How to Duplicate a Page in WordPress [With or Without a Plugin]
Are you wondering how to duplicate a page in WordPress? Your search ends here.
There are times when you want to copy or clone an existing page or post instead of creating it from scratch. Though WordPress doesn’t have an in-built option to duplicate a page, you can always use a plugin to achieve your goal.
If you don’t want to use a plugin, don’t worry, it is also possible to copy the content of a page without using a plugin.
In this article, I’ll show you the step by step process on how to duplicate a page in WordPress, with or without the help of a plugin.
Contents
How to Duplicate a WordPress Page Without a Plugin
This section is for those who don’t want to use a plugin to duplicate or clone a page. Maybe, you just want to copy a single page or post and it does not make sense to install a plugin in such cases.
WordPress has a “Copy All Content” option using which you can copy the content of any page. Let me show you how to use that feature.
First, you need to go to Pages -> All Pages from the left sidebar and then, open the page you want to clone.
On the page editor, click on the white portion just above the title to make sure none of the blocks are selected. Otherwise, the content of the selected block will be copied and not the entire page.
Next, click on the 3 vertical dots icon, present at the top-right corner of your screen. This will open a menu where you need to click on Copy All Content to copy the content present in the page editor.
Now create a new page by clicking on Pages -> Add New. On the new page, you need to add a title and then, right-click on the first block to paste the content.
That’s it! The content from the original post will now be copied to this duplicate page.
The problem with this method is you can only copy the content and not other things like category, tags, title, and featured image. You’ve to manually copy other items if you want.
But this method makes sense if you want to clone just one or two pages.
[wphr_box_blue]Are You Using the Classic Editor?
If you’re using the Classic WordPress Editor, then you need to click on the Text tab of the editor. Next, you’ll have to select the content present in the editor and then copy it.
Now create a new page and click on the Text tab. Finally, you need to paste the content into the editor. Simple, isn’t it?
You may switch to the Visual tab to make the final changes.[/wphr_box_blue]
How to Duplicate a Page in WordPress Using a Plugin
Thanks to the WordPress community, you’ll find a plugin for every purpose. And this is no different when you’re planning to copy a page or post.
Though there are many popular plugins available on the web, I’ll be using the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin for this tutorial. It is a free plugin with over 3 million active installations and will help you to duplicate a post or page with a single click.
Without further ado, let me show you the step by step process.
Step 1: Install and Active the Plugin
The first step is to install the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin on your WordPress site. To do that, you’ll have to navigate to Plugins -> Add New from the left sidebar.
Next, you’ll have to search “Yoast Duplicate Post” using the search bar, present at the top-right corner. Once you find the plugin, you need to click on the Install Now button. And finally, you should activate the plugin.
Step 2: Configure the Settings of the Plugin
Before you proceed to clone a post or page, I would recommend you to set up the plugin properly so you can get the desired result.
Go to Settings -> Duplicate Post from the left sidebar to open the settings page of this plugin. On this page, you’ll find 3 tabs: What to copy, Permissions, and Display.
Let me explain each of them.
The What to copy tab allows you to decide the elements you can add to the duplicate page. While the default settings work for most users, you can always make changes if you want.
For example, you can uncheck the Featured image box. That means the featured image will not be copied to the duplicate page. Similarly, you can check/uncheck other items based on your requirements.
You can also add a title prefix or suffix to understand which one is the cloned page. Plus, you can decide whether you want to copy the category and tags by making changes to the “Do not copy these taxonomies” option.
The next tab is Permissions. Here you can select who will be allowed to duplicate pages on your site. I would recommend you to keep it as it is.
You can also select the post types where you want to enable the cloning feature.
The last tab is Display – it lets you decide the places (eg: Edit screen, Admin top bar, etc) where you want to show the “Copy to a new draft” or “Clone” link on your WordPress admin panel. Again, it is better to keep the settings as it is.
Finally, you need to click on the Save Changes button after making the necessary modifications.
Step 3: Duplicate a Page or Post
It’s time to show you how to duplicate a page or post using this plugin.
Head over to Pages -> All Pages from the left sidebar to see your existing pages. Here you’ll have to hover your mouse cursor over the title of the page that you want to duplicate or clone.
You’ll now see two new options: Clone and New Draft.
If you click on Clone, then a duplicate page will be created automatically. You’ll see the new page added to the list of existing pages and then, you can click on the page title to edit the duplicate page.
On the other hand, the New Draft link will not only create a duplicate page, but you’ll also be redirected to the page editor of the newly created page.
[wphr_box_blue]Note: To duplicate a post in WordPress, you need to go to Posts -> All Posts from the left sidebar and then follow the same process.[/wphr_box_blue]
You can also copy a page when you are in the page editor.
You’ll find the Copy to a new draft option on the admin top bar. Just click on it to create a copy of the existing page.
Want to Clone Pages or Posts in Bulk?
The Yoast Duplicate Post plugin also allows you to duplicate pages in bulk. To do that, you need to first go to Pages -> All Pages from the left sidebar. Next, you need to select the pages you want to duplicate.
Once you have selected the pages, click on the Bulk actions dropdown, select Clone from the options, and click on Apply. This will clone all the pages you had selected earlier. Simple, isn’t it?
Alternative Plugins to Duplicate Pages in WordPress
While the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin does a great job by cloning an existing page or post, there are many free alternatives using which you can achieve the same result.
Let me share 3 popular alternative plugins with you.
#1. Duplicate Page
The Duplicate Page plugin allows you to duplicate posts, pages, and custom post types. Once you install this plugin, you can use the “Duplicate This” option to clone a page. You can also make changes to the settings of this plugin easily.
#2. Post-Duplicator
The Post Duplicator plugin is a free plugin and has over 100,000+ active installations. Just like the other plugins, this plugin is easy to install and setup. And you can create an exact copy of any post or page without much hassle.
#3. Duplicate Page and Post
Duplicate Page and Post is another popular plugin on my list. It works perfectly on both the Gutenberg and the Classic WordPress editors. This plugin lets you add a post suffix in the settings page so you can easily differentiate between the original and the duplicate page.
Final Thoughts on How to Duplicate a Page in WordPress
I hope this article helped you to understand how to duplicate a page in WordPress. You can easily follow the step by step instructions to clone or copy an existing post or page, with or without the help of a plugin.
In case you’ve any queries, feel free to ask me in the comment section. Also, please share this article on Twitter and Facebook.
[wphr_box_blue]What next? Here are some recommended articles that you can read now:
You can do this same thing without the need of a plugin. This is using a Child Theme and entering PHP coding into the functions.php located in the child theme.
Go to this link to get the code:
https://gist.github.com/domantasg/adfb4f3875aef743e86c48c7e5ca6a78
Note, also read the bottom comment to that page. It clarifies what you need to do to repeat the same code to allow you to duplicate pages.
Update to my comment.
The above PHP code for insertion into the child-theme functions.php file, is especially useful for people who do not use the Gutenberg Block Editor and still use the WordPress Classic Editor.
Plus the PHP code provides copying all tags, categories, and even meta data for that copied document if you use “All in One SEO” for your pages or posts.
Thank you- for keeping it simple. Yes when i’s just a few pages and we don’t want to add yet another plugin!
Powerful. helped me duplicate a page