Choosing the Right Expiration Action

Move to Draft

Choose Draft when the content should stop being public but may be edited or republished later. This is often the safest general-purpose option.

Set as Private

Choose Private when the content should remain accessible through WordPress’s normal private-content permissions.

Move to Trash

Choose Trash when the content no longer has editorial value and should enter the normal WordPress deletion workflow.

Redirect visitors

Choose Redirect when the original URL should continue leading visitors somewhere useful after the content expires.

Quick decision guide

• Need to reuse the content? Use Draft.
• Need internal access? Use Private.
• No longer need the item? Use Trash.
• Need to preserve the visitor journey? Use Redirect.