As a WordPress developer or advanced user, you‘ve likely run into situations where you need to find the unique identification number (ID) for a specific post, page, category, tag, comment, or user on your website.
WordPress assigns each of these content types its own auto-incrementing ID in the database. Knowing the ID unlocks powerful customization capabilities, letting you do things like:
- Create redirects from old post URLs to new ones
- Display custom post feeds filtered by author or category
- Show or hide specific pages or categories with custom theme templates
- Customize the styling of individual comments or comment threads
- Configure plugin settings that apply only to certain posts/pages
Bottom line: WordPress IDs are the key to unlocking advanced functionality on your website.
If you‘re not sure how to quickly retrieve an ID for any piece of content, don‘t worry – by the end of this guide, you‘ll be an ID-finding ninja! I‘ll walk you through the exact steps for posts, pages, categories, tags, comments, and users.
Plus, I‘ll share some of my favorite tips and best practices to make working with IDs even easier.
Let‘s dive in!
How to Find a WordPress Post ID or Page ID (Step by Step)
Your WordPress posts and pages are the meat of your website. Being able to find their unique IDs is probably the most common need for WordPress users.
Fortunately, it‘s super easy! Here‘s how:
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Posts > All Posts to see a list of all your content. (For a page ID, you‘d go to Pages > All Pages instead.)
Hover your mouse over the title of the post or page you need the ID for. Don‘t click on the title though!
Look in the bottom left corner of your browser window. You‘ll see the URL that the post/page title is linking to. The ID number is the digits after
"post=["](http://post=")and before"&action=edit".If you prefer, you can also click on the post/page title to open the editor screen. The ID will be shown in the
"post=["](http://post=")section of the editor URL in your browser‘s address bar.
Here‘s an example of what the URL looks like with the post ID of 123 highlighted:
https://example.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=123&action=edit
Pro Tip: Install the Reveal IDs Plugin
If you need to look up post/page IDs frequently, you can install the free Reveal IDs plugin.
Once activated, it will display the ID number in parentheses next to each post and page title in your WordPress admin, so you don‘t have to hover and look at URLs.
When to Use Post and Page IDs
Now that you know how to find a post or page ID, what can you actually use them for? Here are a few examples:
Setting up redirects: If you change the URL of a post or page, you‘ll want to redirect the old URL to the new one to avoid 404 errors. WordPress redirection plugins like Redirection make this easy – just input the ID of the post/page you want to redirect to.
Querying posts by author: By default, WordPress post queries don‘t let you filter posts by author ID. However, you can use the
authorparameter in a custom WP_Query to display posts from one specific author.Adding custom CSS: WordPress automatically assigns a unique CSS class to the
<body>tag of every post and page. The format ispostid-[ID], so a page with ID 123 would have the body classpostid-123. You can use this to write custom CSS that only applies to an individual piece of content.
How to Find a WordPress Category ID or Tag ID
Categories and tags are both taxonomies – essentially, ways to group and sort your content. Since they work the same way behind the scenes, finding the ID for a category or tag uses the same approach:
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Posts > Categories or Posts > Tags to view a list of taxonomies.
Hover over the category or tag name you want to get the ID for (but don‘t click).
In the bottom left corner of your window, you‘ll see a URL ending with something like
"tag_ID=123". The number after the equals sign is the taxonomy ID.You can also click on the tag or category name to open the editor page, and get the ID from the
"tag_ID=["](http://tag_ID=")portion of the editor screen URL.
Tips for Using Category and Tag IDs
Categories are more commonly used than tags, so here are a few examples of ways you might use category IDs:
Customizing category templates: WordPress lets you create category template files to change the look of category archive pages. You‘d name the file
category-[ID].phpusing the ID of the category you want to customize.Excluding categories from feeds and archives: Some WordPress themes have an option to hide a certain category from displaying in feeds or archives. This uses the category ID to filter out posts assigned to that ID.
Configuring SEO plugin settings: If you use an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO, you can use category IDs to control the robots meta tag on a per-category basis. For example, you could "noindex" one category while allowing the rest to be indexed by search engines.
Here‘s a table showing the most popular WordPress plugins that use category IDs for configuration:
| Plugin | Setting |
|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | Meta robots tags, breadcrumbs, XML sitemaps |
| All in One SEO | Noindex/nofollow certain categories |
| WP RSS Aggregator | Importing feeds from specific categories |
| Display Posts | Showing posts from one or more categories |
As you can see, category IDs are widely used in popular plugins and in WordPress theme customization. Mastering them will open up tons of possibilities!
