This document describes all available settings for the AutoClose plugin. Access settings via Settings → AutoClose in your WordPress admin.
Since v3.1.2, a search box on the settings screen filters options across all tabs as you type — start typing to jump straight to the setting you are looking for.
General
Activate scheduled closing
Enable to create a WordPress cron job using the schedule settings below. The cron job executes the tasks to close comments, close pingbacks/trackbacks, and delete post revisions based on the settings from the other tabs.
Default: Disabled
Time to run closing
The next two options set the time the cron job runs. The cron job runs immediately if the configured hour:min is before the current time (for example, 9:00 when the time is now 20:30). Otherwise it runs later today at the scheduled time.
Hour
Hour at which the cron job runs. 0–23.
Default: 0
Minute
Minute at which the cron job runs. 0–59.
Default: 0
Run maintenance
How often the cron job runs.
Options:
- Daily (default)
- Weekly
- Fortnightly
- Monthly
Send summary email after cron run
Enable to send an email summary after each scheduled run. The summary lists the number of comments closed, pingbacks/trackbacks closed, and revisions deleted.
Default: Disabled
Notification email address
Address to which the summary email is sent. Leave blank to use the site admin email address.
Default: empty (uses admin_email)
Comments
Close comments
Enable to close comments. Used for the automatic schedule as well as one-time runs under Tools → AutoClose Tools.
Default: Disabled
Post types to include
Select the post types on which to close comments. At least one option must be selected.
Default: post
Only published and private posts are closed, so a draft is never published with its comments already closed. The eligible statuses are filterable:
Close comments on posts/pages older than
Comments on posts older than this number of days are closed automatically when the schedule is enabled.
Default: 90
Keep comments on these posts/pages open
Comma-separated list of post IDs whose comments should remain open. For example, 188,320,500.
Default: empty
Exclude posts in these categories/tags
Taxonomy terms whose posts should not have comments closed. Start typing to search for categories, tags, or other public taxonomy terms. The field has autocomplete.
Default: empty
Close comments with at least this many approved comments
Optional. Comments close once a post reaches this number of approved comments, in addition to the age rule above — whichever condition is met first. Only ordinary approved comments count; pingbacks, trackbacks, spam, unapproved comments, and internal editor notes are excluded. Set to 0 to disable.
Scheduled checking is not an atomic cap: comments submitted between runs, or at the same time as a run, can push a post past this number before it is closed.
Default: 0 (disabled)
Reopen comments on post update
When a post is saved or updated, its comments reopen for the number of days set in Keep comments open for (days).
Default: Disabled
Keep comments open for (days)
Number of days to keep comments open after a post update. Set to 0 to keep open until the next scheduled close.
Default: 30
Age per post type
Overrides Close comments on posts/pages older than for individual post types. Each supported post type gets its own field.
Value semantics:
-2— use the age above (default).-1— never close comments for this post type.0or higher — age in days for this post type.
Default: -2 for every post type.
Pingbacks/Trackbacks
Close Pingbacks/Trackbacks
Enable to close pingbacks and trackbacks. Used for the automatic schedule as well as one-time runs under Tools → AutoClose Tools.
Default: Disabled
Post types to include
Select the post types on which to close pingbacks/trackbacks. At least one option must be selected.
Default: post
Close pingbacks/trackbacks on posts/pages older than
Pingbacks/trackbacks on posts older than this number of days are closed automatically when the schedule is enabled.
Default: 90
Keep pingbacks/trackbacks on these posts/pages open
Comma-separated list of post IDs whose pingbacks/trackbacks should remain open. For example, 188,320,500.
Default: empty
Exclude posts in these categories/tags
Taxonomy terms whose posts should not have pingbacks/trackbacks closed. Start typing to search for categories, tags, or other public taxonomy terms. The field has autocomplete.
Default: empty
Block Self-Pings
Enable to block self-pings — pings from a post to other pages on the same site.
Default: Disabled
Block Ping URLs
One URL per line. Pings to any of these URLs are blocked in addition to self-pings.
Default: empty
Age per post type
Overrides Close pingbacks/trackbacks on posts/pages older than for individual post types, using the same value semantics as the comments Age per post type setting above (-2 uses the global age, -1 never closes, 0 or higher is an explicit age in days).
Default: -2 for every post type.
If you deactivate this plugin
The settings page also explains what happens when you deactivate AutoClose:
- Comments, pingbacks, and trackbacks already closed by AutoClose stay closed.
- Scheduled and per-post closing stop running, so nothing more will be closed automatically.
- A temporary reopen window that is still active when you deactivate may no longer close automatically once it ends.
- Post revision limits set here stop applying; WordPress’ own default or another plugin’s limit takes over.
- Revisions already deleted are not restored.
Revisions
Cleanup policy
Scheduled cleanup deletes a revision only when both conditions hold:
- It is beyond the number of revisions its post keeps (Number of revisions below).
- It is older than Delete revisions older than.
Autosaves are never deleted by scheduled cleanup, so autosave recovery data stays intact.
Before v3.2.0, enabling Delete post revisions deleted every revision on each scheduled run. Existing settings are preserved and nothing is enabled on upgrade, but scheduled runs now follow the policy above. Sites that already had the option enabled see a one-time dismissible admin notice explaining the change. To delete every revision regardless of retention and age, use the Delete all revisions button on the Tools page.
Each run is bounded so a large site is cleaned up over several runs rather than in one long request. The bound is filterable:
Delete post revisions
WordPress stores a record of each saved draft or published update. This can build up over time. Enable to delete old post revisions when the cron runs.
Default: Disabled
Delete revisions older than
Age cutoff in days. Only revisions older than this — and beyond the retention limit — are deleted. Set to 0 to delete every revision beyond the retention limit regardless of age.
Default: 90
Number of revisions
Limit the number of revisions that WordPress stores in the database for each post type. This is both the limit WordPress applies when saving and the retention floor that scheduled cleanup will not delete below.
The setting is per post type. Value semantics:
-2— ignore this plugin’s setting (use the WordPress default,WP_POST_REVISIONS, or another plugin’s filter).-1— store every revision. Scheduled cleanup never prunes this post type.0— do not store any revisions. Every revision older than the age cutoff is eligible.>0— store that many revisions per post. The newest that many are kept.
Default: -2 for every supported post type.
Image Optimizer Settings