Definitive guide

How To Change Author in WordPress

How To Change Author in WordPress – Ultimate Guide (2024)

Do you want to know how to change author in WordPress?

You came to the right place!

Here, I’ll share the easiest ways how to do it! 

Here we go. 

How To Change Author in WordPress

Occasionally, you may need to change or update the author of a post. The good thing is that this is possible without needing to copy and paste everything onto a different account.

First things first, you can only change the author if that person has already been added to your WordPress account. It should be noted that to add a new user, you must have Administrator privileges.

To add a user, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Sign in to WordPress.

Step 2: In the left sidebar, select “Users.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Select Users

Step 3: On the “Users” page, click “Add New.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Select Add New User

Step 4: Fill in the relevant information and then click “Add New User.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Fill-in User Info

Now that new names have been added, here’s how to change the author in both WordPress editors.

There are two completely different WordPress editors for writing content.

The old classic editor was a text editor with styling buttons like Microsoft Word.  

Then, the block editor has blocks that you can use to create content layouts by adding them to the edit screen. Each item you add to your post or page is referred to as a block.

You can include blocks for each paragraph, photographs, videos, galleries, audio, and lists, among other things. There are blocks for all major content elements, and WordPress plugins can add more.

How To Change Author in WordPress Block Editor 

When WordPress 5.0 was published in 2019, the old classic editor was replaced with a completely new block editor termed “Gutenberg.” The block editor changed the way people created content in WordPress.

Here’s what you should do.

Step 1: Click on “Posts,” then “All Posts.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Click All Posts

Step 2:  Select the post whose author you wish to change and click “Edit.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Click Edit Post

Step 3:  In the right sidebar, select “Summary.”

How To Change Author In WordPress_Click Summary Tab

Step 4: Scroll down to the Author Name once the Summary Tab opens.

How To Change Author In WordPress_Change Author Name

Step 5: To change the author, use the dropdown menu.

Step 6: To confirm the changeover, click “Update.”

How To Change Author in WordPress Classic Editor 

In the classic editor, follow these steps to change the author to another user:

Step 1: On the top-right of the page, click the “Screen Options” button.

Step 2: Check the “Author” box.

Step 3: Scroll down to find the “Author” box beneath the post.

Step 4: Change the author and hit the “Update” button.

How to bulk edit the author of several WordPress posts?

In the block editor, follow these steps to bulk edit the author of several posts:

1. Go to Dashboard and click Posts > All Posts.

2. In the Posts listing page, tick the white box beside each of the posts you’d like to modify the author name of.

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Bulk Action dropdown menu.

4. Select Edit and this will automatically open a window at the top of the posts listing. 

How To Change Author In WordPress_Bulk Edit Author
The window will indicate the name of the posts to be edited on the left panel and the areas that can be edited in relation to the post. This includes the Author Name.

5. From the Author Name dropdown menu, choose the new author you’d like to assign for the chosen posts.

Click Save and you’re all done!

Conclusion

Changing the author’s name could be a change of heart or other personal reasons. Nonetheless, it is possible to accomplish such shifts. I hope you got everything you need to change an author in WordPress, whether it’s for Block or Classic editor! 

FAQs

1. How do I change author attribution in WordPress?

To change the attributes (role, information, features) of an author in WordPress, go to the Dashboard and click All Users. Then click on “Edit” under the user whose attributes you want to change. This will open the User Profile Page where you can add/change the personal options, access level or roles (author, administrator, editor, etc), name, contact info, and password of an Author or User in your website’s WordPress account.

2. How do I change the author base in WordPress?

The author base pertains to the URL of the author to a WordPress account. It is advisable to change this for security purposes. 

There may also be a need to change this whenever an author’s access is changed to a writer or administrator, etc.

Now, to change it you need to install the WordPress plugin “Edit Author Slug”. Then go to Users > All Users to choose the user whose author base you would like to change. 

In the profile page if the said user, go to the Author Slug field and make the necessary changes you need before clicking on “Save”.

3. How do I manage authors in WordPress?

To manage authors in WordPress, simply go to Users > All Users. Then tick on the box beside each user name. 

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click in the drop down menu for bulk actions. Select the specific action you’d like to do for the chosen authors such as delete or send password reset link. 

If it’s changing the role or access level of several authors that you intend to do, simply click the Change Role dropdown menu instead of the Bulk Actions one. 

From the Change Role dropdown menu, select the new role you’d like to assign to the chosen authors–administrator, editor, etc.

4. How do I change the owner of a WordPress page?

Changing the owner of a WordPress page is much like changing the author of a page. In the Dashboard, click on Posts > All Posts. Click Edit for the particular post whose owner you’d like to change. 

In the Edit page, click the Summary Tab in the left menu. Click the Author Name in the dropdown menu of the Summary Tab and select the name you wish to become the new owner of the page before clicking “Update” at the top menu.