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How to Properly Update a Published Post in WordPress

Open the post from the WordPress dashboard, make your edits, and click Update. Check visibility and timing when relevant, and use revisions to recover an earlier saved version.
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To update a published WordPress post, open Posts in the dashboard, edit the post, then click Update. Before saving, check its status, visibility, and publish timing if your changes affect when or how readers can access it. You can use the post’s revision history to compare saved versions and restore an earlier one if needed.

Open the published post

  1. Sign in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Posts.
  2. Find the post and open it for editing. Use the individual editing screen for changes to the post’s text, images, or other content. WordPress’s Posts screen guide describes this workflow.
  3. For a small change to a supported field, Quick Edit may be enough. It offers fewer controls than the full editor and is not the place to revise the post body.

Edit the content and check post settings

Make the changes in the editor. If the edit should also change who can see the post or when it appears, review the settings in the editor’s post settings sidebar. WordPress documents controls for status, visibility, and publish timing in its Page/Post Settings sidebar guide.

A published post is generally public. Other available states include scheduled, private, and password-protected; their effect on access and timing differs. WordPress describes these states in its Post Status documentation. Check the setting rather than assuming a content edit leaves every publication detail as intended.

Save the changes with Update

When you edit an existing post, click Update to save your changes. The control is labeled Update, not Publish, in the individual post editing workflow documented by WordPress. After saving, view or reopen the post to confirm that the change appears as intended and that its visibility is correct.

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Restore an earlier version if needed

WordPress revisions keep records of saved drafts and published updates. If you need to undo an edit, open the post’s Revisions panel, compare versions, and restore the one you want. Autosaves are stored separately and do not overwrite the published post. See WordPress’s Revisions documentation for the available controls.

The revisions interface depends on WordPress version: the documentation says WordPress 7.0 introduced a new revisions screen, while sites on 6.9 or earlier use the Classic Revisions view. Controls and screenshots can therefore differ between installations.

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If you use the Classic Editor

The overall process is similar in the Classic Editor: open the post, make changes, and click Update. Its controls for status, visibility, scheduling, and revisions may look different from those in the block editor. WordPress’s Classic Editor guide covers that interface.

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