How to Find a WordPress Comment ID
Each published comment on your WordPress site also has its own unique ID. You may need to look up a comment ID in order to:
- Customize the appearance of an individual comment or thread
- Troubleshoot issues with a specific comment
- Moderate or delete a comment
Finding comment IDs is just as straightforward as posts and taxonomies:
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Comments.
Hover over the name, email, or content excerpt of the comment you need the ID for.
Look in the bottom left corner of your browser window for a URL ending with
"c=123". The number after"c="is the comment ID.Alternatively, click the Edit link below the comment to view it in the editor. You‘ll see the comment ID at the very end of the editor page URL.
Comment ID Statistics and Trivia
Did you know that WordPress comments are the most common type of content in the WordPress database?
On average, there are over 8 times more comments than posts across all WordPress sites. (Source)
In fact, the very first comment ever published on a WordPress blog was on January 30, 2003 by co-founder Mike Little. (View it here!)
However, WordPress didn‘t start assigning unique IDs to comments until version 1.2 "Mingus" in May 2004.
If you‘re running a blog with heavy comment activity, you may notice that your comment IDs are much higher than your post IDs. This is because they increment separately.
How to Find a WordPress User ID
Every user account on your WordPress site – from subscribers to administrators – has a unique ID. Knowing how to find user IDs lets you do handy things like:
- Display a list of posts by a specific author
- Customize plugins to work differently for certain users
- Troubleshoot issues with user accounts or permissions
You can quickly find any user‘s ID number from their profile page:
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Users > All Users.
Hover over the username of the person you need the ID for. (Don‘t click!)
In the bottom left corner, you‘ll see a URL with
"user_id=123"in it. The number after the equals sign is the user ID.You can also click on the username to open their profile page, and get the ID from the
"user_id=["](http://user_id=")part of the profile editor URL.
Finding Your Own User ID
But what if you need to find your own user ID? The steps above won‘t work, because your user won‘t show up in the All Users list.
Here‘s how to find your own ID instead:
Go to Users > Profile to view your user profile page.
Your user ID will be shown in the browser address bar URL after
"user_id=["](http://user_id=").Another option is to go to Users > All Users and hover over the "Posts" column next to your username. The URL in the bottom left corner of your window will end with
"users.php?author=["](http://users.php/?author=")followed by your ID number.
User ID Best Practices
Since WordPress IDs are assigned automatically in ascending order (1, 2, 3…), you can often tell how old a user account is by their ID number. A user with ID 1 is most likely the site owner who installed WordPress.
It‘s a smart idea to create a second administrator account for yourself and use that for day-to-day work instead of the default admin account. This helps improve security by not giving away which user ID has the most power!
In the WordPress database, user IDs are stored in the wp_users table. If you need to change a username or email address, you can do so without affecting the user ID.
Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress IDs
How can I find an ID in WordPress without looking at URLs?
The easiest way is to install a plugin like Reveal IDs or Query Monitor. These will display the ID number next to each piece of content in the WordPress admin.
Alternatively, you can use a web browser extension like Link Klipper (Chrome) or Copy Selected Links (Firefox) to easily copy the full URL containing the ID.
Can I change a WordPress ID number?
Not really. IDs are meant to be permanent unique identifiers, so WordPress doesn‘t have a built-in way to edit them.
Some plugins exist that let you change IDs in the database, but I don‘t recommend it. Changing an ID can break links and create errors on your site.
If you absolutely must change an ID for some reason, it‘s better to delete that content and re-create it, which will assign a new ID.
But in general, embrace the ID you‘ve got!
In most cases, yes. All the IDs covered in this post are considered public information, since anyone can find them by looking at HTML source code or URLs.
The main exceptions would be sensitive custom post types (like products in an e-commerce store) or privately published content.
When in doubt, don‘t share an ID unless you‘re okay with that piece of content being public.
Wrapping Up: You‘re Now an ID-Finding Pro!
Well, there you have it – the ultimate guide to finding any WordPress ID quickly and easily. By now you should be able to locate IDs for:
- Posts and pages
- Categories and tags
- Comments
- User accounts
Plus, you‘ve picked up some handy tips and best practices to help you use those IDs effectively.
With these ID superpowers, you‘ll be able to customize your WordPress site, troubleshoot issues, and use plugins with confidence.
Now go forth and unleash the power of WordPress IDs!
Still have questions about finding WordPress IDs or using them on your website? Let me know in the comments below!
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