Sometimes, we need to remove a page or post from a blog - but prefer to not delete it.
There are various reasons for not wanting to delete a page / post immediately or permanently - maybe when removing a post for problem diagnosis, or to change the URL to match the publish date. Reverting to draft status is easily reversed, and has no permanent side effects.
When you want to quickly - but not permanently - remove a page or post, you can revert to draft status.
Reverting to draft status is convenient, safe, and simple.
You can revert a page or post using Page / Post Editor, or the Pages / Posts dashboard page.
- Revert, using the Pages / Posts dashboard pages.
- Revert, using the Page Editor / Post Editor.
Revert, using the Pages / Posts dashboard pages.
The Pages / Posts dashboard page is a menu. Simply select one or more pages or posts, then click "Revert to draft". Click on "Yes" to verify. and you're done.
Hit "Revert to draft", after selecting a page or post.
Revert, using the Page Editor / Post Editor.
Any time that you are editing a previously published page or post, click "Revert to draft". And you're done.
Hit "Revert to draft", when in page / post editor.
And when you're done, you're done.
Once a post is newly draft, it's offline. Page / post content in cache on your readers's computers will be readable until it expires. New readers, on the other hand, will see a "404" immediately.
You can recover the post with the URL - or rename to a new URL.
If you revert to draft - then later, re publish without changing the title, you will get the same post, with the same URL, back. If you change the title with the post in draft status, you get the same post content, under a new URL, when you re publish.
If you do the latter by mistake - then discover the mistake later, you can recover the mistake by merging the new and previous URLs. Just add a custom redirect from the new to old URL (or vice versa).
Review / Recover The Draft Inventory, With One Mouse Click
Any time that you need, review the inventory of Draft posts. Just click on "Draft" under "Posts". You can Edit then Publish - or just Publish, immediately.
Check out the current Draft posts complement, from Pages or Posts - Draft. Then recover one or more.
Just select one or more posts, then "Publish".
Or edit a page or post, then Publish.
Either way, you can recover any pages or posts, reverted, easily enough - as long as you revert them, instead of deleting them.
Just understand the possibilities.
Reverting a #Blogger blog post to draft status is a quick, yet reversible, way to take a post offline. The URL will be recovered, automatically - as long as you do not change the title.
Not all blog owners know the best ways to update labels, with the posts in their blog.
We see occasional signs of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.
How do I add a label, to many posts at once?
and
How do I correct the spelling of my label, already added?
and
How do I remove all of the labels, from one of my posts?
These owners are not aware how to use the dashboard Posts page - and Post Editor - to add, delete, and edit labels.
Blogger gives us labels (aka "categories") - and two ways to manage labels.
You choose the appropriate procedure, based on what changes are needed. The difference is whether you have one label, that needs to be applied to many posts - or one post, that needs multiple labels applied.
- Using the dashboard Posts page - one label, many posts.
- Using Post Editor - many labels, one post.
Using the dashboard Posts page - one label, many posts.
The Posts page, and the Posts menu, is used to add, delete, and edit one label, for many posts - one label, at a time.
- Use the Label Selection list, to select the posts to display.
- Use the Posts Selector column, to select any or all posts displayed, for action.
- Use the Label Action list to add, delete, or edit a given label, for the selected posts.
- To add a label, click on "New label...", type the new label, enter the new label, and click "OK".
- To delete a label, click on any label that has previously been applied to all posts selected. With any one post selected that does not have the label clicked, that label will be added as necessary.
- To edit a label, you have a slightly more complicated procedure.
- Repeat as necessary, for another label.
The Posts page.
Open the Label Selection list, by clicking on the pulldown arrow.
Select the posts for the label needed.
Use the Posts Selector column, to select any individual posts, or all posts, for action.
Open the Label Action list, by clicking on the pulldown arrow.
Add a label, using "New label" - or delete or edit a label, by selecting one of the listed labels.
Editing the name of one label, for many posts, requires adding a new label - then removing the old label. This is a slightly more complicated procedure - and is subject to label related limits. "Editing" a label, using the Posts page, will require planning, in some cases.
Using Post Editor - many labels, one post.
Post Editor is used to add, delete, and edit many labels, for one post - one post at a time.
- Find and select the "Labels" caption, in the "Post settings" sidebar.
- In the window that opens, add, delete, and edit as necessary.
- Click "Done".
- Click"Update".
Select "Labels", in the sidebar.
Add, delete, and / or edit the label cloud.
If you have multiple labels, in multiple posts, that need changing, you can use a combination of the above techniques.
Beware the label limits.
When updating labels, you need to avoid exceeding the limits.
- Per blog label count.
- Per post label count.
