As an experienced WordPress user with over 15 years as a webmaster, I want to provide an in-depth guide to explain exactly what drafts are and how they can help your WordPress publishing workflow.
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WordPress Dominates the Web
To understand drafts, it helps to know why WordPress has become the world‘s most popular CMS (content management system).
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Over 40% of all websites now run on WordPress, from personal blogs to Fortune 500 company sites.
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There are over 500 million WordPress sites active today.
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New sites are created on WordPress every 2.9 seconds.
With this massive growth and popularity, WordPress needs robust content creation and editing tools built right in – this is where drafts come into play.
What Are Drafts in WordPress?
Simply put, a draft is an unpublished version of a WordPress post or page.
As you begin writing new content in the WordPress editor, it is automatically saved as a draft behind the scenes.
Key Advantages of Drafts:
- Store posts safely without publishing live.
- Revise and perfect content before going public.
- Collaborate with team members during creation.
- Schedule posts to publish in the future.
Drafts give you complete control and flexibility over content publishing.
How WordPress Drafts Work
Whenever you click "Save Draft" as you write, WordPress stores a draft version in the database.
You can revisit and revise draft posts from the Posts > All Posts admin screen. Drafts are conveniently labeled as such:
As the author, you see the status, edit date, visibility, and author for each draft post:
However, these unpublished draft posts are not visible to site visitors – only to admins and editors.
WordPress stores unlimited draft revisions as you edit. You can revert to older drafts if needed.
When to Use Drafts in Your Workflow
Here are some examples of effective ways I use the draft feature after 15 years with WordPress:
1. Save Incomplete Posts as Draft
If I need to step away halfway through writing a post, I’ll save it as a draft. This lets me come back later and pick up exactly where I left off. No more worrying about losing work!
2. Gather Feedback before Publication
I‘ll share a post as a draft with my team members to get feedback. Once we refine the draft together, I can confidently publish the best possible version.
3. Schedule Content in Advance
When inspiration strikes, I‘ll draft up posts and schedule them to publish automatically in the future. This lets me queue content ahead of time.
4. Test Edits Before Going Live
If I‘m revising a published post, I‘ll create a draft version first to preview my changes in real time before updating the live version.
Collaborating with Team Members
The draft feature is especially useful when collaborating with others.
You can give access to draft posts to allow co-authors, editors, or administrators to review and provide feedback prior to publishing.
For example:
- An author saves their own new post as a draft.
- The post is passed to an editor to review and suggest changes.
- Once finalized, the administrator can publish the polished post live.
This multi-step workflow helps produce better quality content.
Managing Your Drafts
Here are a few pro tips for managing draft posts efficiently:
- Use the Pending Review status for drafts awaiting feedback.
- Install a plugin like Edit Flow to customize editorial workflows.
- Avoid too many unnecessary draft revisions – prune old ones occasionally.
- Check the site frontend preview to test drafts before publishing live.
Following best practices like these will help you wrangle your drafts.
Ready to Publish Your Draft?
When your draft post is ready, click the "Publish" button to immediately make it live on your site.
Or if you prefer, you can use the convenient publish date picker to schedule the post:
Scheduled drafts will automatically publish on the date and time specified.
Finally, for complete control over your content, you can also switch published posts back to draft mode at any time.
I hope this comprehensive guide cleared up what drafts are and how they can improve your WordPress publishing experience. Let me know if you have any other questions!
