I am trying to set up a new custom post type and create a page (based off the custom post type archive template) and keep it private until it’s ready to be published. I created a page and made it private, but it was visible to everyone (although not in the dropdown like it normally would be, just from entering the permalink URL). So I deleted that from the database (in phpMyAdmin) and tried again just leaving the page a draft. The permalink URL still shows the page template for the custom post type archive. I deleted the draft in phpMyAdmin and still the URL shows the page template (should be giving a 404). I tried this in a different browser where it had never been opened and it also gives the page template.
Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Why isn’t it working to privately publish and why aren’t the deleted pages going away?
You propably only deleted the content of your page, but there are more relations to the page. See the database diagram on wordpress how posts are connected to other tables in the database as well. You’ll have to delete every record pointing to that post!
I really recommend you not to play around in the database of wordpress, there’s a reason why WP gives you the opportunity to administer everything in their admin panel!
To leave a page/post invisible to others, just don’t publish it! As a draft, no one can access it unless he/she has access to your admin panel and the required rights to see drafts!
As soon as you publish it – it’s published. You can also just use the preview view to see how it would look like! Why your private page was visible to everyone is another question, maybe you made some mistakes with your DB…hard to reckon without any further information. Try to set it up as a normal post/page and publish it privately, log out and see what happens!