Before publishing the blog content, you may notice there are multiple content visibility options by which you can password protect a post and make it only visible for family members and good friends. By default, the visibility of your WordPress site is set to “Public”, but you can also create a private post for blog editors and administrators only.
The following parts will give a full explanation of each visibility option, along with two different ways to password protect WordPress post and full site. Meanwhile, some special notes and practical suggestions are also involved.
How to Password Protect WordPress Post/Page?
To begin, log onto the backend of WordPress and then go to “Posts” to open an existing post or create a new post. There will be a “Publish” box on the right side of the post editor window, and the “Visibility” section underneath it is where to set who can view this post. Click on this “Edit” link and you will see more visibility options other than the default “Public” state.
Sticky Post – This option lets you stick a post to the front page.
Public – This default setting is used for creating posts that can be read by everyone.
Private – Posts won’t be viewable in feeds or any search. And only logged-in users with “Administrator” or “Editor” level user role have the access to those “hidden” posts.
Password Protected – Just click its radio button to password protect a post. This will expand a “Password” text field that will be given to those who want to read or share the post. Due to database constraints, your password is limited to 20 characters.
Once done password protecting the post, hit the “OK” button. Keep in mind that, this new setting does not take effect until you “Publish” or “Update” that post. As shown, the password protected post is currently not visible to the public, and your visitors should see a prompt that is similar to this:
The above method also works for password protecting a page, but the content won’t be linked to your WordPress site unless you use an automatic link type that lists all pages. A plugin called List Pages Shortcode is indeed a sound choice for displaying a list of your pages within a page/post.
Free Download: https://wordpress.org/plugins/list-pages-shortcode/
Special Notes:
If you password protect the majority or all of the blog posts and want to set them to “Public” again, then you will have to edit and update each one at a time. That is, there isn’t an effective way to bulk edit multiple WordPress posts to change from “Password Protect” to “Public” status.
The “Follow Comments” option normally placed within “Settings” > “Discussion” will be automatically disabled once you set the post visibility to “Password Protect” or “Private”.
Sometimes web browser may “remember” your login and thus let you view some protected posts/pages without entering the password. However, as WordPress only tracks one password at a time, you should enter different passwords for posts that don’t share one password.
Only administrator, editor and the post author have the ability to change the password or visibility state. To do that, just go back to “Publish” > “Visibility” and press “Edit” link as above. Also, these settings are available through” Quick Edit” link within this “All Post” area.
Password Protect Your WordPress Site with a Plugin
A simple way to password protect your WordPress site is through a complete plugin named Password Protected. Instead of protecting uploaded files or images, this solution only protects your WordPress content by providing a “client proofing” page for anyone visits the website. The configuration page is available through “Settings” > “Password Protect” provided that you’ve installed and activated it in advance.
Here, firstly “Enable” this “Password Protected” status and decide whether only administrators or logged-in users also can access your site without entering the password. There is also an option to type in new password and the allowed IP address. More cool features are included:
Option to allow access to RSS Feeds.
Compatible up to the 4.2 version of WordPress.
Protect your WordPress site with one single password.
Works well with the Uber Login Logo and Mark Jaquith’s Login Logo plugins.
Free Download: https://wordpress.org/plugins/password-protected/
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