[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #63419: Auto-generate temporary title for new posts without a title

[WordPress Trac]

#63419: Auto-generate temporary title for new posts without a title
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 Reporter:  smahjoob     |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  General      |    Version:
 Severity:  major        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:               |
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 Hi everyone,
 I’d like to propose a simple yet valuable improvement to the post editing
 experience in WordPress – something that could help both beginners and
 power users, and improve overall content organization.

 Currently, when a user creates a new post or page, the title field can be
 left empty. WordPress allows saving or even publishing the post without a
 title, or sometimes leaves it as “Auto Draft.” This results in:

 Lists of posts/pages with empty or unclear titles

 Difficulty in identifying which draft is which

 Confusion especially for less experienced users

 Poor experience for content-heavy sites that rely on clear draft
 management

  What I’m suggesting is simple:
 If no title is set by the user, WordPress could automatically generate a
 placeholder title upon the first save, like:

 “Untitled Draft (1)”

 “Untitled Draft (2)”

 or the localized version based on site language

 This would not be a permanent title – just a temporary, human-readable
 label that helps keep drafts manageable.

  Why this can’t be (reliably) done with a plugin:
 While it may seem like something that a plugin could handle, it's actually
 difficult to implement correctly from outside Core, because:

 Plugins don’t easily hook into the post title logic in the block editor

 There's no reliable way to auto-set post titles on draft save without
 risking overwriting user input

 It touches core behavior of wp_insert_post() and default post title
 handling — which is best done natively

  Benefits:
 This small change would help:

 Beginners who often skip the title field

 Power users managing large numbers of drafts

 Sites where multiple contributors are creating content

 Keep things cleaner and more understandable across the admin UI

  Final thoughts:
 This is not a major feature or overhaul – just a small quality-of-life
 improvement that solves a real issue seen in many WordPress installs.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/63419>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
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