Duplicate a page and publish it later

  • page-editing
  • duplicate
  • yoast
  • drafts

WordPress can't duplicate a page on its own. Install Yoast Duplicate Post to copy a page, work on the copy while the live page stays up, and publish your changes when they're ready.

Install Yoast Duplicate Post

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New.
  2. Search for Duplicate Post.
  3. Install and activate Yoast Duplicate Post by Yoast.

Duplicate the page

On Pages → All Pages, hover over the page. Yoast adds three links:

Link What it does
Clone Makes a copy and keeps you on the pages list.
New Draft Makes a copy and opens it in the editor.
Rewrite & Republish Makes a working copy of a live page. When you republish, your changes replace the original at the same URL.

To rework a page that's already live, use Rewrite & Republish. Use New Draft when you want a separate page to launch on your own.

You can also make a copy from inside the editor or the admin bar with Copy to a new draft.

Edit the copy

  1. Add something like "revision" to the copy's title so you can tell the two apart in the pages list.
  2. Edit it like any other page. See Page editing basics.
  3. Click Save draft as you go. Leave it as a draft until you're ready.

Publish with Rewrite & Republish

  1. Finish your edits.
  2. Click Republish, not Publish.
  3. Confirm when Yoast asks.

The original page updates at its usual URL. Visitors never see the work in progress.

Publish a Clone or New Draft to the original URL

A Clone or New Draft is a second page with its own URL. To move it onto the original URL:

  1. Open the live original. In the sidebar, add -old to the end of its URL slug, click Switch to draft, and save.
  2. Open the copy and set its URL slug to what the original's was, without -old.
  3. Click Publish.

The old version stays in Pages as a draft in case you need to switch back. If anything still links to the -old address, add a redirect.

Tips

  • Rewrite & Republish skips the slug swap, so it's the simpler choice for live pages.
  • Only publish a copy at a new URL if you want two separate pages.
  • After you publish, check the page in a private browser window to make sure you're seeing the latest version.