Duplicating pages and posts

Side Kick can make a copy of any page, post or custom post type in one click. The copy is always created as a draft, so nothing goes live until you have checked it and published it yourself.

The feature is controlled by the Duplicate button setting under Settings > General. It is on by default. See Settings.

Where the Duplicate link appears

Go to any list of content in the WordPress admin, such as Posts > All Posts or Pages > All Pages. Hover over a row and you will see a Duplicate link straight after Quick Edit. On lists that do not offer Quick Edit, the link goes at the end of the row's links instead.

Who can use it

The link only appears for people who can do both of these things:

• edit the item being copied; and
• create new items of the same type.

So it is not limited to Administrators. For example, an author who can edit their own posts can also duplicate them.

Making a copy

1. Hover over the page or post in the list.
2. Click Duplicate.
3. You are taken back to the same list, with a notice at the top: Duplicated. [title] was created as a draft. Click the title to open the copy in the editor.

What the copy looks like

• Status: always a draft, whatever the status of the original.
• Title: the original title with (copy) added to the end.
• Author: you, the person who clicked Duplicate, rather than the original author.

The copy brings across:

• the content and the excerpt;
• the parent page and menu order;
• whether comments and pingbacks are open;
• the password, if the original is password protected;
• every category, tag and custom taxonomy term;
• custom fields (extra data stored with the post by WordPress, your theme or plugins), apart from the exceptions below.

The copy does not bring across comments, or records WordPress keeps about the original itself, such as who last edited it, who has it open, and its previous web addresses and dates.

The after-copy check

Once the copy is made, Side Kick compares it with the original rather than assuming everything worked. If all is well, the notice is green. If anything needs your attention, the notice turns yellow and lists each problem. These include:

• The copy's content does not match the original. Check it before publishing.
• These custom fields did not come across intact: followed by the names of the fields.
• Warnings from the plugin-specific checks described below.

If the copy cannot be made at all, for example because the original has been deleted or you are not allowed to copy it, a red notice explains why.

Custom fields that are skipped

Some custom fields hold a stored PHP object, a format plugins sometimes use to save complex data. Rebuilding one of these in a new post is not safe, so Side Kick leaves them out. The notice lists them by name: These custom fields were left behind because they hold a PHP object, which is not safe to rebuild. If you see this, check whether the plugin that owns those fields needs setting up again on the copy.

Some fields that only make sense for the original are also left out on purpose. They are described in the next section.

Plugin-specific behaviour

Side Kick recognises some popular plugins and adjusts the copy to suit each one. Each adjustment only applies when that plugin is active.

Elementor

• The layout is copied. The full Elementor design comes across with the copy.
• The styling is rebuilt. Elementor's saved styling and cached output for the original are not copied. Side Kick generates fresh styling for the copy instead, so the copy never shows the original's cached version.
• Theme Builder display conditions are not copied. If the original is a Theme Builder template, such as a header or footer, its display conditions (the rules for which pages it appears on) are left behind. The copy appears nowhere until you set its conditions. This is deliberate: copying them would put two templates on the same pages. The notice reminds you when this applies.
• Side Kick also checks that the copy's Elementor elements match the original's. If they do not, the notice says The copy's builder content does not match the original.

WooCommerce

Product variations (for example, each size and colour of a T-shirt) are not copied. If you duplicate a variable product, the copy keeps its attributes and settings but has no variations, so customers cannot buy it. The notice warns you and says how many variations the original has. Add the variations to the copy before you publish it.

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

Side Kick refuses to copy ACF's own setup items: field groups, fields, post types, taxonomies and options pages. Each ACF field has a key that must be unique across the whole site. A plain copy would reuse the same keys and confuse which field your data belongs to. If you try, a notice explains this. Use ACF's own duplicate option on its screens instead, which gives the copy new keys.

Ordinary posts and pages that use ACF fields are copied as normal, including their field values.

Rank Math

Rank Math keeps a note on each post to say it has already counted that post's internal links. Side Kick does not copy that note, so Rank Math treats the copy as new and counts its links properly. Your other Rank Math settings for the post come across as normal.