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Troubleshooting: Why Your Clone Button is Missing in Yoast Duplicate Post

18 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Yoast duplicate post

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One of the most common issues users encounter with the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin is the sudden disappearance of the 'Clone,' 'New Draft,' or 'Copy' links. This can be frustrating, but the cause is almost always related to a few specific settings or conflicts. Based on community reports, here are the most frequent reasons and their solutions.

1. Check the Permissions Settings (The Most Common Fix)

The first and most crucial place to look is the plugin's settings. The Yoast Duplicate Post plugin allows you to control which user roles can clone content and for which post types the links appear.

  • How to check: Go to WordPress Admin > Settings > Duplicate Post.
  • Navigate to the 'Permissions' tab: Ensure your user role (e.g., Administrator, Editor) is checked under "Roles allowed to copy." If it's not selected, you will not see the clone options.
  • Navigate to the 'Display' tab: Verify that the post types you want to clone (e.g., Posts, Pages, your custom post type) are enabled under "Show these links." If a post type is disabled here, the links will not appear in its list or edit screen.

Many users, after migrating a site or updating the plugin, have found that these settings were reset, which was the simple root of their problem.

2. Confirm User Role Capabilities

If you are using a custom user role (e.g., a "Manager" role created with a plugin like User Role Editor), the plugin's visibility depends on specific WordPress capabilities.

  • The requirement: For a custom role to appear in the 'Permissions' tab, it must have the standard edit_posts capability.
  • How to fix: Use your role management plugin to ensure your custom role has the edit_posts capability. Once it has this capability, it should appear in the Duplicate Post settings, and you can then grant it copy permissions.

3. Plugin and Theme Conflicts

Sometimes, another plugin or your theme can hide or interfere with the duplicate links.

  • How to test for a conflict:
    1. Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four).
    2. Deactivate all other plugins except Yoast Duplicate Post.
    3. Check if the clone links reappear.
    4. If they do, reactivate your plugins and theme one by one, checking each time, to identify the conflicting software.

4. Special Cases: WooCommerce and Custom Post Types

  • WooCommerce Products: By default, the plugin may not show options for the 'product' post type. You may need to add a code snippet to your theme's functions.php file to explicitly enable it. The Yoast Duplicate Post team has provided a snippet for this purpose in the past.
  • Other Custom Post Types: If you don't see your custom post type (e.g., from MemberPress, Divi Layouts, or another plugin) in the 'Display' tab, it may not be registered with the standard WordPress capabilities that Duplicate Post checks for. The conflict test above can help determine if the issue is with the post type's registration.

5. Clear Caching

If you use a caching plugin or server-level caching, changes to settings or permissions might not be immediately visible. After making any changes in the Duplicate Post settings, clear your website and browser cache to see if the links appear.

By methodically working through these steps—starting with the Permissions settings—you can almost always identify and resolve the issue of missing clone buttons.

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