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Joomla Modules Basics: Positions, Assignments, and Visibility

In Joomla, modules are the blocks around your main content: menus, sidebars, footers, banners, contact details, and so on. Three settings decide where a module appears: its position, its menu assignment, and its access level.

Note: some sites, especially ones built with a page builder or a template's own layout tools, place content differently. If a change here doesn't show up, ask your web team.

Find your modules

  1. Log in at yoursite.com/administrator.
  2. Go to Content > Site Modules (also reachable from System > Manage > Site Modules).
  3. Use Search or Filter Options (by position, status, or type) to find the module. Click its title to open it.

Edit a module's content

For a Custom module (often used for text blocks), the editor is on the Module tab. Edit it like an article, then save. Other module types, like Menu, have settings instead of text.

Position: where on the page

On the Module tab, in the right panel:

  • Position sets which area of your template the module appears in, like a sidebar, header, or footer. Positions depend on your template.
  • Show Title controls whether the module's title is displayed.
  • Module Ordering sets the order when several modules share a position.

You can preview a template's positions Go to System > Site Templates, click Options, set Preview Module Positions to Enabled, and save. Then add ?tp=1 to the end of a page URL (for example, https://example.com/?tp=1) to see each position outlined on the page. Turn it off when you're done.

Menu assignment: which pages

On the Menu Assignment tab, Module Assignment has four choices:

  • On all pages
  • No pages
  • Only on the pages selected
  • On all pages except those selected

For the last two, tick the menu items (pages) in the list. In Joomla, a menu item is a page, so if a page has no menu item, it follows the settings of the menu item it's reached through.

Access and publishing: who and when

On the Module tab:

  • Status: Published or Unpublished.
  • Access: who can see it (for example, Public for everyone, Registered for logged-in users).
  • Start Publishing / Finish Publishing: show the module only between certain dates, handy for announcements.

A module isn't showing? Check these

  1. Status is Published.
  2. Position is set to one your template uses.
  3. Menu Assignment includes the page you're looking at.
  4. Access matches the visitor (for example, it's not set to Registered while you're logged out).
  5. Start/Finish Publishing dates aren't in the way.
  6. Clear the cache under System > Clear Cache if your site uses caching.

Add a new module

  1. In Content > Site Modules, click New.
  2. Choose a module type (for example, Custom for text and images).
  3. Add a title and content, set the Position, set Menu Assignment, and save.

Related

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