If you plan to restrict a whole class of content — for example, every blog post or every entry of a custom post type — setting the restriction on each item one by one would be tedious. The Post Types area of the Restrict for WordPress plugin solves this: it lets you define the default post types content restriction for every post type on your website, and even apply that rule to all existing content in bulk. This page explains how the Post Types settings work and what to do when a post type is missing from the list.
What the Post Types area does
The Post Types area of the Restrict plugin allows you to select the default content visibility for the existing post types on your website. Every post type that supports content restriction — posts, pages, and eligible custom post types added by your theme or plugins — is listed here with its own dropdown menu.
Think of these settings as templates for future content: they decide which restriction is pre-selected whenever you create something new. You can still change the restriction on any individual page or post afterwards — the default is a starting point, not a lock. For details on per-item restriction, see restricting the content of a page or post.
Setting a default restriction for a post type
For example, if you want to restrict the content of all the posts on your website to, say, logged-in users:
- Open the Post Types area of Restrict.
- Select Logged in users from the dropdown menu next to Posts.
From then on, all the new posts you create will have this content restriction set by default. This is a huge time-saver for membership sites and private blogs where restricted content is the rule rather than the exception — you write, you publish, and the restriction is already in place.
Applying the restriction to existing content in bulk
Setting a default only affects new content. If you also want the rule to cover everything you have already published, you can apply the same restriction to all the existing posts by clicking Apply for all posts. This applies the selected restriction rule to every existing post of that post type in one go.
This bulk option is especially useful when you are converting an existing public site into a members-only site: instead of editing hundreds of posts manually, you set the default once and push it out to all existing content with a single click. Keep in mind that this overwrites the restriction setting on those existing items, so double-check your selection before applying it site-wide.
A post type is missing (or shouldn’t be listed)?
If a post type you have on your website is not displayed here and you want to use it — or if some post type appears and you want to remove it from these settings — check the documentation on including and excluding post types for content restriction. A short code snippet is all it takes to add or remove a post type from this screen, and the support team can do it for you if you prefer.
Good to know
- Custom post types from themes and plugins: the content of some custom post types that a theme or plugin installed on your website is using might not be affected by the Restrict plugin even if you enable content restriction here. This happens because some plugins render their content in non-standard ways that bypass the usual WordPress content filters. If you run into this, contact support to check whether the post type in question can be covered.
- Restriction messages: visitors who do not meet the criteria will see the message you configured in the General settings, so make sure those messages are set up before rolling out bulk restrictions.
- Partial restriction: defaults apply to the whole content of a post. If you only want to hide a section of a post, use shortcodes instead.