There are lots of tutorials available on how to display the last updated/modified date in WordPress. These are basically general tutorials which you can apply to several themes. However, there are some themes in which it’s hard to find where to make modifications to show the last updated date. We also encountered the same problem in Newspaper WordPress theme but luckily after messing around with the code, finally we’ve found a solution. So here’s what to do:
Also read: Find Competitors Organic Keywords for Free
Table of Contents
Steps to Display Last Updated Date in Newspaper WordPress Theme
Recently Tagdiv had to change the whole structure of the theme to comply with the new standards for WordPress Themes enforce by Envato. In doing so they have to keep just the basic functionality of the theme in the code and allow other heavy files to load from plugins if activated by the users.
Hence the file structure changed for the newer version of Newspaper Theme. We have two files that we need to edit to show the last updated date on the homepage as well as post. And further down this post, we will refer them as File 1 & File 2.
Select the Appropriate Version & Proceed:
For Newspaper Theme 9.7 or Newer
File 1: wp-content/plugins/td-composer/legacy/common/wp_booster/td_module_single_base.php
File 2: wp-content/plugins/td-composer/legacy/common/wp_booster/td_module.php
For Newspaper Theme 9.6.1 or Older
File 1: wp-content/themes/Newspaper/includes/wp_booster/td_module_single_base.php
File 2: wp-content/themes/Newspaper/includes/wp_booster/td_module.php
- Open File 1 and find the code that looks like this.
$td_article_date_unix = get_the_time(‘U’, $this->post->ID);
AND
$buffy .= ” . get_the_time(get_option(‘date_format’), $this->post->ID) . ”; - Change the highlighted get_the_time function to get_the_modified_time.
- Pretty Easy, HUH! You’ve successfully changed the post date to last updated date in all the posts.
- Now repeat the step for File 2 and you’ll be able to see the last updated date on the Homepage too.
What We Just Did?
- File 2 contains the general functions & code of the Newspaper theme. It is generally used by the homepage.
- File 1 is almost the same as File 2 however it contains general functions & code for post page.
- We basically changed the get_the_time() function to get_the_modified_time(). You can read more about these functions on WordPress Documentation.
What are the Benefits of Showing Last Updated Date?
- As we know that Google shows the date of the articles in the search result.
- Suppose you have written an article about two years ago.
- But when you update your article, still it will show the same timestamp in the search result and also on the post.
- The visitor will think that it may be an outdated article and will most probably find other blogs or website.
- Hence this may increase your CTR and reduce your Bounce Rate.
- You can check out the image below. Although the article was posted on 16 February 2015. After updating the article, the date changed to 21 August 2016.
We hope that this article helped you in customizing your theme to show the last modified date on Newspaper theme. If you have any doubts or problems you can throw it in the comment section below.
Hey Mehul, the article is great, I used to fix the last updated in my site. However please note that you need to edit the td_module.php file only and it works like a charm.
td_module is general file and single post overrides it, so we have to make changes to both files.
Thank you very much dear.
Hi Mehul,
Thanks for such a nice article. The code worked for me like a charm. But I have a question what if we update the theme. I think it will be overwritten.
Can you give a code for functions.php so that modifications cab be save and are not affected with updating.
Hello Manpreet,
We will try to create such code, but for now you will have to go with this method. We will notify you once we get some success in doing so.
hello any way to hide date from the search engine (Newspaper theme)
Instead of return $buffy; at the end of the function make it return “”;
Thanks a lot, it works for me, you are awesome.
You’re welcome, Sana!
Hai mehul,
Can you help me, how to show date like 09:12 in every post in homepage and single post? I use newspaper theme too. Thanks a lot.
You can do it by modifying that code as per your requirement. I am not able to understand you properly what you are saying but we can solve it over skype: boricha.mehul5. Feel free to connect with me anytime. :D
Amazing article! Works really well!
Thank You! :D
Hello Mehul,
I used This code before 2 3 times of different version of newspaper theme. It Perfectly works for me.
But, This code is not working with the latest update of newspaper theme on 28
any alternate way to modify this date
Let me know the Newspaper Theme Version. I will check it out and let you know.
Thanks for Reply
Newspaper 8.8
the latest version
Hello Raj,
It is working fine. We are using Newspaper 9.7.2.
Hello Buddy its working fine for me.
I think that time something wrong with this but its working now like before. Thanks for Sharing this Article and thanks for reply.
Awesome & No Worries :D
HI !!! Mehul Boricha
I WANT DISPLAY TIME ONLY IN THE PLACE OF DATE AND TIME…how can i do it..am i trying so many times and i didnt get..
It is very easy. Refer to parameters section on this page: https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_the_time
I tried but i didn’t get in newspaper theme..will u send mee the code for it
Are there any error? If you changed the code then it will happen dear. Try clearing the cache.
It’s not working
It is working dear. You just have to follow the steps properly. You can see we are using Newspaper theme with last updated date. That is the best proof of this post.
It working nicely i newpaper theme. Thanks for the help.
Hello Akhil,
Happy to hear that! Cheers!
Woow! This is so sweet, I just fixed it on my site…
Congrats! That is awesome.
Hello Mehul, I thank you for this wonderful code. But i am using Newspaper theme version 9. In which the wp-Booster folder has been shifted from wp-content/Newspaper/includes/wp_booster/ TO wp-content/themes/Newspaper/includes/wp_booster/.
This is working great on Newspaper 9.0.1
My query to you Mehul is, can you help me display “XX days ago” on the Blocks & Big Grids of Newspaper Theme.
I mean all the posts that are not older than 1 hr, I want it to display as “xx mins ago”
And all the posts that are not older than 24 hours, I want it to display as “xx hours ago”
Mehul Bhai, can you please take out some time and help us all achieve this goal.
Thanks & Regards
Hello Hitesh,
The path is same. However that was our mistake we forgot to add themes directory in the path. We have fixed that. Thanks for pointing that out.
Now coming to your question. WordPress has a function called human_time_diff( get_the_time( ‘U’ ), current_time( ‘timestamp’ ) ).’ ‘.__( ‘ago’ ); to show that. You can implement it easily in the Newspaper theme. You can find more information here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/human_time_diff
Thank you for your help and really appreciate the time you took out to put in your words. Yes, I have implemented the timeago thing on my website. Thanks again! :)
Anytime!
How can add date to the pages and I want to update those pages date too? My website has lots of pages. So I need to know this. Any help will be appreciated.
Hello Mehed,
Though I am not 100% sure but you will have to edit page.php inside the theme. You can get an idea what to put there from the formatting of loop-single.php. Let me know if you need anything else.
How can do it for pages?
By defaul this theme does not date option.
First, I want to add date.
After that I want to add “Last Updated/Modified Date” code.
How I can do that?
Hello,
I don’t know how to do that because pages are not supposed to have these options. Will let you know if we find any method to get it done.
BTW why do you want to add the date on Pages? Why simply not use the post option?
Hello;
What if i don’t want “Last Updated:” displayed? i just want the updated date without the text?
Regards
Remove the last updated from the code. Simple! :)