Development

Tip of the Week: Get Rid of WordPress Options You Don’t Use

Learn to change WordPress screen options so you only see what you want to see.

A blue graphic for "Tip of the Week"

We do a training with each client when we hand off control of updating their new site, but what happens when you forget some of the simple steps we cover in training? You catch up with Tip of the Week, that’s what. This week, I’m going over a very small thing that can make your WordPress experience much easier: Changing WordPress screen options so you only see what you want to see (and so you don’t miss the screen options that you need).

The top right corner of the WordPress admin page

At the top right of the screen, you’ll see a button that says Screen Options. This is where we hide a bunch of things that you don’t always need. When this drawer is open, you will see options that relate to the current screen you’re on. To open it, just click on that little arrow.

Settings on the admin page of WordPress

Settings on the admin page of WordPress

When you’re on a list of posts, pages, or other items, you’ll see options for the column headers that are displayed. According to the image, I’m currently showing column headers for SEO, SEO Title, Meta Description, Focus KW, and others. These few that I mentioned are used by our marketing department. More often than not, you don’t really need to see those while looking through a list of posts. If you uncheck the box, that column is hidden, but nothing is deleted, so you’re good.

You can also see that you can change the number of posts viewed on the page. Right now it’s set to 20 posts. You can set that to any 3 digit number — up to 999.

I hope this takes care of a minor frustration that some of our clients have. We want it to be as simple as possible to update your WordPress pages so you can concentrate on running your business, but sometimes that means going back to the basics a little bit.

About Andrew

Andrew is of two minds. Part designer, part code-junkie, Andrew brings a subtle eye for detail to every project. A dangerous business, admittedly, since it requires exploration of both the left and right brain and few people return from that perilous expedition. Speaking of exploring, after college Andrew worked for the Peace Corp teaching in the African nation of Benin. After Africa, Andrew moved to London where his wife finished a Master''s degree in History, before returning to Birmingham and Infomedia. Today they've embarked on another lifelong adventure—a beautiful daughter, Olivia. See more articles from Andrew Searles

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