Personalizing your WordPress editor can enhance your writing experience and improve your workflow. This guide will show you how to customize editor settings, interface options, accessibility features, and block display preferences.
You can customize editor settings, interface options, accessibility features, and block preferences through the Preferences section of your editor.
Follow these steps to access your editor preferences:
Once you select Preferences, you will find tabs for each of the categories described below.
Always open List View: The List View is a panel you can open on the left side of the editor that displays a list of all the blocks in the page/post/template you’re working on. Toggle this setting on to show the List View automatically when you open the editor.
Show block breadcrumbs: Block breadcrumbs appear at the bottom left of the editor and show you exactly where you are in your content structure (like a navigation trail showing which block is nested inside another). This setting is enabled by default. Toggle it off to hide the block breadcrumbs.
Allow right-click contextual menus: While in the List View, right-click on an item to see a menu of contextual options for the block, like copy, add before/after, and more. Toggle the setting off to restore the browser’s default right-click options.
Show starter patterns: Starter patterns give you a quick way to add content with predefined layouts when you create a new page. Toggle this setting off to start with a blank page every time you create a new page.
Document settings (pages and posts only): Choose which options you want to appear in the page/post settings sidebar on the right side of your editor screen.
Settings include “Writing Assistance,” “Access” (for blog posts), “Excerpt,” and more depending on the post type.
Enable pre-publish checks: When you publish a page or a post, pre-publish checks give you an opportunity to review specific settings. For pages, you can review the visibility and publish immediately or set a future publish date.
For posts, along with visibility and publish options, you can also review categories, newsletter settings, and what social networks to share the post on.
Toggle the setting off to publish pages and posts without going through the pre-publish checks first.
Top toolbar: By default, block toolbars appear near (above or below) the block you’re working on. Toggle this setting on if you want the block toolbar to always appear pinned to the top of the screen.
Distraction free: Enable this setting to hide the top toolbar and block breadcrumbs. When distraction free mode is enabled, hover near the top of the editor to access the top toolbar.
Spotlight mode: Enable this setting to highlight the current block while fading out other content. This feature allows you to concentrate on the block you are editing.
Use theme style (pages and posts only): Enabled by default, this setting applies your theme’s fonts and certain styles. To see how your site looks with the full theme applied, use the preview option in the editor.
Contain text cursor inside block: Toggle this setting on to keep the text cursor within blocks while navigating with arrow keys. This prevents it from moving to other blocks and enhances accessibility for keyboard users.
Show button text labels: Toggle this setting on to display text instead of icons on buttons across the interface.
Show most used blocks: Add a category with the most frequently used blocks in the inserter, giving you faster access to your preferred blocks.
Manage block visibility: Uncheck the box next to any block (or use the search to locate a specific block) to hide it from the + block inserter (the menu that appears when you click the plus (+) icon to add blocks).
To restore a block you disabled from view, navigate to preferences and check the box next to the block you want to be visible again.
