On April 24 we released version 1.7.86 of the OpenLab. It included a new cloning feature, some minor theme and plugin updates, and a new plugin.
New Features
Cloning updates
We added a number of new options for choosing what you clone to your new site:
- Clone posts and pages that are currently set to draft (unpublished). This allows you to choose whether or not to clone any posts or pages currently in draft on the site you are cloning. The default is to clone them, but you can choose not to.
- Publish all currently-published posts and pages on your new site. By default, all posts and pages that are published on the site you are cloning will also be published on the new site. If you would prefer to publish them gradually, you can choose to set them to draft on the new site.
- Set post and page publication dates to today (while maintaining the current publication order). This setting prevents posts and pages from appearing out of date, especially if you are cloning an older site. By default, post and page publication dates will be set to the date you are cloning your site, but the current publication order will be maintained. You can change the setting if you prefer to keep the dates from the site you’re cloning.
- Clone unused media library items. By default, Media Library items that are not being used in a page or post will not be cloned to the new site (with the exception of header images), allowing you to save space on your new site. You can change this if you would like to clone unused items.
In addition, any plugins active on the site you’re cloning but retired on the OpenLab will be deactivated on the new site. This will help prevent potential errors from using old plugins.
Retired theme notice
You will now see a notice on your site’s Dashboard if you are using a theme that has been retired. We ask that you please switch to a new theme if you see this notice, to avoid potential problems with your site. We have help for changing your theme, as well as help for many different themes available on the OpenLab.
Plugins
We added the XPoster plugin, which allows you to connect your site posts to Bluesky, Mastodon, and X.
Bug fixes
The ‘Grade’ box for the WP Grade Comments plugin wasn’t appearing in Koji and Hamilton themes.
There was an OpenLab Attributions plugin issue that prevented attributions from being added to quote, pullquote, or list blocks.
As always, please contact us with any questions!
