Certain changes in WordPress don't have to be done one at a time — learn to make multiple changes at once!
WordPress does give you the option to edit multiple posts at one time, but it’s very limited to what you can do when you use that option. Because editing and saving posts to the database is a very complicated problem, some actions are best left to do one at a time and saving each out. But for a few limited changes, you can make bulk changes to as many posts as you like.
The Bulk Actions dropdown is there for this very reason. It gives you access to two basic actions: Edit & Delete. For either of these to work, you need to choose the posts you want to take action on. The box on the right of each post title is there for you to select that specific post. If you’ll like to choose all of the posts on the page you’re viewing, you can select the box at the top in the header.
Once you’ve selected the posts you want to change, go under the Bulk Actions dropdown and choose either move to Trash or Edit. If you move them to the trash they won’t be permanently deleted. They will be stored in the trash folder at the top. If you click on that link, you’ll see a place to permanently delete all of those posts. If you choose Edit from the dropdown, a dialog box will show up (see below). Don’t forget to hit Apply to actually perform the action.
As you can see in the dialog box, your choices of bulk edits are limited to adding the selected posts to certain categories or changing the status of the post. The status is whether the post is published or if it’s still in draft form. When you’ve made your change, hit the update button at the bottom right … and that’s it!