A handful of articles to publish after a review, an old category to archive, a batch of imports to trash: select the articles in the list and run one action on all of them. The job runs on the server, so it finishes even if you close the tab.
Run a bulk action
- In the article list, tick the checkbox on each article you want. A bulk bar appears showing how many are selected.
- To act on every article matching the current search and filters, including those on other pages, click Select all matching in the bar.
- Click the action: Publish, Unpublish, Unarchive, Archive or Move to trash. In the Trash filter the bar offers Restore and Delete forever instead.
- A confirmation tells you exactly how many selected articles the action will run on. If some are not eligible, it says how many will be skipped.
- Confirm. The dialog closes and a progress banner at the top of the list counts through the batch, for example "Publishing 3 of 10 articles".
When the job finishes the list reloads and the selection clears. Bulk actions are capped at 1,000 articles per run; narrow the selection with filters if you go over.
Which articles each action applies to
An action is only offered while at least one selected article is eligible for it. Articles that do not qualify are skipped, never failed.
| Action | Applies to |
|---|---|
| Publish | Drafts, and published articles that have unpublished changes |
| Unpublish | Published |
| Archive | Draft, Published |
| Unarchive | Archived |
| Move to trash | Draft, Published, Archived |
| Restore | Trashed |
| Delete forever | Trashed (owners and admins only) |
Unpublish, Unarchive and Restore all return articles to Draft. Publishing in bulk still counts against your plan's published-article limit.
How the job runs
The job is queued on the server and processes four articles at a time, so a large batch never locks up the page. Closing the tab only hides the progress banner; the job keeps going, and the list shows the results next time you load it.