Archived Post Status

FAQ.KG

Where are the options for this plugin?

This plugin does not have a settings page. Simply put, I don’t like bloating my plugins with a bunch of options.

Instead, I try to develop functionality using the 80/20 principle so that for 80% of use cases you all you need to do is activate the plugin and it “just works”.

For the other 20% of you who want things to behave differently there are numerous hooks available in the plugin so you can customize default behaviors.

Many of those hooks are listed below in this FAQ.

Why are Archived posts appearing on the front-end?

This is most likely because you are viewing your site while being logged in as an Editor or Administrator.

By default, any user with the read_private_posts capability will see Archived posts appear on the front-end of your site.

You can change the default read capability by adding this hook to your theme’s functions.php file or as an MU plugin:

function my_aps_default_read_capability( $capability ) {
    $capability = 'read';

    return $capability;
}
add_filter( 'aps_default_read_capability', 'my_aps_default_read_capability' );

Can I make Archived posts appear on the front-end for all users?

Yes, simply add these hooks to your theme’s functions.php file or as an MU plugin:

add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_public', '__return_true' );
add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_private', '__return_false' );
add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_exclude_from_search', '__return_false' );

Can I make Archived posts hidden from the “All” list in the WP Admin, similar to Trashed posts?

Yes, simply add these hooks to your theme’s functions.php file or as an MU plugin:

add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_public', '__return_false' );
add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_private', '__return_false' );
add_filter( 'aps_status_arg_show_in_admin_all_list', '__return_false' );

Please note that there is a bug in core that requires public and private to be set to false in order for the aps_status_arg_show_in_admin_all_list to also be false. There are many bugs in core surrounding registering custom post statuses, so if something doesn’t work the way you want on the first try be prepared to do some digging through trac 🙂

Can I exclude the Archived status from appearing on certain post types?

Yes, simply add this hook to your theme’s functions.php file or as an MU plugin:

function my_aps_excluded_post_types( $post_types ) {
    $post_types[] = 'my_custom_post_type';

    return $post_types;
}
add_filter( 'aps_excluded_post_types', 'my_aps_excluded_post_types' );

Isn’t this the same as using the Draft or Private statuses?

Actually, no, they are not the same thing.

The Draft status is a “pre-published” status that is reserved for content that is still being worked on. You can still make changes to content marked as Draft, and you can preview your changes.

The Private status is a special kind of published status. It means the content is published, but only certain logged-in users can view it.

The Archived post status, on the other hand, is meant to be a “post-published” status. Once a post has been set to Archived it can no longer be edited or viewed.

Of course, you can always change the status back to Draft or Publish if you want to be able to edit its content again.

Can’t I just trash old content I don’t want anymore?

Yes, there is nothing wong with trashing old content. And the behavior of the Archived status is very similar to that of trashing.

However, WordPress automatically purges trashed posts every 7 days (by default).

This is what makes the Archived post status handy. You can unpublish content without having to delete it forever.