Page/Post Settings sidebar (original) (raw)

The Settings Sidebar is used to customize the key aspects of the page or post that is being published. It’s an essential component of the WordPress Block Editor.

This sidebar was introduced in WordPress 5.6 and was called Document Settings. It has been renamed now to the Page/Post settings. Depending on whether you are working on a Post or Page, the tab in the sidebar is named Post or Page.

If you are working in a custom post type such as Article, this tab will be labeled with the name of the custom post type, which would be Article in this case. If you are in the Site Editor, the tab is named Template.

How to open

How to open Page/Post settings

In the upper-right corner of the WordPress Editor, select the gear icon. This toggles the sidebar. Within the sidebar, the left tab features the settings for the entire Page or Post you’re working on. The right tab shows the settings for the individual Block selected.

The following sections are available in the settings sidebar for Pages and Posts. This may vary based on the themes and plugins you have on your site.

Featured Images (also sometimes called Post Thumbnails) are used in different ways depending on the theme. Many themes use this image to showcase the post on the home page or blog index page.

Featured Image in Settings sidebar

To set the Featured image, drag an image from your computer and drop it in the gray box.

You can also click the Set featured image box, which opens the Media Library where you can select the image or upload a new image. Once you have an image picked, you will see a blue check box around the selected image. Click Set featured image button at the bottom right corner to have this image as the Featured Image for the page/post.

Adding a featured image

Once you’ve set a Featured Image for a page or post, you have two choices available. First, you can Replace the current Featured Image with a new one. Second, you can Remove the Featured Image, so there’s no image displayed for that page or post anymore.

Replace and Remove Options under Featured Image Settings

Excerpt

This section is optional and only applicable to post types that have excerpts enabled, such as posts. Here you can write a one to two sentence description of the post.

Excerpt in the Settings sidebar

Depending on the theme, these excerpts can be used as a preview, in place of showing the full post or page content on different places such as the homepage, search results, or the archive page.

If the excerpt is empty, WordPress automatically creates an excerpt using the first 55 words of the post.

Status

This setting controls the Status of the page/post and how it is viewed once it is published.

Clicking on the current setting for Status will open a pop-over where you can change the Status & Visibility setting. Click X in the top right corner in the pop-over to close it.

Status Settings

Pending review posts in the Pending filter

Visibility in the Summary section, making a post password protected

Stick to the top of the blog

Publish

This setting controls when the post will be published. Clicking on the current setting for **Publish will open a pop-over where you can change the settings. Click X in the top right corner in the pop-over to close it.

Publish Settings

Clicking Now in the top right corner (next to the X) will set Publish to Immediately.

To backdate the post or change it to a date and time in the future, use the calendar. This will schedule the post to publish at a different time.

Slug

This setting controls the Permalink for the page/post. A permalink is a permanent URL of your post or page. They are used to link to the page/post from another blog, email, or from social media profile.

Slug Settings

Clicking on the current setting for the Slug will open a pop-over where you can change the settings. Click X in the top right corner in the pop-over to close it.

If you have your Permalink settings to Plain, you will NOT have the option to customize the URL. the U pretty permalinks for draft and schedule posts.

Author

This setting will show the author of the page/post. If you have enough permission, you can change the author by selecting a different author from the dropdown list.

Author Setting

Template

This setting controls which template is used by the page/post. A template defines the way content is displayed when viewing your post or page. Clicking on the current setting for the **Template will open a pop-over where you can change the settings. Click X in the top right corner in the pop-over to close it.

Template Settings

Template popup for block themes

You can change the template by clicking on the dropdown list and selecting a different template. All your theme’s templates will be displayed in the drop down list.

If you are using a block theme, you will have the option to edit the current template. Click Edit template at the bottom of the dropdown list which will open the current template in the Template Editor. Here you can make changes to the selected template.

You will also have the option to create a new template if you are using a block theme. Click the add template icon in the top right corner (next to the X icon). This will open a dialog box where you can give a name for the new template you are about to create and click Create to open the Template Editor where you can build out the new template.

The Edit template and Add template options are NOT available if you have Editor permissions

Discussion

Here you can control how people interact with your post through comments.

Discussion in the settings sidebar

Post format

This feature is only available for Posts AND on certain themes only. In some themes, like Twenty Sixteen, there is a dropdown menu for Post Format. A Post Format is used by a theme for presenting posts in a certain style. Refer to your theme’s documentation for how each Post Format will show up on your site.

Post formats

Parent

This section allows you to set parent pages and change the order of your pages. This feature is only available for hierarchical post types, such as Pages.

Parent attributes in the settings sidebar

Move to trash

Once the post or page is saved for the first time as a draft, a new button will appear named Move to trash. This button will continue to show up in the sidebar for a page/post that is pending review, scheduled, or published. Once an item is placed into the trash, it remains there for 30 days (by default), then is permanently deleted.

Move to trash feature in Post

Categories

Each post in WordPress is filed under one or more Categories. Categories provide a helpful way to group related blog posts together. They not only help keep posts organized, but you can also use categories to display posts in several places across your site, making it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for quickly.

On the Settings sidebar for Posts, a list of your categories will show up with checkboxes. Add your post to one or more categories by checking the checkbox next to the Category name.

Categories settings

To add a new category, click Add New Category to open a new panel.

Tags

Tags provide a useful way to group related posts together and quickly tell your readers what a post is about. Tags also make it easier for people to find your content. Each post in WordPress can be filed under one or more Tags. Unlike Categories, Tags are not required.

Tags in Settings sidebar

By default, this feature is only available for posts.

If you have more than 3 tags that you frequently use on your Posts, they will be displayed under Most Used. Clicking on any one of them will add it to the current Post.

Tags in Settings sidebar

How to customize

You can change which sections appear in the sidebar of the WordPress Editor by using the Preferences tool.

The settings sidebar in the Site Editor (only available if your site is using a block theme) is shown below:

Settings sidebar in site editor

Customizing the template part in the sidebar settings

Clear customizations in the sidebar for site editor

Changelog