Batch Process for Unpublishing Pages

Over time, your website may accumulate pages that are no longer relevant or accurate. If you need to take several of these outdated pages offline at once, Drupal provides a simple bulk unpublishing option. Unpublished pages remain accessible to you when you’re logged in, but they are no longer visible to the public. You can republish them at any time if needed. This guide explains how to complete the process step-by-step.

You can unpublish any web page using the batch process, but this guide focuses on Events and Articles (News), since those are typically the older items you’ll want to unpublish most often.

Once logged in to your website, click on the Content tab near the top of the page.

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You can unpublish one content type at a time, and the steps are the same for each type. Below, you’ll find instructions on how to select a content type to unpublish, followed by steps that apply regardless of which type you choose.

Select one content type and complete the steps. If you need to unpublish the other content type as well, simply select it and repeat the same process.

To batch unpublish events:

Click on the drop down symbol to the right of Content type and select Event.

Next click on the drop down symbol to the right under Published Status and select Published.

Click on the grey Filter button and proceed to Step 2 (below).

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Filter by Event

To batch unpublish articles (news):

Click on the drop down symbol to the right of Content type and select Article.

Next click on the drop down symbol to the right under Published Status and select Published.

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Filter by Article

You’ll now see the page display the content type you selected. The list is sorted so that the most recently edited pages appear at the top.

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List of filtered content

For our purposes, you’ll want to view the older pages first.

Under Updated, click on the down arrow to display the older web pages first.

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Click Updated column heading for sorting

Older pages should now be displayed (50 per page):

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Sorted by oldest content

To unpublish the pages currently displayed, click the checkbox next to Title at the top of the page list. This will select all fifty pages shown.

Note: If you don’t want to unpublish all fifty pages, simply select the checkboxes next to the individual pages you want to unpublish.

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Select pages you want to unpublish

An Action box will appear at the bottom of the page.

Click on the drop down symbol to the right of Select.

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Select Action Box

Select Unpublish Content from the drop down.

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Choose Unpubish

Now click on Apply to Selected items.

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Click Apply to selected items

The fifty selected pages will now be unpublished. Repeat this process as needed until all outdated web pages have been removed.