The Writing Settings in WordPress determine some basic guidelines for the creation and publication of posts. These include in particular the default post category and—depending on your WordPress installation—the default post format.
Compared to other sections, such as the reading, discussion, or permalink settings, this area now contains only a few options. Nevertheless, you should review the settings once. The default post category in particular can become important later if you regularly publish blog posts, news, or other editorial content.
Info The writing settings are part of the basic WordPress configuration. For a normal website, you usually only need to make a few changes here. For websites with a blog or news section, checking the default post category is particularly worthwhile.
Where do you find the writing settings in WordPress? #
First, log in to the WordPress admin area. This can usually be found at the following address:
your-domain.ch/wp-admin/
Then open in the left menu:
Settings > Writing
WordPress will now display the available settings for creating and publishing content.
If you haven't checked the basic settings of your installation yet, you should also read our guide beforehand How to properly configure general settings in WordPress go through.
What do the writing settings do? #
The Writing Settings do not define a design for your posts. Fonts, colors, page layouts, or the functionality of the block editor are not configured here either.
Instead, it is about certain default values that WordPress can use when creating new posts.
The most important settings include:
- die Default post category,
- this Standard post format, provided your theme supports post formats,
- where applicable, additional settings added by plugins.
Therefore, the exact options you see may vary slightly depending on your WordPress version, theme, and installed plugins.
Set default post category #
The most important setting on this page is Default post category.
Every standard WordPress post must be assigned to at least one category. If you do not select a category when creating a post, WordPress automatically assigns the default category defined here.
For a new WordPress installation, this is often the category General or rather Uncategorized, depending on the language and configuration used.
For a professional website, such a general standard category is usually not particularly useful.
Which standard category should you use? #
Which category makes sense depends on the content of your website. For example, if you run a corporate blog, categories like these could make sense:
- News
- Guide
- Knowledge
- Current News
For example, in a restaurant News or Current News fit. A club could use a category like Club news use.
What matters is not the exact name, but that the category actually matches the content you publish on your website.
Recommendation: Replace a generic default category like „General“ with a category that fits the theme of your website. This ensures a cleaner content structure and prevents new posts from accidentally being assigned to a meaningless category.
Set new category as default #
You cannot create a new category directly in the writing settings. First, create it via the posts section.
To do this, open:
Posts > Categories
Create the desired category there. Then go back to:
Settings > Writing
Now you can add the new category in the field Default post category select and save the change.
We explain in detail how categories work and how you can build a sensible structure in our guide Creating categories and subcategories in WordPress.
Can the default category be deleted? #
WordPress always requires a default category for posts. Therefore, as long as a category is set as the default post category, you cannot simply delete it like a regular category.
If you want to remove the previous default category, first select under Settings > Writing select a category other than default.
Then you can under Posts > Categories delete the category that is no longer needed.
Note: Deleting a category does not automatically delete the posts contained within it. Posts that would no longer be assigned to any other category are assigned by WordPress to the current default category.
Select the default post format #
Depending on the theme you are using, the writing settings may also include the option Standard post format displayed.
Post formats were introduced in WordPress so that themes can display different types of posts in different ways. Possible formats include, for example:
- Standard
- Image
- Video
- Quote
- Link
- Audio
- Gallery
Which of these formats are actually available and whether they make a visual difference depends on the active WordPress theme.
On many modern websites, classic post formats play only a minor role. If you have no specific use for them, you can usually set the setting to Standard leave as is.
A post format is not the same as a page layout #
The post format should not be confused with the layout of a post or page.
A post format like Video does not automatically mean, for example, that WordPress will create a fully designed video page from it. The theme must support the corresponding format and define how it is displayed.
The actual design of your content is usually controlled today via the WordPress block editor, the theme being used, and, if applicable, a page builder.
Why might additional settings appear for you? #
WordPress can be extended through plugins. Therefore, some plugins also add additional options to existing settings pages.
If you are under Settings > Writing If you see fields that are not listed in this guide, they do not necessarily belong to WordPress itself. They may come from an installed plugin or another extension.
In this case, check which plugin provides the respective function before you change a setting.
If you do not yet know exactly how WordPress extensions work, you can find the basics in our article What is a WordPress plugin and how do you install a plugin?.
What happened to „Post via Email“? #
In older WordPress tutorials, you may still find a section called Post via email. This allowed posts to be sent to WordPress and published via a specially set-up email inbox.
This old core function was removed from modern WordPress versions. If you find a tutorial on the internet that tells you to Settings > Writing requests the setup of a POP3 mail server, login name, and password, it therefore refers to an older version of WordPress.
Info Especially with WordPress, you will find many tutorials on the internet that refer to significantly older versions. Therefore, if a setting is not present in your current WordPress, it does not necessarily mean there is an error.
What about the update services? #
Also the so-called Update Services or ping services frequently appear in older WordPress tutorials. WordPress could automatically inform such services when a new post was published.
This feature has significantly less practical importance today than in the early years of WordPress. For indexing a modern website, you should not rely on such ping services.
Search engines discover new content through internal links and sitemaps, among other things. Modern SEO plugins, for example, can provide XML sitemaps for your WordPress website.
Do I need to configure the writing settings for pages? #
The designation Writing settings can be somewhat misleading. The default post category defined here affects normal WordPressPosts, non-static Pages.
A site like:
your-domain.ch/about-us/
usually does not require a post category.
A blog post like:
deine-domain.ch/blog/wordpress-sicherheit/
can be assigned to one or more categories instead.
How to create new posts will be covered in detail later in our guide. Create new blog posts in WordPress.
Save writing settings #
After making the desired settings, click below on Save changes.
The new default post category will then be used for posts where you do not select another category when creating them.
Existing posts are not automatically moved to the new category by changing the default category.
Recommended writing settings for a normal WordPress website #
For most corporate, club, or private WordPress websites, the configuration is straightforward:
- Default post category: select a meaningful category like „News“, „Guide“ or „Current“
- Standard post format: leave as Standard, unless your theme uses special post formats
- Additional plugin settings: only change if you know its function and need it
If your website does not use any blog posts at all and consists exclusively of static pages, the writing settings are of little importance for normal operation. Nevertheless, you should check them once.
Which settings should you check next? #
After the general settings and the writing settings, you should next Configure reading settings in WordPress.
There, among other things, you can specify whether your latest posts or a static page should be displayed on your home page. You will also find settings there for the number of displayed blog posts and for the visibility of your website for search engines.
The reading settings in particular are important for a new WordPress website and should definitely be checked before the public launch.
Conclusion #
The writing settings in WordPress are manageable today, but should still be checked once during the basic configuration. Especially important is the Default post category, because WordPress uses it automatically when no other category has been assigned to a new post.
Therefore, choose a category that actually fits your website. On most modern WordPress websites, you can set the default post format to Standard leave as is, unless your theme has a specific use for post formats.
Recommendation: Use the writing settings primarily to set a meaningful default category. Do not try to optimize settings there that have no practical significance for your website. A clean and simple configuration is better than unnecessary changes.
