Duplicate and Rewrite & Republish
Copy posts to new drafts from the posts list. Fix a published post as a "rewrite draft" and publish or schedule it to replace the original (same URL)
Copy a post and start from a draft
With Pro, each row in Posts > All Posts (and the pages list) gets the following actions. It works the same way as Yoast Duplicate Post.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Duplicate | Makes a draft with the same content and returns to the list. You can also duplicate several at once from "Bulk actions" above the list (up to 100 at a time) |
| Copy to a new draft | Makes a draft and opens it in the editor |
| Rewrite & replace | Makes a "rewrite draft" of a published (or scheduled or private) post. See below |
You can also use these from the editor (the "Summary" panel on the right, or the "Publish" box in the classic editor) and from "Duplicate" in the admin bar while viewing a post.
Duplicated drafts get "(copy)" added to the title, and the list shows "Duplicate of 'original title'".
What is copied and what is not
| Copied | Not copied |
|---|---|
| Title, content, excerpt, featured image | Slug (URL) and publish date (copies are always drafts) |
| Categories, tags and other taxonomies (including post format) | Measurements such as views, clicks and page speed |
| Custom fields (SEO title and description, template and so on) | Podcast delivery records and social posting records (copying them would publish or post the same article twice) |
| Parent page, order, comment settings, password | Author (the person who duplicates becomes the author; rewrite drafts keep the original author) |
Rewrite & replace (fix a live post safely)
Editing a live post on the spot shows your half-finished work to readers. "Rewrite & replace" leaves the original alone and makes a rewrite draft.
- Press "Rewrite & replace" in the posts list to open the rewrite draft
- Edit as much as you like and save the draft. The top of the screen shows the differences from the original
- When you're done, press "Publish". No second post is created. The original is replaced with the draft's content, keeping its URL, publish date and comments
- Set a future date and "Schedule" it to replace the original at that time (you can cancel the schedule from the top of the draft's screen)
The text before replacement stays in the original's revisions. Categories or custom fields removed in the draft are removed from the original too.
This is the same mechanism as the rewrite drafts made by AI rewrites (SEO Insights). Each post has only one rewrite draft. If one already exists, the action becomes "Open the rewrite draft".
Settings (Settings > Writing)
| Setting | Details |
|---|---|
| Post types that can be duplicated | Posts and pages by default. Custom post types can be chosen too |
| Text added after the title | "(copy)" by default. Leave empty to duplicate with the same title |
| Custom fields not to copy | One per line. A trailing * matches the start (for example my_counter_*) |