble to view comments for that post)
If a post has comments that need to be approved by an administrator before they can be published, the number of comments awaiting moderation will display alongside the comment icon for that post …
(WordPress Table of Posts: Comments)
For approved comments, the number is shown inside the post’s commenting bubble icon …
(Comments)
Note: Clicking on the commenting bubble brings up the Comments area where you can approve or disapprove comments left by visitors …
(Moderate comments left by visitors and users in the Comments screen)
Post Date
The ‘Date’ column shows the dates for each post as follows:
- The Published date for published posts,
- The Last Modified date for all unpublished posts (e.g. draft posts), and
- The Scheduled date for any posts scheduled for publishing in the future …
(Posts Table – Post date)
As well as displaying posts using the default ‘List’ view, the Posts table can also display posts in ‘Excerpt’ view …
(Post Excerpt View – Table of Posts)
The section below explains how to display posts in the Table of Posts in Excerpt view.
Post Management Section – Screen Options
To view Table of Posts options, click the ‘Screen Options’ tab near the top of the screen …
(WordPress Posts area – ‘Screen Options’ tab)
The top section of the Posts screen will expand, revealing a number of options for configuring your Table of Posts …
(Table of Posts options)
Options are divided into the following sections
- Columns – In this section you can tick/untick check boxes to display/hide columns in the Table of Posts.
- Pagination – Enter the number of entries to display on each page of your Table of Posts. For example, “30” By default, WordPress displays “20” items per page.
- View Mode – Specify whether posts should display in ‘List View’ (default), or ‘Excerpt View’.
Remember to click ‘Apply’ to update your settings …
(Save Posts options)
WordPress Table Of Posts – Sorting Posts
WordPress provides a number of features and menu links that let you filter, sort, and display selected posts. Depending on your post status, you will see the following menu links and the number of posts currently assigned that status:
(Table of Posts – Menu links)
- All – The ‘All’ menu lists all posts.
- Mine – Clicking this link displays only the posts authored by the logged- in user.
- Published – The ‘Published’ filter displays all posts set to ‘published’ status.
- Scheduled – Click on this menu link to bring up a list of all scheduled posts.
- Draft – Click on this filter to list all draft posts.
- Pending – The ‘Pending’ menu returns all posts set to ‘pending’ status. (Posts listed as ‘pending’ need to be approved by an Editor or Administrator before publishing.)
- Private – Clicking this menu filter lists all posts set to ‘private’ status.
- Trash – Click on this menu link to display all discarded posts
Clicking on any of these links displays only the posts for that status in the Table of Posts …
(WordPress Table of Posts – Click post menu links to view posts by status)
Below the post menu filter and next to the ‘Bulk Actions’ drop-down menu and ‘Apply’ button are two additional filtering options:
Filtering By Dates
In the Table of Posts, you can filter posts by months. Show all dates is the default option and displays all your posts.
To filter posts by date, select an option from the Posts > ‘All dates’ drop menu and click the ‘Filter’ button …
(View Posts by Dates)
View Posts By Category
In the Table of Posts, you can also filter posts by category. All Categories is the default option and posts in all categories are listed.
Use the drop-down menu and click the ‘Filter’ button to select and display posts by category …
(View Posts Filter – All Categories/Selected Categories)
If there are many posts spanning across many Post screen pages, use the Search feature to filter and display only posts that contain the key phrases you have typed into the search field …
(Search Posts function – Table of Posts)
To clear the search filter results and view all posts again in the Table of Posts, click the ‘All’ link in the menu section 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 page – Table of Posts)
Next Step …
Now that you have a better understanding of what all the different functions of the WordPress Table of Posts are and how they work, the next step is to learn how to edit and delete posts.
Related WordPress Tutorials And Articles
To gain a better understanding about WordPress posts, see the articles and tutorials listed below:
- WordPress Posts & Pages
- How To Create A New Post In WordPress
- The WordPress Quick Edit Feature
- How To Schedule Posts In WP
- Setting A Featured WordPress Post
- WordPress Content Protection For Posts And Pages
- Web Site Traffic Blueprint Part Four – How To Attract More Traffic For Your Business With WordPress
- Reattributing Posts To Another Author
- How To Set Up And Use Categories
- How To Set Up And Use Tags In WordPress
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This is the end of section 1 of this tutorial.
Click on the link below to continue reading:
How To Edit And Delete Posts In WordPress – Part 2
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com
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