Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors

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Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors

by PublishPress

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Description

PublishPress Authors allows you to create, manage and display authors for all your WordPress content. The plugin provides author boxes that can display one author, coauthors, multiple authors or even guest authors. The boxes have the author bio, name, avatar, description and more. You can also place the author boxes in widgets, shortcodes and Gutenberg blocks.

Here are the some most important features of PublishPress Authors:

  • Author Boxes. As soon as you install PublishPress Authors, you’ll see an author box under every post. You can add all the profile details you need for each author.
  • Multiple Authors. By default, WordPress only allows one author per post. PublishPress Authors allows you to add an unlimited number of authors to each post. This is very useful if you have a busy site and need to manage and give credit to coauthors.
  • Guest Authors. You can create two types of Guest Authors. You can add authors to a new “Guest Author” user role, or add them without a connected account.
  • Author Categories. Categorize your authors as Coauthors, Reviews, Editors, Photographers, and more.
  • Author Fields. Customize the user details for each author with fields for social media, job details, and more.
  • Author Lists. Create a custom display of all your authors. You can sort, order, and filter to show only the authors you want.
  • Author Pages. Showcase the work of each individual author with customizable author pages where you decide which post information is displayed.

PublishPress Authors Pro

Upgrade to Authors Pro
This plugin is the free version of the PublishPress Authors plugin. The Pro version comes with all the features you need to create beautiful and useful author profiles. Click here to purchase the best premium WordPress author box plugin now!

Author Boxes

PublishPress Authors gives you multiple ways to show author profiles. You can display authors under your content, in a widget, using shortcodes and more.

The Author Boxes feature in PublishPress Authors provides five default layouts. You can use these layouts, customize them or click “New Author Box” and create your own layouts.

Click here to see how to customize author boxes.

On the frontend of your site. PublishPress Authors gives you several different options to display the authors’ box:

  • Replacing the default author display.
  • At the bottom of your content.
  • In a widget or a Gutenberg block.
  • Using shortcodes.
  • Adding filters and actions in your template files.

Click here to read about displaying authors.

Multiple Authors

With PublishPress Authors, you can set multiple authors for each post. When you write a post, you’ll see a box in the right sidebar. Here you can choose from all the users on your site, and assign them as coauthors.

Click here to get started with PublishPress Authors.

Guest Authors

Using PublishPress Authors, you can create Guest Authors who don’t need an account on your site. PublishPress will treat Guest Authors identically to Authors who are linked users.

You will be able to select and display Guest Authors in exactly the same way as for registered users. Each Guest Author can have a full profile, plus an avatar, and their own archive page for blog posts.

You can create two types of Guest Authors. You can add authors to a new “Guest Author” user role, or add them without a connected account.

Click here to see how to create Guest Authors.

Author Categories

Author Categories is a feature that allows you to have different types of authors for WordPress post. For example, you can label one user as an “Author”, one as “Contributor” and one as an “Editor”. This enables you to give different types of credit to the all the people who work on your content.

PublishPress Authors Pro has a feature that allows you do more with Author Categories. You can create an “Author Categories Box”. This is a display format for your images that is specifically designed to group authors together in their categories.

Click here to see how to use Author Categories.

Author Fields

PublishPress Authors allows you to customize the user details for each author. This is possible with the “Author Fields” feature. These fields can be displayed using the Author Boxes feature. There are several fields available in the Free version of the Authors plugin including First Name, Last Name, Email, Website, Job Title.

Click here to see how to use Author Fields

Author Lists

The Author Lists feature allows you to show a custom display of authors. For example, the “Author Index” view can organize your authors alphabetically. There will be a row of letters on the top of this display. If you click on any of the letters, you’ll be able to drill down to view only the authors whose names begin with that letter. There’s also a “Author Recent” view that allows you to show your authors, together with their most recent posts.

Click here to see how to use Author Lists.

Author Pages

PublishPress Authors can replace the default WordPress author pages. The URLs of the pages will not change, but you can customize the pages using the settings on this screen.

Your author page will appear with an author box on the top of the screen and the author’s posts underneath. You can choose a “List” or a “Grid” option and you’re also free to create your own layouts.

Click here to see how to use Author Pages.

Custom Fields for Author Profiles (Pro version)

PublishPress Authors Pro enables you to create author fields and enhance your author profiles. You can add Text, WYSIWYG, Link and email address fields. Then you can place those author fields in author bio profiles using custom layouts. The Pro version of Authors supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube, TikTok and more.

Click here to see how to use Custom Fields.

Join PublishPress and get the Pro plugins

The Pro versions of the PublishPress plugins are well worth your investment. The Pro versions have extra features and faster support. Click here to join PublishPress.

