How to Create a Custom Archive Page in WordPress

In WordPress, archive pages are used to display a list of posts based on specific criteria such as date, category, tag, author, etc. By default, WordPress provides archive pages for categories, tags, authors, and date-based archives. However, there may be cases where you want to create a custom archive page to display posts in a unique way.

To create a custom archive page in WordPress, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a new template file

<?php
/*
Template Name: Custom Archive
*/
get_header();
// Your custom archive page content here
get_footer();
?>

Create a new PHP file in your theme directory and add the above code. You can name this file anything you want, but it’s a good practice to name it something that describes its purpose, like custom-archive.php. In the code, we have defined a custom template named “Custom Archive”. You can customize the content of this file to design your custom archive page layout.

Step 2: Customize the query for the archive page

function flashify_custom_archive_query($query) {
    if ($query->is_main_query() && is_post_type_archive('your_custom_post_type')) {
        $query->set('posts_per_page', 10);
        $query->set('orderby', 'title');
        $query->set('order', 'ASC');
    }
}
add_action('pre_get_posts', 'flashify_custom_archive_query');

In the code above, we have created a custom function named “flashify_custom_archive_query” to modify the main query for the custom archive page. You can adjust the parameters like posts_per_page, orderby, and order based on your requirements. Make sure to replace ‘your_custom_post_type’ with the actual post type you want to display on the custom archive page.

Step 3: Create a custom archive page template

function flashify_get_custom_archive_template($template) {
    if (is_post_type_archive('your_custom_post_type')) {
        $new_template = locate_template(array('custom-archive.php'));
        if (!empty($new_template)) {
            return $new_template;
        }
    }
    return $template;
}
add_filter('template_include', 'flashify_get_custom_archive_template');

In the code snippet above, we have created a function named “flashify_get_custom_archive_template” to load the custom archive page template we created earlier. This function checks if the current page is a post type archive for ‘your_custom_post_type’ and then returns the custom template file if it exists.

By following these steps, you can create a custom archive page in WordPress to display your posts in a unique and specific way. Remember to customize the template file and query parameters according to your needs to achieve the desired layout and functionality on your custom archive page.