# Notice on Old Posts

> Warns readers at the top of posts older than a set number of years that the information may be out of date.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Frontend only
- Category: [Content](https://wpide.com/library/category/content/)
- Tags: posts, notice, outdated
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/old-post-notice/

## Code

```php
// Posts older than this many years get the notice.
$wpide_old_post_years = 2;
// Message shown; %s becomes the age of the post.
$wpide_old_post_message = 'This article was published %s ago, so some details may be out of date.';

add_filter( 'the_content', function ( $content ) use ( $wpide_old_post_years, $wpide_old_post_message ) {
    if ( ! is_singular( 'post' ) || ! in_the_loop() || ! is_main_query() ) {
        return $content;
    }

    $published = (int) get_post_time( 'U', true );

    if ( ! $published || $published > strtotime( '-' . absint( $wpide_old_post_years ) . ' years' ) ) {
        return $content;
    }

    $notice = sprintf( $wpide_old_post_message, human_time_diff( $published, time() ) );

    return '<p class="wpide-old-post-notice" style="padding:.75em 1em;background:#fcf9e8;border-left:3px solid #dba617;color:#1d2327;">' . esc_html( $notice ) . '</p>' . $content;
}, 20 );
```

## Notes

Change the age in years and the message; %s is replaced with the age, such as "3 years".

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Notice on Old Posts" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/