Join PublishPress and you’ll get access to these ten Pro plugins:

Together, these plugins are a suite of powerful publishing tools for WordPress. If you need to create a professional workflow in WordPress, with moderation, revisions, permissions and more… then you should try PublishPress.

Bug Reports

Bug reports for PublishPress Authors are welcomed in our repository on GitHub. Please note that GitHub is not a support forum, and that issues that aren’t properly qualified as bugs will be closed.

Thank You

This plugin is partly based on Co-Authors Plus, which includes the work of batmoo, danielbachhuber and automattic. This plugin also uses work from the Bylines plugin by danielbachhuber.

There are two ways to install the PublishPress Authors plugin:

Through your WordPress site’s admin

  1. Go to your site’s admin page;
  2. Access the “Plugins” page;
  3. Click on the “Add New” button;
  4. Search for “PublishPress Authors”;
  5. Install PublishPress Authors plugin;
  6. Activate the PublishPress Authors plugin.

Manually uploading the plugin to your repository

  1. Download the PublishPress Authors plugin zip file;
  2. Upload the plugin to your site’s repository under the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory;
  3. Go to your site’s admin page;
  4. Access the “Plugins” page;
  5. Activate the PublishPress Authors plugin.
  1. With PublishPress Authors, you can choose multiple author bios for each post. When you write a post, you’ll see the Authors box in the right sidebar. You can choose from all the users on your site, and assign them as authors.

    With PublishPress Authors, you can choose multiple author bios for each post. When you write a post, you’ll see the Authors box in the right sidebar. You can choose from all the users on your site, and assign them as authors.

  2. PublishPress Authors gives you multiple ways to show author bios. You can display authors under your content, in a widget, using shortcodes and more.

    PublishPress Authors gives you multiple ways to show author bios. You can display authors under your content, in a widget, using shortcodes and more.

  3. Using PublishPress Authors, you can create Guest Authors who don’t need an account on your site. PublishPress will treat Guest Authors identically to Authors who have WordPress accounts. Each user will have their own author profile.

    Using PublishPress Authors, you can create Guest Authors who don’t need an account on your site. PublishPress will treat Guest Authors identically to Authors who have WordPress accounts. Each user will have their own author profile.

  4. PublishPress Authors allows you to showcase the work of each individual author with customizable author pages where you decide which post information is displayed including tags, read more links, excerpts, and more.

    PublishPress Authors allows you to showcase the work of each individual author with customizable author pages where you decide which post information is displayed including tags, read more links, excerpts, and more.

  5. PublishPress Authors Pro enables you to create custom fields for each author profile. You can add Text, WYSIWYG, Links, email fields and more.

    PublishPress Authors Pro enables you to create custom fields for each author profile. You can add Text, WYSIWYG, Links, email fields and more.

  6. PublishPress Authors Pro enables you to build custom layouts for authors. Using all your author information and custom fields, you can design beautiful layouts for your authors.

    PublishPress Authors Pro enables you to build custom layouts for authors. Using all your author information and custom fields, you can design beautiful layouts for your authors.

  7. PublishPress Authors allows you to organize your authors by categories. You can organize your authors into groups such as “Authors”, “Coauthors”, “Reviews”, “Editors”, and more.

    PublishPress Authors allows you to organize your authors by categories. You can organize your authors into groups such as “Authors”, “Coauthors”, “Reviews”, “Editors”, and more.

How do I display author boxes and author bios?

You have several different options for displaying authors using the PublishPress Authors plugin:

  1. Below the content. Go to Authors > Settings and click the “Display” tab. Check the box saying, “This will display the authors box at the end of the content”. In the “Layout” box, you can choose from several layouts.
  2. The Post Authors widget. When you install the add-on, PublishPress Authors automatically creates a widget that you can use to show the authors. Go to Appearance > Widgets, and you can position your PublishPress Authors widget in any sidebar or widget area.
  3. The Authors shortcode. With PublishPress Authors shortcodes, you can display the author box in any part of the content. The default shortcode is [author_box]
  4. Editing your theme. PublishPress Authors allows you to show author details in your plugin or theme. You can use the action “pp_multiple_authors_show_author_box” to display the author box programmatically.

How do I import WordPress users to PublishPress Authors?

PublishPress Authors does use a different system than the WordPress core, so there may be some work involved with moving author data.

When you first install PublishPress Authors, our plugin will try to import all your authors. However, there may be some more work needed if you have a large site or have been using a different plugin. After installing PublishPress Authors, go to the “Posts” screen to see if your authors have imported correctly.

If you have a very large site with 1,000s or authors or posts, we recommend you use the WP CLI command line system.

Click here to see how to import WordPress users.

How do I import from Co-Authors Plus and Byline plugins?

