Admin Screens

The plugin adds a top-level menu item Republish Old Posts Lite (update icon) with four tabs:

Navigation

How It Works

Republish Old Posts Lite uses WordPress’s built-in WP-Cron system to automatically refresh old content:

1. Activation: Default settings are created and WP-Cron event is scheduled
2. Scheduled Execution: At each interval tick, plugin selects a candidate post according to current rules
3. Date Update: Selected post’s post_date and post_date_gmt are updated to current time
4. Metadata Tracking: Post receives _ssp_last_republished meta timestamp for tracking
5. Cache Clearing: Post cache is cleared to ensure fresh data throughout WordPress

Selection Methods

Single General Pool

Lite version includes only the general republishing pool:

• Category-filtered automatic republishing
• Configurable selection method and pool size
• Simple enable/disable toggle
• Best for basic evergreen content refresh

Scheduling & Selection

Interval Configuration (Lite Limitations)

Lite version supports longer intervals only:

WP-Cron Schedule

The plugin registers a custom WP-Cron schedule:

• ssp_republish_lite_interval – General pool schedule
• Labeled as “[SSP Lite] Every N days/weeks/months” in cron listings

When settings are saved, existing scheduled events are cleared and new ones are created to reflect the updated interval.

Candidate Rules

• All published posts (post type only)
• Filtered by selected categories if any are chosen
• Sticky posts are ignored (ignore_sticky_posts=true)
• Ordered by original publish date ascending (oldest first)
• No cooldown enforcement (Pro feature)
• No marked/priority posts (Pro feature)

Selection Mode Details

Activity & Logs

The Activity / Logs tab provides visibility into republishing history:

Enable/Disable Logging

Checkbox option: “Enable Logs” – controls visibility of the logs table. When disabled, table is hidden. Setting is stored in ssp_activity_enabled option (default: enabled).

Log Display

Full-width striped table showing up to 200 most recently republished posts:

Table Columns

• Post: Linked to edit screen
• Original Date: Original publish date (unchanged by republishing)
• Last Republished: Formatted timestamp from meta, or “Never”

Posts List Column

The plugin adds a “Last Republished” column to the Posts admin list, appearing after the Title column:

• Shows formatted date/time using site’s date/time format settings
• Displays “Never” if post hasn’t been republished by the plugin
• Data source: _ssp_last_republished post meta (Unix timestamp)

Empty State

When no posts have been republished yet, a centered message displays: “Nothing republished yet.”

Lite vs Pro Comparison

Understand the differences between Lite and Pro versions:

Pro Exclusive Features

Troubleshooting

Test / Verification

Follow these steps to verify the plugin is working correctly:

Basic Functionality Test

1. Create 3-5 test posts with different publish dates in a category like “Test Evergreen”
2. Go to General tab and verify republishing is enabled
3. Set interval to “1 day” for testing
4. Choose “Random (from oldest pool)” selection method
5. Set pool size to 3
6. Select only the “Test Evergreen” category
7. Click Save Settings
8. Click Run Once Now
9. Visit Posts list and confirm one post’s date changed to now
10. Check “Last Republished” column shows current timestamp
11. Go to Activity / Logs tab and verify the entry appears

Selection Mode Test

1. Switch to “Oldest first” selection method
2. Save settings
3. Click “Run Once Now”
4. Verify the chronologically oldest post in your filtered set was republished
5. Run again and confirm it picks the next oldest

Category Filter Test

1. Create posts in two different categories
2. Select only one category in General settings
3. Run once now
4. Verify only posts from the selected category are republished
5. Unselect all categories (blank = all posts)
6. Verify posts from all categories are now eligible

Logs Test

1. Go to Activity / Logs tab
2. Verify logs are enabled
3. Republish several posts manually via “Run Once Now”
4. Confirm all appear in the logs table
5. Check they’re sorted by most recent first
6. Disable logs and verify table disappears
7. Re-enable and confirm data persists

WP-Cron Simulation

On low-traffic test sites, you may need to manually trigger WP-Cron:

curl https://your-site.com/wp-cron.php

Or visit https://your-site.com/wp-cron.php directly in your browser after waiting for the scheduled interval to pass.