Are you looking to unpublish an article on your WordPress website?
There are times when you need to modify a page privately, or remove the page on your site entirely. In other instances, you could conceal a particular page for a user group.
This guide explains how to unpublish the WordPress page step-by-step.
Why Unpublish a WordPress Page?
If you create a WordPress website, you post pages allowing users to see them.
But there could be instances when you’d like to remove a post so that it isn’t available to people who come to your site.
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For example, you’ve had a change of heart about some pages, and you want to move, for instance, your WordPress website in a different direction. You may have created a draft in error that you’d like to delete the blog so that you can keep making progress in private.
In time, posts become obsolete or not relevant anymore. Many web admins save old articles and incorporate the older post-notification in the header of their page. But, if you intend to edit a post shortly, it’s best to remove it from publication instead of keeping it in your blog’s dashboard as an editable unpublished draft.
WordPress lets you easily remove pages from publishing, create a password or block your pages from specific users.
Let’s examine how you can remove pages on your WordPress site.
Method 1: Unpublishing a Single WordPress Page (Quick and Easy)
The process of unpublishing a webpage lets you delete it from your site and still allows you to edit the page and then republish it later.
The easiest way to accomplish this is to switch the page from draft to. The page is hidden from visitors to your website. However, those logged into the site can still see the page on your WordPress dashboard. It could be a good alternative if you’ve found issues on the site or would like to enhance your content.
Navigate to Pages> To convert a previously published page to a draft, navigate to Pages > All page. You can hover over the page and select the Edit button when it is displayed there.
It will take you to the screen for editing pages.
Click the ‘Switch to draft’ option on the right side of the page.
It will inform you if you want to remove the blog post. Removing live posts from your website can result in broken links and negatively impact your WordPress search engine optimization; therefore, you’ll need to decide when.
If your unpublishing page is ranked in search results and has brought people to your website, we suggest redirecting your URL to an appropriate page so you won’t be penalized for SEO.
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If you can unpublish the post, click the “Ok” button.
You should consider erasing the page if you don’t require a particular page for your site. Similar to sending this page in the Trash of your PC.
For this, select the ‘Move to Trash option on the left of the menu. WordPress will transfer the site to the garbage.
In standard, WordPress will automatically remove any content within 30 days so that you can change your decision.
To recover a deleted page, go to Pages > The entire page and click the trash link.
Then, you’ll be able to see all the garbage pages you can bring back.
Method 2: Unpublishing With the Bulk Tool (Best for Multiple Pages)
If you’re redesigning or moving your website to a new address, there could be many pages you don’t need anymore or would like to modify to reflect the major changes.
Instead of unpublishing every page individually, it is possible to erase or remove them all simultaneously. To accomplish this, visit Pages > All Page and click the checkbox on the right side of each page you wish to remove.
Afterward, go to the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown and choose ‘Edit.’
Click on the “Apply.”
Now, you can use the settings to modify each selected post. You can, for instance, make them all sticky articles or change the writer in case you’re operating the blog as a multiple-author website.
To convert multiple live pages into drafts, click the dropdown ‘Status’ and select Draft. After that, click on the update button.
If you’d like, it is possible to transfer multiple pages to the garbage by opening the “Bulk Options” dropdown and then selecting the option to move to Trash.’
Click “Apply.”
Method 3: Make a WordPress Page Private or Password Protected
The password protection feature of a blog lets you keep specific sections within your WordPress blog secret.
It can be useful if you’re looking to set up a distinct area on your website that is accessible to coworkers or members or if you’re creating a customer portal using WordPress.
It could also prove useful when you need to limit access to your site when you’re developing it, making sure that only authorized test users, developers as well as other members of the team can browse the site.
The first step is to start the website where you would like to set a be able to password-protect. Next, press the button ‘Public’ under ‘Visibility.’
Once you have done that, click on the button ‘Password-Protected’ and then type in a password in the ‘Use secure password field. Anybody with a password is in a position to see this content; therefore, you need to select a safe password using numbers, letters, and symbols.
After that, press the update button to save your settings.
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In the meantime, WordPress will ask visitors to sign in with their password before they are shown this page.
Another alternative is to make the page private so it’s accessible only to logged-in users with either the editor or administrator account in WordPress.
To accomplish this, you need to click the button ‘Public’ under ‘Visibility,’ but choose ‘Private’ this time.’
The pop-up asks if you wish to make this site private.
Click”OK.
If you click on Pages > All Pages, you can view every page you’ve published, draft password-protected, private pages in one glance.
The image below shows an unpublished page. It also shows pages clearly labeled as secure and protected by passwords.
Method 4: Making a WordPress Page Members Only
If you own a member-only website that is a member-only site, you could remove a page depending on the membership level of users. People not belonging to a membership program must register to view the page, which is an excellent way to gather email addresses and increase your list.
It is possible to charge the cost of accessing members-only content. This way, you can earn money blogging online through WordPress
The easiest way to build the page members-only can be done using MemberPress. Memberpress plugin.
It’s the most effective WordPress membership plugin for WordPress that lets you set up different levels of subscribers, create exclusive content only for members as well as allow credit card payment through your WordPress site.
The plugin is simple to install and allows you to sell online classes, premium downloads, drip content, etc.
The site also has strong access control tools that let users restrict access to certain WordPress pages in just two clicks.
For further details about restricting access to particular websites, check out our tutorial on
This article has helped you understand how to remove a post from the content of a WordPress page.
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