In WordPress, users can quickly find post drafts on the Posts -> All Posts page. However, some conditions make WordPress disappear post drafts.
In this article – you’ll learn how to find WordPress drafts in the dashboard. Also, you’ll learn about post drafts’ basics, what triggers drafts’ disappearance in the dashboard, and how to fix drafts-related issues with manual routines.
Introduction to WordPress Drafts
A draft represents an unpublished entry of a page or post in WordPress.
For example – WordPress automatically creates periodic content drafts in the dashboard, visible under All Posts -> Drafts. Users can also save a content draft by clicking Save Draft on WordPress editor.
When a draft is published, WordPress lists the post under Published. In simple words, WordPress drafts are used to create and edit posts later.
Posts’ Drafts in WordPress are disappeared due to various reasons. For example, poor content management may result in drafts disappearance in WordPress. Sometimes – having multiple authors causes WordPress drafts to disappear – if access level, ownership, or management is changed for a post in WordPress.
How do I find my Drafts on WordPress
Finding Drafts: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
When it comes to finding drafts on a WordPress site, we have two options.
- Drafts on a self-hosted WordPress blog
- Drafts on WordPress.com’s platform
Let’s describe the matter in more detail.
How to find Drafts on a self-hosted WordPress website – built with WordPress.org?
A self-hosted blog is powered by WordPress core package – available at WordPress’ official website. A self-hosted WordPress site is created after downloading and installing the WordPress core from the official resource.
Finding a WordPress draft on a self-hosted blog is a matter of clicks. The All Posts page lists all entries created on a WordPress site.
Let’s address other ways to find drafts on a self-hosted WordPress website – WordPress.org.
If you’re looking to find drafts on a self-hosted WordPress site, the Quick Drafts section helps you show or hide post drafts.
Once logged into the dashboard, you can change the screen options for more information – as shown in the screenshot below.
Similarly, a self-hosted WordPress site lists drafts on pages or posts screens. For example, once you’ve landed on the Pages or Posts screen, the Drafts filter lists post content drafts on a WordPress site.
Note: If your site favors multiple authors, a super user may have changed the ownership of a page or post you created. In this case, the content drafts are removed from your WordPress dashboard and are transferred to the new user account.
In the same manner, you should also check WordPress trash for deleted entries. You can find and access the Trash on the Pages and Posts screens.
Finally – you can also find drafts on a self-hosted site with Database entries. In this case, let’s proceed and learn how to find and recover WordPress drafts from a site’s database, using Hosting’s cPanel options.
Log into hosting cPanel and locate the cPanel option – PHP My Admin.
Once clicked, you can see a list of your site’s database entries. Choose the one you think is your site’s database.
The list of tables includes one for WordPress Posts. Once clicked, you can see a list of entries on the right-hand side of the screen. Click Edit for the draft you want to recover.
Next, copy the raw content from the window and log into WordPress dashboard. Create a new post with Code Editor and paste the copied data. When saved changes, you should see a draft with recovered data in the WordPress dashboard.
Note: The above procedure helps you find and restore WordPress drafts in a WordPress database and helps you manage missing draft scenarios without learning – how to code WordPress backend.
See Post Drafts with a WordPress Plugin
Specific plugins help users better manage WordPress content – especially for sites with multiple authors.
In this case, an example of plugins for content management is – Publish Press. It helps you see WordPress content with historical records using various filters, such as Drafts, Published, or Scheduled.
If finding WordPress drafts is becoming hard for you, use the Publish Press plugin – helping you read WordPress data more efficiently and catching errors that prevent WordPress drafts from screens.
You can also use other plugins for the said purpose, such as Quick Drafts Access, Draft List, and Draft Notify. If you have a backup plan, better if you can proceed to restore your site’s previous version on a staging site.
How to find Drafts on WordPress.com website?
On the other hand – WordPress.com is used to create WordPress-powered sites for free and premium users.
Let’s address – why WordPress.com’s users find WordPress drafts disappeared from relevant pages.
WordPress.com has been changing its platform for years. The way it used to list drafts may have changed.
For example – users can find their site’s drafts under WP Admin -> Dashboard. Here, you should see a lead to list your site’s Drafts. Similarly, you can look for a similar option, such as finding WordPress drafts on the All Posts page.
Note: At the time of writing this article – you can easily find post drafts on the All Posts page.
Let’s describe how to find WordPress drafts with a different approach.
Once logged into WordPress.com’s dashboard, click the My Sites tab.
The next page contains various options, such as posts, media, and domains. You need to scroll down and look for an option that says – WP Admin Dashboard.
Once clicked, you can see the post drafts section on the next screen. If, for example, the section is not visible, you can change the screen options at the top, the way you change in a self-hosted WordPress site.
Note: The above routine also works on hand-held devices. If you can’t follow on a Desktop, make sure you’re using a browser in mobile. For example, if you don’t see the above options on a mobile, you can switch to using Chrome on Android.
Once clicked on Drafts, you can select a post and load its content in the editor. The next page helps you make changes, edit, publish, or leave the content as a draft.
Note: Depending on WordPress.com’s platform, some options may not work as defined in this write-up. In this case, you should look for a similar option and proceed to finding drafts on the WordPress.com’s platform.
Wrapping up
So – how do you find your Drafts on WordPress?
Finding WordPress drafts in a self-hosted site is easy – landing on the All Posts page lists WordPress drafts.
However, WordPress.com – which represents a Hosting company powered by WordPress, comes up with a different story.
In this article – we addressed how WordPress.com’s users can find WordPress drafts. Also, we discussed – how to solve draft issues on the platform.
If you need more knowledge about WordPress content backups, issues, and performance, let us know your thoughts. We’d love to help you come up with results, positive aspects of WordPress, and impacts with custom maintenance plans.