How to Use the WordPress Block Editor

WordPress builds pages and posts out of blocks. A paragraph is a block, an image is a block, a button is a block. Once you get the hang of adding and moving blocks, editing your site gets a lot easier. These steps are for WordPress 6.x and later.

Open the editor

Log in at yoursite.com/wp-admin.
Go to Pages or Posts.
Click the title of what you want to edit, or use the add button at the top of the list (its label varies by version) to start fresh.

If your site uses a page builder or the Classic Editor plugin, your screens will look different.

Add a block

There are a few ways:

Click the + button (the block inserter) in the top toolbar and pick a block.
Click the small + that appears between blocks.
On an empty line, type / followed by a block name, like /image or /button, and press Enter.

Common blocks are Paragraph, Heading, Image, List, Buttons, Columns, and Group.

Edit and format a block

Click a block to select it. A toolbar shows up above it with options like bold, links, and alignment.
Use the Settings sidebar on the right (the panel icon in the top right) for more options, like colors, sizes, and spacing. The Block tab shows settings for the selected block. The Page or Post tab shows settings for the whole page.

Move, copy, or delete blocks

Use the up and down arrows in the block toolbar to move a block, or drag it by its handle.
Click the three-dot Options menu in the block toolbar to duplicate, copy, or delete it.
Press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) to undo.

Find your way with List View

Long pages get crowded. Click List View (the icon with stacked lines in the top toolbar) to see every block on the page as an outline. Click a block's name to jump to it, or drag blocks around in the list.

Use patterns

Patterns are ready-made groups of blocks, like a call-to-action section or a team grid. Open the block inserter and click the Patterns tab to browse.

You can also save your own. Select some blocks, open the Options menu, and choose Create pattern. If you mark it as synced, editing it in one place updates it everywhere it's used. That's great for things like a contact box that shows on several pages.

Save, preview, and publish

Save draft keeps your work without making it public.
Preview shows how the page will look to visitors.
Publish makes a new page live. On a page that's already live, the button says Save or Update and your changes go live right away.
To schedule a post, click the date next to Publish in the sidebar and pick a future date.

Changed your mind? WordPress keeps Revisions (in the sidebar) so you can go back to an earlier version.

Tips

Use Heading blocks for section titles instead of making text bold and big. It helps readers, search engines, and screen readers.
Add alt text to images. See How to Add, Resize, and Caption Images in WordPress (with Alt Text).
Keep it simple. A few clean blocks look better than lots of colors and fonts.

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