WordPress Basics: Setting the Date, Author, and other Post Options

Updated May 2, 2024

This article continues a series of tutorials covering the very basics of using WordPress. In this part 4 of the series, you will learn how to set the date, post author, and other options with your WordPress-powered site. Estimated time required: 20 minutes.

Overview

Now that we are comfortable logging in, publishing a post, and saving and editing posts, it is time to look at a few other useful posting options. In this tutorial, we explain how to set and change the post date, post author, and several other useful post options.

Setting/changing the post date and time

By default, the date and time associated with a post is the same as the date and time when the post was originally published. To change the default date and time to something different, follow these steps:

1. Login and locate your post: Login to the WP admin area and navigate to the post for which you wish to change the date and time. This may either be a new post that you are going to create, or a post that you have either saved as a draft or published to your blog. For more help, check out Saving and Editing Posts and Publishing Posts.
2. Open the Post Timestamp subpanel: Once you have your post displayed in the “Write Post” panel, look to the right-hand side of the screen and locate the “Post Timestamp” subpanel (see example). If the subpanel is closed, open it by clicking its plus (+) symbol. To close the subpanel, click the minus (-) symbol.
3. Check the Edit Timestamp option: Within the Post Timestamp subpanel, put a check in the “Edit timestamp” option box. This is very important — no changes will be made to the date and/or time unless this option is selected.
4. Change the date and/or time: Next, use the dropdown menu to change the month, and edit the numerical fields to change the day, year, and time, respectively. It is important to emulate the date and time format of the preexisting values. The time values must be in military format.
5. Save the changes: Finally, after you have entered the desired date and time, save the changes by clicking either “Save” (to save and exit), “Save and Continue Editing” (to save and continue working), or “Publish” (to publish an unpublished post).

Setting/changing the post Author

To set and change the name Author of the post, you must have at least two Authors associated/registered with your blog. You also must have sufficient privileges to make such changes. So, if you meet these stringent requirements, follow these steps to change the Author of a post:

1. Login and locate your post: Login to the WP admin area and navigate to the post for which you wish to change the Author. This may either be a new post, or a post that you have either saved as a draft or published to your blog. For more help, check out Saving and Editing Posts and Publishing Posts.
2. Open the Post Author subpanel: Once you have your post displayed in the “Write Post” panel, look to the right-hand side of the screen and locate the “Post Author” subpanel (see example). If this subpanel is closed, open it be clicking its plus (+) symbol. To close the subpanel, click the minus (-) symbol.
3. Select the Author: Within the Post Author subpanel, use the dropdown menu to select the Author to which you wish to attribute the post.
4. Save the changes: Finally, after you have selected the correct Author, save the changes by clicking either “Save” (to save and exit), “Save and Continue Editing” (to save and continue working), or “Publish” (to publish an unpublished post).