If you no longer need multiple WordPress posts, you do not have to open and delete them individually. In the post overview, you can select multiple posts and then move them to the trash together using a bulk action.
The same function is also suitable for certain changes to multiple posts. For example, you can edit categories, tags, author, comment status, or post status for multiple selected posts without having to open each post individually.
Briefly explained: Open Posts → All Posts, mark the desired posts and select above the table under Fundraising campaigns the desired action. With Move to Trash do you delete all marked posts at once.
When is multiple choice useful? #
WordPress bulk actions are especially handy when you manage a lot of posts.
Typical use cases include, for example:
- remove several outdated posts
- Delete test posts
- clean up multiple drafts
- Assign posts to another category
- Add tags to multiple posts
- change the author of multiple posts
- update the status of multiple posts
- Enable or disable comments for multiple posts
What options are available depends in part on your WordPress installation, your user permissions, and installed extensions.
Open post overview #
First, log in to your WordPress admin area and open:
Posts → All Posts
WordPress shows you a tabular overview of your posts there.
Depending on the configuration, you will see, for example:
- Title
- Author
- Categories
- Keywords
- Comments
- Date or status
Plugins can add additional columns to this overview.
Select multiple posts #
To the left of each post is a selection box. Check the boxes for all posts you want to edit or delete together.
Carefully check the selection before executing a bulk action.
Practical Tip: In the case of a long list of posts, you should check the titles of all selected posts once more before deleting. A bulk action is carried out quickly – an accidentally too large selection just as easily.
Select all visible posts #
You can use the checkbox in the table header to select all posts displayed on the currently visible overview page.
This is helpful if a larger number of posts are to receive the same action.
However, note the difference between all currently visible posts and all posts of your entire WordPress website. If your post overview consists of several pages, there may be additional posts on the following overview pages.
Delete multiple WordPress posts at once #
After you have selected the desired posts, you can move them to the trash together.
- Open Posts → All Posts.
- Mark the posts that should be deleted.
- Open the selection menu Fundraising campaigns.
- Choose Move to Trash.
- Click on Take over.
- Then check the post overview.
The selected posts will thus be moved to the WordPress trash first.
What happens when moving to the recycle bin? #
An item in the trash is no longer treated like a normally published item and can be managed via the trash view.
This is an important difference from permanent deletion.
As long as the post is still in the trash, it can generally be restored.
Important: The trash bin is not a permanent archiving or backup solution. If content needs to be kept long-term, you should not rely on it remaining indefinitely in the WordPress trash.
Restore accidentally deleted posts #
If you accidentally moved one or more posts to the trash, open the view in the posts overview Recycle Bin.
There you can restore a single post or select multiple posts and restore them together.
After the restoration, the posts are available outside of the trash bin again.
Delete multiple posts permanently #
Items in the recycle bin can also be permanently deleted.
To do this, open:
Posts → All Posts → Trash
Select the desired posts and use the corresponding bulk action to delete them permanently.
WordPress also offers the option to empty the trash in the trash view.
Attention: Permanent deletion is different from moving to the trash. Before emptying the trash, carefully check whether there are still posts in it that you want to keep or restore.
Does the WordPress trash empty automatically? #
By default, WordPress automatically deletes content in the trash after a set period of time. In a standard WordPress installation, this period is by default 30 days.
This behavior can be modified or disabled technically. Therefore, you should not consider the recycle bin as reliable long-term storage.
If you still need a deleted post, restore it as soon as possible.
What happens to the images of a deleted post? #
Deleting a post does not automatically mean that all images used within it are deleted from the WordPress media library.
Media is managed separately by WordPress and can also be used by multiple pages or posts.
You should therefore not remove images from the media library without checking them simply because a post was deleted.
Practical Tip: Proceed much more cautiously when cleaning up the media library than with the posts overview. An image may be used in other places on the website, even if this is not apparent at first glance.
What happens to categories and tags? #
When you delete a post, its categories and tags are not automatically deleted as well.
These taxonomies can still be assigned to other posts and are managed independently of the individual post.
This allows you, for example, to delete several posts from a category without WordPress removing the category itself.
Work with filters before deleting #
For many posts, it makes sense to narrow down the list first.
