There are some settings that you can customize for duplicating posts. Go to Tools -> Post Duplicator and set the post status (draft, published, or same as the original), post type, and post date. It’s also possible to adjust the duplicate’s title and slug.

Duplicating WordPress Page or Post Without Plugins

Besides using plugins, another method to duplicate posts and pages is by adding code to your functions.php file. To activate a duplication link, you can either use an FTP client, an HTML editor, or a built-in WordPress file editor.

If you’re going with the second option, read our article to find out the best HTML editorsfor editing code.

On the other hand, if you want to use an inbuilt file editor for duplicating posts or pages in your site, navigate to Appearance in your WordPress dashboard. Go to Theme Editor and select Theme Functions.

Alternatively, you can use Hostinger’s File Manager to configure the functions.php file.

Now, let’s look at the step-by-step instructions to duplicate a page or a post in your WordPress website.

How to Duplicate a Post via the Functions.php File

To duplicate a post on a WordPress website, you’ll need to paste the following code snippet in your functions.php file:

/*
 * Function for post duplication. Dups appear as drafts. User is redirected to the edit screen
 */
function rd_duplicate_post_as_draft(){
  global $wpdb;
  if (! ( isset( $_GET['post']) || isset( $_POST['post'])  || ( isset($_REQUEST['action']) && 'rd_duplicate_post_as_draft' == $_REQUEST['action'] ) ) ) {
    wp_die('No post to duplicate has been supplied!');
  }
 
  /*
   * Nonce verification
   */
  if ( !isset( $_GET['duplicate_nonce'] ) || !wp_verify_nonce( $_GET['duplicate_nonce'], basename( __FILE__ ) ) )
    return;
 
  /*
   * get the original post id
   */
  $post_id = (isset($_GET['post']) ? absint( $_GET['post'] ) : absint( $_POST['post'] ) );
  /*
   * and all the original post data then
   */
  $post = get_post( $post_id );
 
  /*
   * if you don't want current user to be the new post author,
   * then change next couple of lines to this: $new_post_author = $post->post_author;
   */
  $current_user = wp_get_current_user();
  $new_post_author = $current_user->ID;
 
  /*
   * if post data exists, create the post duplicate
   */
  if (isset( $post ) && $post != null) {
 
    /*
     * new post data array
     */
    $args = array(
      'comment_status' => $post->comment_status,
      'ping_status'    => $post->ping_status,
      'post_author'    => $new_post_author,
      'post_content'   => $post->post_content,
      'post_excerpt'   => $post->post_excerpt,
      'post_name'      => $post->post_name,
      'post_parent'    => $post->post_parent,
      'post_password'  => $post->post_password,
      'post_status'    => 'draft',
      'post_title'     => $post->post_title,
      'post_type'      => $post->post_type,
      'to_ping'        => $post->to_ping,
      'menu_order'     => $post->menu_order
    );
 
    /*
     * insert the post by wp_insert_post() function
     */
    $new_post_id = wp_insert_post( $args );
 
    /*
     * get all current post terms ad set them to the new post draft
     */
    $taxonomies = get_object_taxonomies($post->post_type); // returns array of taxonomy names for post type, ex array("category", "post_tag");
    foreach ($taxonomies as $taxonomy) {
      $post_terms = wp_get_object_terms($post_id, $taxonomy, array('fields' => 'slugs'));
      wp_set_object_terms($new_post_id, $post_terms, $taxonomy, false);
    }
 
    /*
     * duplicate all post meta just in two SQL queries
     */
    $post_meta_infos = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT meta_key, meta_value FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE post_id=$post_id");
    if (count($post_meta_infos)!=0) {
      $sql_query = "INSERT INTO $wpdb->postmeta (post_id, meta_key, meta_value) ";
      foreach ($post_meta_infos as $meta_info) {
        $meta_key = $meta_info->meta_key;
        if( $meta_key == '_wp_old_slug' ) continue;
        $meta_value = addslashes($meta_info->meta_value);
        $sql_query_sel[]= "SELECT $new_post_id, '$meta_key', '$meta_value'";
      }
      $sql_query.= implode(" UNION ALL ", $sql_query_sel);
      $wpdb->query($sql_query);
    }
 
 
    /*
     * finally, redirect to the edit post screen for the new draft
     */
    wp_redirect( admin_url( 'post.php?action=edit&post=' . $new_post_id ) );
    exit;
  } else {
    wp_die('Post creation failed, could not find original post: ' . $post_id);
  }
}
add_action( 'admin_action_rd_duplicate_post_as_draft', 'rd_duplicate_post_as_draft' );
 
/*
 * Add the duplicate link to action list for post_row_actions
 */
function rd_duplicate_post_link( $actions, $post ) {
  if (current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
    $actions['duplicate'] = '<a href="' . wp_nonce_url('admin.php?action=rd_duplicate_post_as_draft&post=' . $post->ID, basename(__FILE__), 'duplicate_nonce' ) . '" title="Duplicate this item" rel="permalink">Duplicate</a>';
  }
  return $actions;
}
 
add_filter( 'post_row_actions', 'rd_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2 );

Credit for coming up with this handy code: Misha Rudrastyh

How to Duplicate a Page in WordPress via the functions.php File

The process for duplicating a page in WordPress is pretty simple. All you have to do is replace the last line of the code above with the following snippet:

add_filter('page_row_actions', 'rd_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2);

Once you have successfully embedded the code above, you should see a Duplicate button in All Posts or All Pages menu.

Conclusion

We hope you find the tutorial and all the tools we recommend in the article helpful to duplicate a page or a post in WordPress.

Duplicating a page or a post in WordPress can be useful in so many ways. Perhaps you want to duplicate your current page for future website design references. Or, you might need to duplicate an existing post to reuse it as a template.

While you can duplicate a page or a post manually with a copy and paste, it can be a hassle if you handle a lot of content.

First, you can duplicate a post or page in WordPress using a plugin. For this purpose, there are three different plugins you can choose: Duplicate Post, Duplicate Page and Post, and Post Duplicator.

Second, you can duplicate posts and pages without a plugin. All you need to do is access the functions.php file in WordPress, then enter the code that we’ve provided. Doing this will generate a duplicate link to each post and page in the WordPress admin.

Do you have any questions, tips, or tricks for duplicating a page or a post in WordPress? Let us know in the comment section below!

The author

Domantas G.

Domantas leads the content and SEO teams forward with fresh ideas and out of the box approaches. Armed with extensive SEO and marketing knowledge, he aims to spread the word of Hostinger to every corner of the world. During his free time, Domantas likes to hone his web development skills and travel to exotic places.

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