You can reorder posts in WordPress by changing their publication dates, as WordPress typically displays posts in reverse chronological order by default.
Understanding how to manage the order of your posts is key to controlling the flow of content on your blog or website's archive pages. The default sorting method in WordPress is by the publication date, with the most recent posts appearing first. Therefore, manipulating this date is a straightforward way to influence the order in which posts are displayed to visitors.
Reordering Posts by Changing Publication Date
This method allows you to push a post further up or down the list of posts on your blog roll or category/tag archives simply by altering when WordPress thinks the post was published.
Here’s how to do it:
- Visit Your WordPress Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress administration area.
- Access Your Posts: On the left-hand navigation menu, click on Posts. This will take you to the list of all your posts.
- Select a Post to Edit: Click on the title of the specific post you wish to reorder to open the editor.
- Locate the Publish Settings: In the post editor screen, look at the settings panel on the right side. Find the section labeled Publish or Post Status & Visibility.
- Edit the Publication Date: Within the Publish section, you will see information about the post's status and visibility, including the publication date and time. Click on the displayed date (e.g., "Immediately" or a specific date/time) to open the calendar and time picker.
- Choose the New Date and Time: Use the calendar and time picker to select a new date and/or time for the post.
- To make the post appear more recent and move it higher up the list, choose a future date/time.
- To make the post appear older and move it lower down the list, choose a past date/time.
- Save Your Changes: After selecting the new date and time, click the Save or Update button in the Publish section (or the main Update button for the post).
Practical Insight: Changing the date to a future time effectively "schedules" the post for that future time. However, if you want it to appear now but higher up the list, you would typically set the date to a recent time (e.g., a few minutes ago) that is later than other posts you want it to precede. Conversely, setting it to a date far in the past will place it much lower in the list.
Summary Table: Steps to Reorder by Date
While a full table structure might be complex for simple sequential steps, we can summarize the action and location:
| Action | Location (WordPress Editor) |
|---|---|
| Go to Posts | Dashboard Menu -> Posts |
| Edit a Post | Posts List -> Click Post Title |
| Find Publish Settings | Right-hand Settings Panel -> Publish Section |
| Change Date/Time | Click Date in Publish Section -> Calendar View |
| Save New Date | Click "Save" or "Update" button in Publish section |
| Update Post | Main "Update" Button (top right) |
By following these steps and adjusting the publication date, you can effectively reorder how your posts appear on your WordPress site's main blog feed and archive pages.