WordPress provides various options for this. Depending on the post content, you can, for example, filter or search by the following criteria:
- Category
- Date
- Status
- Search term
This allows you, for example, to display only posts from a specific category first and then select the desired entries.
Find posts via search #
If you are searching for specific posts by their title or content, you can use the search function in the post overview.
This is especially helpful if the website contains a large number of posts and you don't want to navigate through multiple overview pages.
Always check the actual selection, even with filtered or searched results, before performing a bulk action.
Edit multiple posts at once #
The collection campaigns can do more than just delete posts.
If you select multiple posts and under Fundraising campaigns the option Edit you select, WordPress opens the bulk edit.
This allows certain properties to be changed simultaneously for all selected posts.
Which details can be edited together? #
The available options may vary depending on the WordPress version, user permissions, and installed plugins.
Typical options include, among others:
- Categories
- Keywords
- Author
- Comments
- Status
- Ping or communication options
- Post format, provided it is supported by the theme or installation
Plugins can add additional fields for bulk editing.
Assign multiple posts to a category #
A common use case for bulk editing is assigning multiple posts to a category.
Select the desired posts, choose Edit as a collection campaign and then activate the desired category.
With this, for example, you can restructure an existing collection of posts more quickly.
Caution when removing existing categories #
Bulk editing is well suited for jointly adding or modifying specific properties. However, it is not a complete substitute for single-item editing in every situation.
Check carefully, especially with categories, what change WordPress makes with each selection. Do not automatically assume that an unselected category will be removed from all posts.
Edit tags for multiple posts #
Tags can also be assigned to multiple posts using batch processing.
This can be useful if several existing posts are to be retroactively tagged with a common keyword.
Do not use tags simply because bulk editing allows for their quick assignment. Categories and tags should follow a logical content structure.
Change author of multiple posts #
If users with appropriate permissions exist, the author of multiple posts can also be changed via bulk editing.
This can be useful, for example, if:
- a user account is replaced
- editorial responsibilities change
- imported posts should be assigned to the correct author
Then check if your theme displays the author publicly and if the change appears as desired in the frontend.
Change status of multiple posts #
Depending on the situation, you can assign a different status to multiple selected posts together.
This can be helpful, for example, when editorial work is done with drafts.
For content that has already been published, however, you should make status changes consciously, as they can affect the public availability of the posts.
Attention: Do not change the status of many published posts rashly. If publicly accessible content suddenly becomes unavailable, it can affect visitors, internal links, and search engines.
Set comments for multiple posts #
Depending on the configuration, WordPress can also allow comments to be enabled or disabled for multiple posts simultaneously via bulk editing.
This is helpful if your commenting strategy has changed and you do not want to edit each post individually.
Why doesn't WordPress show all posts on one page? #
With a larger number of posts, WordPress distributes the overview across multiple pages.
As a result, you might select all visible posts using the top checkbox, but you haven't automatically selected all posts on the website.
Therefore, check:
- how many posts there are in total
- how many posts are currently displayed
- whether further overview pages exist
Increase the number of displayed posts #
In the WordPress post overview, you can use the Customize view or configure the screen options for how many entries are displayed per page.
A higher number can be practical for bulk edits.
For very large sets of entries, however, you should not increase the value to an unnecessary extreme, as processing a very large table can consume more resources in the browser and on the server.
Why a fundraising campaign can fail #
When a very large number of posts are selected at the same time, technical limits may play a role.
Possible factors include, for example:
- PHP execution time
- available memory
- a very large number of plugin hooks for changes
- extensive metadata
- Server or security limits
When a very large mass action fails, it is often more sensible to carry out the change in smaller groups instead of continuously increasing limits without checking.
Recommendation: With hundreds or thousands of posts, you should carry out extensive deletion or editing actions in manageable groups and check in between to see if WordPress has completely processed the changes.
Do not delete posts just because of their age #
An old post is not automatically a bad or useless post.
Before removing larger amounts of older content, you should check whether it still:
- Get visitors via search engines
- be linked by other websites
- internally linked
- still relevant from a professional perspective
- could be updated
- could be merged with a similar post
Especially with an established website, updating an existing post can make more sense than removing it completely.
