How to Duplicate a Page or Post in WordPress – A Step-by-step Guide for Beginners

Imagine that you have posted a post on your website and while you are checking it out, you realize that you want to make some changes. But you cannot decide if the changes will make it better or worse, so you want to save a copy or duplicate the content of the current post. Or just a situation when you want to save a duplicate of the whole page before changing the design of the page. There is always the option of copying and pasting the content for further use, but this does not move the SEO optimization, featured images and any other elements related to that post.
So what do we do? Duplicate the page or a post for further use before making any changes to the older version. And fret not, because this is a simple and easy process which is not time-consuming at all!
Let’s get into the process, shall we? For a more easier and thorough tutorial, we have divided into two parts. 1. Creating a duplicate post or a page & 2. Customizing the clone Post or a page.
How to Duplicate a Page in WordPress?
Duplicating or cloning a page or a post in WordPress is an easy process which we can complete in minutes. To save the whole of SEO optimization, featured image, page templates and all the elements of the current post as it is for further reference, this is a very handy WordPress feature.
Before we get into the process, here is a list of requirements to duplicate a WordPress Page or a Post.
- Access to WordPress Admin Panel:
You need to know that you cannot clone or duplicate other peoples page or blog, you can only use this for your own posts and pages. Thus having access to WordPress Admin Panel is a must. - A WordPress Plugin such as Duplicate Page and Post Plugin:
One of the easiest ways to get a clone of your page or post is using this plugin. So, for this purpose, we have chosen a free plugin here: 1. Duplicate Page and Post (free).
Note: If you are building your website using the Visual Composer (Premium) plugin, you do not need a plugin to do the job. This plugin has the duplicate feature within it so, you can simply clone your pages and templates. - Page or Post to Clone or Duplicate
The third thing is obviously a page or a post that you want to clone or duplicate for further reference.
With this list of requirements, let’s start with the tutorial on how to create a WordPress duplicate page or post easily.
Step-By-Step Guide to Duplicate WordPress Page and Post
To get a clone or duplicate of your desired WordPress page or post, simply follow this step-by-step tutorial! If you want a video tutorial for easier access, then you can also watch the video right below.
Duplicate Page or Post Using ‘Duplicate Page and Post’ – Steps
Creating a duplicate WordPress is so much easier with the help of plugins designed especially for that purpose. You can find one that you want to install and use it to help you with the process. We, for example, have installed the Duplicate Post Plugin for this purpose!
Step 1: Download and Install the Plugin
You can easily find Duplicate Post on the official WordPress website. If you have any confusions regarding the process, here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to.
How To Install a WordPress Plugin: Beginner’s Guide
Step 2: Using the Plugin to Clone a WordPress Page
Once you install the plugin, you will find the option to clone a page directly through the Pages option. Go to your Dashboard and select Pages and on All Pages.
You will be redirected to All Pages and you can see all of your posts. You can then hover over the page or post that you want to clone and see the new options for Clone and New Draft.
Select ‘Clone and create a duplicate WordPress page’ for the post you selected.
Select New Draft to create a cloned version of the selected page and further open it in the post editor.
Customizing a Duplicate WordPress Page
If you want to customize the settings of the Duplicate or Cloned WordPress post, then just follow the step-by-step steps below.
From your Dashboard, go to Settings and then on Duplicate Post. You will then be redirected to the settings.
You can then change what you want to duplicate or clone, you can choose what you want to copy and what you don’t want. You can also add the suffix and prefix for the post. Save the changes once you are done.
The second page of settings is for you to select whether you want to enable only posts or pages to be cloned. You can also use this setting to allow or disallow other authors to use this function. Go ahead and save the changes once you are done.
The third page of settings is for you to choose where you want this Duplicate WordPress page to be displayed. You can choose where the links of these pages appear.
Summarizing It All!
Using these methods you can easily create a perfect clone or a duplicate WordPress Page or Post. The best part is all of these processes takes only minutes to achieve. So the next time you are not too sure about the changes you are about to make, get cloning or duplicating.
We hope we have solved your confusions regarding the topic of cloning and duplicating a WordPress website or the page. Our thorough and easy to follow tutorials are mostly targeted to the beginners and newbies. If we have missed out anything, do let us know in the comment section down below!
If you want to check out more of our tips and tutorials articles, here are a few of ours you can check out!
- How To Add Google Analytics to WordPress: Step-by-step Guide.
- Beginner’s Guide to Featured Image Size: Adding, Customizing and Changing.
- How To Edit, Add and Delete Categories on WordPress.