Scheduling posts and pages

One of the first post settings a user might want to learn is how to schedule a post or a page — especially in new block themes, these settings can be a bit tricky to find. This tutorial aims to demystify how to schedule a post or page in WordPress, how to set the time so that the post or page goes live at the correct time, how to reschedule or unschedule a post or a page, and how to backdate a post or a page.

Learning outcomes

1. Locate and utilize the post and page settings that allow a user to schedule or backdate posts
2. Locate and modify a WordPress’ date and time settings to schedule a post on the desired date and time
3. Reschedule, unschedule, or backdate a post or a page

Comprehension questions

1. Can only posts be scheduled, or can pages be scheduled as well?
2. What are the steps to cancel a scheduled post?
3. Where can you reset the time to the present moment in the WordPress dashboard?
4. How does WordPress handle different time zones in the world?

Transcript

How to Schedule WordPress posts and pages. Many successful bloggers maintain a consistent posting habit due to one WordPress secret: you can schedule posts to publish in the future, or even backdate them to the past as long as you know where to look.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to locate and utilize the post or page settings that allow a user to schedule or backdate posts, locate and modify a WordPress date and time settings to schedule posts on the desired date and time, and reschedule on schedule or backdate a post or page. Let’s explore this topic using the WordPress Playground which is a free temporary WordPress website that functions only within your browser. Let’s go.

To find the setting, first login to your WordPress admin dashboard. Go to posts and select Add New if you want to create a new post. If you want to schedule an existing draft, then click on All Posts and select your draft that you would like to schedule ahead of time. Write or edit your post as you wish. When you’re finished, on the right hand side you’ll see a box labeled “Publish”. Make sure the box next to this is selected which is your settings in these options. You’ll see another option that says Publish immediately or an earlier date. If this is a draft, click on the publish immediately button or the Date button as you see pictured here, a calendar and a clock will appear. Select the date and time you would like your posts to be published.

If you schedule a post for the future, the publish button will change to the word schedule. You can choose to set this post to publish sometime in the future or you can backdate the post to a time in the past. The other blue dots pictured in this calendar indicate other posts published on this date. If you choose to backdate your post, it will most often appear chronologically by the date you choose and each post settings as you can see in this blog here. Let’s schedule a post for a day in the future. Click on the schedule button. WordPress will ask you if you are ready to schedule your post. Click schedule again, and your post will publish at the designated time and date. If you’d like to edit this poster page further, you can find the poster page in your dashboard with the word scheduled next to it. Select the Edit link like you would any standard draft post.

But wait, you might be thinking aren’t there lots of different time zones in the world? How does WordPress know which time zone to publish this poster page in good news, you can set your timezone and your WordPress dashboard, correcting the time to set the WordPress date and time you need to adjust your website’s general settings. Here’s how to do it. Navigate to Settings in the left sidebar menu. A drop down menu will appear. Next click on General. Once you’re in the General Settings page, you will see timezone you can select a city that is in the same timezone as you or set the UTC code. Just below the timezone you will also see options for date, format and time format. WordPress allows you to specify how dates and times are displayed on your website. Choose the style which suits your preference, be sure to click Save Changes at the bottom of the page when done. Now your WordPress settings will align with your desired date and time configuration. The setting affects the publishing of posts and pages, comment timestamps and more.

What if you want to Unschedule a post if you want to Unschedule a scheduled post or page in WordPress follow these steps. Head to your posts or page dashboard. Find the post or page that you scheduled. You can use the search bar filters at the top if you’re having any trouble finding the scheduled poster page. Once you’ve found it, click on the title to open the editor. To Unschedule the posts click Switch to draft in the top right hand corner. WordPress will ask you if you want to Unschedule this post. Click OK and your posts will no longer be published on the date and time that you previously chose. You can choose to leave the post is a draft which will not show on the front end of your website. Or you can click the now button under your settings to make it possible to publish this post or page immediately. There you have it, you can now schedule backdate or unscheduled WordPress posts or pages. Happy blogging.