PublishPress Authors has a Co-Authors Plus import feature. Co-Authors Plus is a popular but older alternative to PublishPress Authors. This import will bring across all your author profiles. It will also keep track of which posts the authors are associated with. If you want to migrate your site from the CoAuthors Plus plugin, please try this on a test site before attempting it on a live site.

Click here to see how to import Co-Authors Plus authors.

You can import from the Byline plugin to PublishPress Authors. Start with the old Byline plugin installed on your site. Go to “Authors”, then “Maintenance”. Look for the import option.

Click here to see how to import Byline authors.

How do I show an author widget?

The PublishPress Authors plugin provides two widgets.

The “Post Author” widget will display a list of authors for the current post. It is one of several ways that you can show the authors of a post. In your WordPress site, go to Appearance > Widgets. Look for the “Post Author” widget.

Click here to see how to use the Post Author widget.

The “Authors List” widget will display a list of all the authors on your site. If you want to show the authors of the post being viewed, try the Post Author widget. In your WordPress site, go to Appearance > Widgets. Look for the “Authors List” widget.

Click here to see how to use the Authors List widget.

Can I use PublishPress Authors with Elementor?

PublishPress Authors works well with the Elementor plugin. There are multiple options for showing Author profiles on your site. All of these will work with Elementor. However, we have made sure to make sure PublishPress Authors works with inside the main Elementor layout builder. Perhaps the easiest option for the Elementor layout builder is to use the Post Author widget. You will then see a simple author box in your Elementor layout.

Click here to see how to create Elementor Authors.

Can I use PublishPress Authors with Divi?

PublishPress Authors works well with the Divi theme. There are multiple options for showing Author profiles on your site. All of these will work with Divi. We have made sure that PublishPress Authors works with inside the main Divi layout builder. Perhaps the easiest option for the Divi layout builder is to use the Post Author widget. Go to Appearance > Widgets. Create a new widget region using this Divi box. You will then see a simple author box in your Divi theme.

Click here to see how to create Divi Authors.

How do I integrate PublishPress Authors with my theme?

The PublishPress Authors plugin allows you to show author profiles using this a snippet of PHP code. This code can be modified in many way to suit your needs. Don’t worry if you’re not technical. There are also other ways to show your authors that require no code. We recommend that you add these code snippets to a child theme, as that is best practice for WordPress theme development. We do have child themes available for some popular themes.

Click here to see how to modify the authors output.

Does PublishPress Authors work with my theme?

Author bios can be a tricky area in WordPress because many themes try to add their own author details. We try to help customers using PublishPress Authors and make sure that the plugin works with your theme. So far, we have child themes available to help compatibility with some common themes including:

  • TwentyTwenty
  • TwentyNineteen
  • Newspaper
  • Magplus
  • Gridlove
  • Hestia
  • Kleo
  • Salient
  • Colormag
  • Extra
  • JNews
  • MyListing
  • Uncode
  • GeneratePress
  • Trellis
  • Rehub
  • Astra

How does PublishPress Authors Compare With Other Author Plugins?

There are other plugins available such as Co-Authors Plus, Simple Author Box, Molongui, Starbox and more. These are all really good plugins. PublishPress Authors stands out because of the advanced features and flexibility.

Where do I report security bugs found in this plugin?

Please report security bugs found in the source code of the PublishPress Authors plugin through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure  Program. The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment, and notify the developers of this plugin.

Most helpful tool

By rkoffe on October 24, 2025

It's perfect. Can't ask for more. Thank you.

Essential for a news site

By abldigital on October 20, 2025

Works great.

An essential plugin for any magazine/publishing website

By Josh (jmccallweb) on September 25, 2025

An essential plugin in my dev stack. This is how core ought to handle authors.

Excellent and easy to use.

By supakarn on September 9, 2025

Excellent and easy to use.

Great Support

By prasadravindranath on July 1, 2025

Excellent support. The Support team at PublishPress went out of their way to fix an issue that caused by the theme I was using. And when I wanted their help in fixing an issue with multiple authors listing on top of a post, the support team fixed it quickly. Also, guided me to resolve another issue completely unconnected with PublishPress Author plugin. I highly recommend PublishPress Author plugin!

Very easy to add and it does everything I need

By sjg20 on June 26, 2025

Great for multiple authors and the tag at the bottom looks good and fits in with the theme.

Nice plugin!

By Saxagenia on June 16, 2025

It does exactly what I need!

Excellent to manage multiauthor

By pavlov82 on May 18, 2025

I'm looking for a plugin that allow me to edit author pages and information in an easy way. Simply perfect for this need

useful

By carloscasadocoach on May 2, 2025

simple and useful, good enough

Authors

By caobe on April 8, 2025

There is a function that is important to me, the personal choice of the Avatar.

The full changelog can be found on GitHub.

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