Last updated: December 2023.
This WordPress tutorial is based on a newly installed WordPress site, so the layout will look familiar. Keep in mind, you don’t need an additional plugin to change the authors in bulk since WordPress already has this feature built-in.
Before you run into any problems, you should know that only the following WordPress user roles can become authors of a page or post:
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- Pages – only editors and administrators can become authors.
- Posts – only roles of contributor or higher can be authors.
Changing The WordPress Author Of Pages
Below are the steps with screenshots on how to change the author of pages in bulk:
1. Log into your WordPress website’s dashboard.
2. Select “Pages” on the left navigation page.
3. Bulk select the pages you want to change, click on “Bulk Actions”, select “Edit”, and then “Apply”.
4. A small dialog box will appear where you can select the author.
5. Once you’ve selected the author, click on “Update”.
You’ll see once that page has reloaded it will say “X pages were updated” with the new author.
Changing The WordPress Author Of Posts
The steps below to change the author of posts are nearly identical to pages; it only looks slightly different:
1. Log into your WordPress website’s dashboard.
2. Select “Posts” on the left navigation page.
3. Bulk select the posts you want to change, click on “Bulk Actions”, select “Edit”, and then “Apply”.
4. A small dialog box will appear where you can select the author.
5. Once you’ve selected the author, click on “Update”.
You’ll see once that page has reloaded it will say “X posts were updated.” with the new author.
An Alternative Solution To Change Authors
If you don’t want to change the author of your pages and posts to a different user account, you can always just update the display name of the current author.
How To Change The Current WordPress Author’s Display Name
1. Select “Users” and then “All Users” on the left navigation page.
2. Select “Edit” on the user account whose author name you want to change.
3. Scroll down and select “Display name publicly as”. It will provide different variations depending on the different name fields.
4. Once you’ve selected the new author name, click on “Update User” at the bottom.
To avoid any potential security issues, try not to have multiple administrators become authors, or even better, don’t have any administrators become authors. Hackers will use the author name to try and log into your WordPress website.