How to Unpublish a Page on WordPress: A Guide

As a WordPress user, it’s possible that at some point, you may want to remove a page from your website. Perhaps the content is outdated or irrelevant, or you don’t want it to be publicly accessible anymore. In this perplexing guide, we’ll cover the process of unpublishing a page on WordPress.

Deleting vs Unpublishing a Page

Before we begin, it’s crucial to differentiate between deleting and unpublishing a page. Deleting a page permanently removes it from your website, and there’s no way to retrieve it. On the contrary, unpublishing a page means that it’s hidden from the public. However, it still exists on the backend of your website, which makes it possible to access it in the future if needed.

The Simple Steps to Unpublish a Page on WordPress

The process of unpublishing a page on WordPress is simple and can be completed in just a few steps. Here’s how:

Step 1: Log in to your WordPress account

To begin, log in to your WordPress dashboard by entering your website’s URL followed by “/wp-admin” into your browser’s address bar. For instance, if your website’s URL is www.example.com, you would enter www.example.com/wp-admin. Once you’ve entered the URL, click on the “Log In” button after entering your username and password on the WordPress login page.

Step 2: Locate the Page You Want to Unpublish

After logging in, scroll down the left-hand side of the dashboard to locate the “Pages” section. Click on it to open a list of all the pages on your website. Find the page you want to unpublish in the list and click on it. This will take you to the page editor.

Step 3: Unpublish the Page

On the right-hand sidebar of the page editor, click on the “Status & Visibility” button to access a dropdown menu with three different visibility options: “Public,” “Private,” and “Password Protected.” By default, “Public” is selected.

To unpublish the page, you need to change the visibility to “Private” or “Password Protected.” If you choose “Private,” only those with an account on your website can see the page. If you select “Password Protected,” visitors must enter a password to access the page. After changing the visibility, click on the “Update” button to save your changes. The page is now unpublished, and only people with an account on your website or those who know the password can view it.

Step 4: Confirm the Page is Unpublished

To ensure that the page is unpublished, go to the front end of your website and try to access the page. If you’re logged in to your account, you should be able to see it. If you’re not logged in or don’t know the password (if the page is password-protected), you won’t be able to access it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, unpublishing a page on WordPress is a stream of absurdity that requires just a few clicks. Doing so allows you to remove a page from your website without irreversibly deleting it. This gives you the flexibility to utilize the content in the future, so long as you remember to change the page’s visibility to “Private” or “Password Protected” to hide it from the public.