SEO impacts of deleting multiple posts #
Published posts normally have their own URLs. If these are permanently removed, visitors and search engines can no longer access this content at the previous address.
If a deleted post has already been indexed, its URL may return an HTTP 404 status after removal.
A 404 status is not fundamentally a technical error. If content has been deliberately removed without a suitable replacement, it can be correct for the old URL to no longer exist.
If there is a substantively suitable replacement for it, or if several similar posts were merged, a redirection can make sense.
Important: Do not blindly redirect deleted URLs to the homepage. A redirect should have an actually matching new destination. If there is no sensible replacement, a URL that no longer exists is not automatically an SEO problem.
Check internal links for deleted posts #
If other pages or posts link to a deleted article, these internal links will subsequently lead to dead ends.
Therefore, during a major content cleanup, you should also take existing internal links into account.
Remove outdated links or replace them with a technically appropriate destination.
Merge posts instead of deleting them #
If several posts cover the same or a very similar topic, merging them can be more sensible than simply deleting all older content.
One possible sequence is:
- determine the best or most appropriate main contribution
- incorporate useful information from the other posts
- Update and improve main contribution
- remove unneeded posts
- redirect suitable old URLs to the merged post
- check internal links
This preserves valuable content and prevents similar posts from competing unnecessarily with one another.
Check a backup before a major cleanup #
If you only move two obvious test posts to the trash, the risk is manageable.
It looks different in the case of extensive editorial cleanup with numerous contributions.
Therefore, before making major changes to the mass data, you should ensure that a current and usable backup is available.
This is especially true when content is permanently deleted or extensive properties are changed at the same time.
User rights for batch operations #
Not every WordPress user is allowed to edit or delete all posts.
Available actions depend on the respective user role and the associated permissions.
Therefore, if a collection campaign is missing or certain posts cannot be edited, this may also be due to user permissions.
Collection campaign is not responding as expected #
If bulk editing does not work, check first:
- whether the desired posts are actually marked
- whether the correct fundraising campaign was chosen
- or subsequently to Take over was clicked
- whether your user account has the necessary permissions
- whether WordPress displays an error message
- whether a plugin extends or modifies post management
If necessary, perform the action first on a smaller selection if there are very many posts.
Common mistakes in mass processing #
- accidentally select all visible posts
- do not check if further overview pages exist
- Empty the recycle bin without checking its contents first
- assume that deleted posts also automatically delete their images
- remove old posts solely based on their age
- Delete SEO-relevant URLs without checking
- forget internal links to removed posts
- redirect all deleted URLs to the homepage by default
- process too many posts in a single extensive action
- not checking a current backup during a major cleanup
Checklist before deleting many posts #
- Did you filter the list of posts logically?
- Are really only the desired posts selected?
- Do the posts still contain relevant content?
- Are you still getting visitors through search engines?
- Are there external or internal links to these posts?
- Could content be updated or merged?
- Is there a meaningful new target content for an old URL?
- Is there a current backup available in the event of an extensive cleanup?
- Did you initially just move the posts to the trash?
- Did you check the recycle bin again before permanently deleting it?
When should you contact CURIAWEB support? #
If WordPress shows a technical error during a larger batch operation, aborts processing, or the admin area no longer responds correctly, a technical review may be useful.
Helpful in this regard are:
- the affected domain
- the fundraising campaign that was carried out
- approximate number of selected posts
- the exact error message
- whether the problem also occurs with a smaller number of posts
- what change was made immediately before the problem
If you have any questions about this, which If content should be deleted from an SEO or editorial perspective, on the other hand, it is not a technical WordPress error.
Summary #
Under Posts → All Posts Can you select multiple WordPress posts and via Fundraising campaigns edit together or move to trash.
The trash can initially allows for restoration. Only upon permanent deletion are the posts contained within it permanently removed from the normal WordPress content management. By default, WordPress automatically empties the trash after 30 days, unless this behavior has been technically modified.
Bulk editing is also suitable for certain common changes to categories, tags, authors, status, and other properties.
During a major content cleanup, however, you should not only think in technical terms. Before deleting published posts, also check their content, internal and external links, search engine relevance, and potential alternatives such as updating or merging.
