There are several ways to change the Author, but we’ll show the best practice of how to change the Author in WordPress. You may need to update the Author of a WordPress article for several reasons. You don’t have to worry, this guide will help you understand each and every step.
If a writer left the publication or organization, you want to change their name or decide to publish under a pseudonym, and you may need to edit the Author of an article. You might even want articles without authors to provide the impression of a cohesive website where the content, not the person, is front-and-center. All clutter, including the Author’s name, is removed from minimalist websites.
Updating or editing the WordPress author is easy, and this may be the simplest WordPress article you’ll ever read. However, despite how easy the procedure is, WordPress does not make it clear, and it’s not something many WordPress users will discover or figure out on their own. Along with this, check our article on how to duplicate a page or post on WordPress for a clearer understanding of WordPress.
How to change Author in WordPress
Changing the Author of a WordPress article can be performed in a few methods. We’ll go through each one thoroughly. But first, let’s take a look at how to add a new author to WordPress and get their account set up. Let’s start!
Adding a New Author to WordPress
If an author has already been added to your WordPress account, you can only change the WordPress author. It’s important to note that you’ll need Administrator permission to add a new user. Follow these steps to add a user:
- Login to your WordPress admin panel to add the new User.
- Once you logged in, then on the left sidebar, you can see the option User, click on it.
- It will redirect to the new page where you have to click on Add User.
- After filling in all the required information, you need to click on the Add New User.
You can easily set authorship per Post once you’ve added all of your writers to WordPress.
Editing User Settings
You may want to have some control over how your authors are displayed and described because they reflect your website and content. There are two ways to edit the user role without any plugin and with the plugin.
Editing User Settings without plugin
To change or edit the User in WordPress, you need to go to the left sidebar and click on the UserUser, then hover over the UserUser and click Edit beneath it. There are several options available to you here:
- Create a new password for the UserUser, change the Author’s headers and descriptions, and enable/disable the author box in their archive and posts.
- You can also update the User’sUser’s role, nickname, first and last names, and display name.
Editing User Settings with the plugin
It is one of the simplest ways to give the different roles to the UserUser if you have any writers or authors, so the plugin is the best to manage the user roles. Furthermore, it will allow you to change the user role and set capabilities in a few clicks.
- Login to the WordPress admin dashboard and hover over the plugin, and click on Add New.
- Now you have to search for the User Role Editor then install and activate the plugin.
- After installing the plugin, go to the UserUser, and now you can see the capabilities option, where you can select detailed user roles.
Updating the Author’s Display Name
There are numerous occasions when you wish to edit an author’s display name. For example, perhaps you’d prefer to see their full name instead of their username, or maybe they’ve legally changed their name and want it to appear on their postings. An author may also choose to use a nickname or have their name written precisely as it appears on other websites where they have been published.
Changing your display name is simple, and it’s done under user preferences rather than on individual posts (you’ll need to be an Administrator to accomplish this).
- First login to the WordPress admin dashboard and then navigate to the User.
- A new window appears; there is a list of users with different roles, but you need to hover over the User you want to change their preferences. Then, click on the Edit button to change its preferences or access.
- You have to fill in the desired information such as User displayed name, email, role, and any other detail you want to change.
- Once you update the data, then you need to save it by clicking on Update User.
Updating the Author’s Slug
The “slug” is the name assigned to the Author that appears in the URL when you browse to an author’s archive page. For example, my WordPress username is Alex Martin; thus, the slug is Alex-martin. There are different procedures to update the Author’s slug, but using the plugin makes it a lot easier to change users’ slugs.
You don’t have to change your username if you want to change your WordPress author slug. Use the Edit Author Slug plugin instead:
- Go to your user settings after installing and activating the plugin.
- Scroll down to the section under Edit Author Slug. Several suggestions may be helpful, but if you need a custom slug, write the slug in the custom slug box.
- Click on the Update User button.
Changing Your Username
Even though the focus of this article is on changing or deleting the Author of WordPress articles, I’d want to briefly discuss how to change your official WordPress username, which is unchangeable in basic WordPress. There are a few complex ways to accomplish it, such as changing your website’s database or creating a new account, transferring ownership, and then canceling your previous account. However, using a plugin like Easy Username Updater is the simplest approach to update your username (or something similar). For example, the user name is Alex, and you want to change to Alexa, then hover over the User and click on User Updater, then enter the new user name.
Changing the Author in Block Editor
Now that you’ve added your writers, here’s how to change the Author in WordPress block editor to another user. Follow these simple steps to modify the Author.
- After logging in to the WordPress admin dashboard, go to the Post and click on All Posts.
- Select the Post that you want to change the Author of and click on the Edit button.
- Then it’ll redirect to the new page; on the right sidebar, select the Status and Visibility and click on the Author to open the dropdown menu to change the Author.
Changing the Author in Classic Editor
WordPress launched a new editor for its User, but if you are using the old classic editor, all the above methods may not work. So now we’ll show you how to change the author in WordPress in the classic editor. Follow these simple steps to change the author.
- Once you access the admin dashboard, then go to the Post and click on All Post.
- Select the Post in which you want to change the author and then click on the Screen Options button on the top-right of the page.
- After that, there are a couple of options you need to check the Author checkbox and Scroll down to the end; you’ll see the Author dropdown box below the Post.
- After selecting the author, click on Save Draft or Update to confirm it.
How to change Author in WordPress Using Quick Edit
You can update the Author using Quick Edit, whether the block editor or the traditional editor. It’s a simple and easy process; all you need is to follow these steps:
- Login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Post and click on All Post.
- Hover over the Post or article you want to update and click on the Quick Edit button.
- Now you can change the Author form dropdown menu and click on the Update button.
For any common problem that you face, you can check out our guide on easy fixes for the most common WordPress and save yourself from hassle.
How to change Author in WordPress for Posts in Bulk
You need to change all posts of the specific author or contributor who leaves your website and reassign the articles to another author. Then you have to make Bulk changing authors instead of an individual. It has the same process that you did earlier but a little bit of change in it.
- After logging in to the admin dashboard, navigate to the Post and click on All Post.
- Now select those posts or articles you want to change or change all author’s posts and click on the Bulk Action button; a dropdown menu appears, then click on the Edit button.
- The author dropdown will appear in a popup with several options, and then you have to select the Author and change it.
- When you’re finished, click Update in the bottom-right corner of the window.
You can only add one new Author to the articles you’re editing at a time, so if you need to modify numerous articles to reflect multiple authors, you’ll have to bulk Edit a few more times.
Conclusion
Can’t you seem to get that editing window to emerge? I had a difficult time because I couldn’t get the editing box with the author dropdown to appear. Some plugins may unexpectedly deactivate the Bulk edit options. I removed my plugins one by one till I identified the source of the problem. Deactivate the plugin, then make your changes in the Bulk editor before reactivating it. When you reactivate, the bulk edits will not reverse them. So if you have any questions about how to change the author in WordPress, then comment below.
