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How to Edit an Article in Joomla 5 and 6

Using WordPress instead? See How to Edit a Page or Post in WordPress (Block Editor).

Most of the text on a Joomla site lives in articles. Here's how to change one in Joomla 5 or 6.

Note: Some sites use a page builder for certain pages. If an article opens and you don't see the text you expected, the page may be built another way. Ask whoever built your site.

1. Log in to the admin

Go to yoursite.com/administrator and sign in.

2. Find the article

  1. Go to Content > Articles.
  2. Use the Search box at the top of the list, or Filter Options to narrow by category, status, or author.
  3. Click the article's title to open it.

3. Edit the content

The Content tab has the article editor (TinyMCE by default). It works like a word processor:

  • Type or paste text. To paste from Word or Google Docs without stray formatting, paste as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V, or Cmd+Shift+V on a Mac) and format it in the editor.
  • Use the Paragraph menu for headings. Use Heading 2 for main sections and Heading 3 under those, rather than bold text.
  • To add a link, select text and click the link button. For a link to another page on your site, use CMS Content > Article or Menu.
  • For images, see How to Add, Resize, and Caption Images in Joomla (with Alt Text).

Other tabs you might use:

  • Images and Links: intro and full article images.
  • Publishing: start and finish publishing dates, author, and the meta description (in the Metadata area).

On the right, you can change the Status (Published, Unpublished, Archived, Trashed), Category, and Featured setting.

4. Save

  • Save keeps you in the editor.
  • Save & Close saves and returns to the list.
  • Close leaves without saving.

Then view the page on your site to check it. You may need to refresh, or clear the site cache under System > Maintenance > Clear Cache if your site uses caching.

Undo a change with versions

If versioning is turned on, the Versions button in the toolbar shows earlier saves. Select one and use Restore to bring it back.

Locked article? (checked out)

When someone opens an article, Joomla locks it so two people don't overwrite each other. A padlock icon in the list means it's checked out. This happens when someone closes the browser instead of clicking Close.

  • If it's checked out to you, click the padlock to check it in.
  • Admins can check items in under System > Maintenance > Global Check-in.

Always use Save & Close or Close to avoid this.

Prefer we handle it?

If you'd rather spend your time running your business, our boutique hosting, available to our clients, including sites moved over from another host, takes a proactive approach to security and monitoring, with nightly backups, 24/7 outage monitoring, and ongoing core CMS updates.

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