- Per post label character count.
If you exceed a limit, you may have less choices than you would want. If your changes are extensive, you may do well to script the task, before starting.
Making label changes, to multiple labels and / or posts, in a #Blogger blog, can be done using either the dashboard Posts page or Post Editor. There are reasons for choosing either alternative.
This week, we have a number of reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, from blog owners who like to monitor the Google+ +1 counts, for their posts, using the dashboard Posts list.
The ability to observe, at a glance, the +1 count for any given group of posts is useful - and popular with some folks. I use it, myself, with newer posts in this blog.
Unfortunately, my Posts list shows no +1 counts for recent posts, for some Posts lists.
It appears that pagination of the Posts list affects ability for any Posts list to have the +1 counts displayed.
In some cases, +1 counts will not display, for a paginated Posts list, on the first display page of the list. Subsequent display pages, seen by hitting the ">" button at the top, will show +1 counts for the posts.
In other cases, +1 counts will display, for a paginated Posts list, on the first display page of the list. Subsequent display pages, seen by hitting the ">" button at the top, will not show +1 counts for the posts.
Posts lists which are not paginated (have only one display page) do not seem to be affected by the problem.
Blogs with smaller "All posts" lists, and blogs with smaller Posts Label lists, may not show the problem - so not all blog owners will observe the problem. Also, owners of blogs which receive few +1s - and who do not use Google+ for posts distribution - will probably not observe the problem, either.
You may be able to examine this effect on your blog, by choosing Labels which have more, or less, than the number of posts compared to the Posts display page size (100, 50, 25, or 10) - and by changing the Posts display page size, to a different number.
We have a rollup discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, where we are attempting to diagnose the spread of the problem. If you find your blog affected by this oddity, and are able to answer a few questions, your input could be useful.
As always, I will respectfully request that you keep your replies, in the rollup topic, brief and relevant. And please read the first post in the topic, for instructions how you may participate in the diagnosis of the problem.
(Update 2015/03/09): This problem appears to be resolved.
If there's one question, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger?, that confounds me, its a simple one.How do I change the order of my posts?
orWhy does my blog display the newest post first? Where is the option, to change to oldest post first?
It is very difficult to respond both correctly, and helpfully, to both questions, equally well.
Blogger does not provide a dashboard setting, to change the post display sequence. Post sequence is only changed, by altering the date and time of the posts.
Long ago, changing the post sequence was simple.
Change the date and time of each post.
You could use the Schedule wizard in Post Editor "Post settings", select "Set date and time", and change each post, to whatever value you require. Each changed post would have a new URL - and would display according to the new URL.
To prevent various problems, caused by uncontrolled date / time changes, Blogger later changed the post editor. Now, once a post is published, you can't back date the post date or time.
The key word there is "published". You can't back date a published post - but you can re publish a post, by saving it as Draft. Just un publish each post as Draft - then use "Set date and time", back date, and Publish again.
You can back date as far as 1970. If you need the blog to display dates preceding 1970, you'll have to use "fake" dates, as you back date.
You can use the Posts menu to set up to 50 posts, in one step, as Draft. You will have to use Post Editor, one post at a time, to back date and re publish, however. This will be some tedium, for you.
Now, be careful here! If you resequence the posts after they have been indexed by the search engines - and if the resequencing involves URL changes - you're going to have "404"s from broken links. This is going to hurt reader and search engine reputation.
If your resequencing involves URL changes - and you care about the reputation of the blog - plan to add a custom redirect, for each post that gets a new URL, pointing from the old URL to the new URL. And this will be more tedium, for you.
But at least there is an answer to
Where is the option, to change to oldest post first?
The answer simply involves some repetitive work, on your part.
Right now, a few blog owners who depend upon using the Draft status on posts, and who move posts in and out of Draft status regularly, are noting an oddity in the New GUI Posts menu.I can't find my Draft posts - there's no menu selection!
Looking at the menu, one sees only "All".So how do I identify and update my Draft posts?
There are no imported or scheduled posts, in the blog.
Fortunately, this is not hard to remedy. Just pick any one post, currently displayed as "Published".
- Edit that one post, and hit "Revert to draft".
- Edit that one post again, and hit "Update".
And there is that one post, with the others, again published - and the menu now will now have selections for "Draft" and "Published".
This is, unfortunately, a temporary fix - the next time you reload your dashboard, you'll see only "All" again. But, it's easy enough to repeat.
You may see the same behaviour with the "Imported" and "Scheduled" lists.
Also, if there are no "Draft", "Imported" or "Scheduled" posts, the relevant link won't be seen.
What would be the benefit of viewing an empty page, after all?
