How to add custom metaboxes to posts and custom post types in wordpress?

Want to insert custom meta boxes in posts, pages, and in custom post types on WordPress? These meta boxes are usually needed to add custom fields (metadata) to the content, i.e. to provide a better user interface. In this article I will tell you what a custom meta box is and how to easily add it to posts and to the custom post type in WordPress.

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How to insert a custom metabox into a record

What Is A Custom Meta Box?

A custom meta box is a more convenient interface for adding custom fields (metadata) to posts, pages, and other custom post types.

WordPress has an extremely easy to use interface that helps you create content such as posts and pages or custom post types.

Typically, each type of content consists of actual content and its metadata. Metadata is information related to content, such as: date and time of publication, author’s name, title, etc. You can also add your metadata using custom fields.

Custom metadata fields

However, adding metadata through standard custom fields is not such a simple and intuitive task. And here user meta boxes come to the rescue.

WordPress allows web developers to create and add their own metaboxes to the post editing screen.

And here is how the most popular plugins add different options to the record editing screen. For example, this is what a custom meta box looks like - SEO title and meta description from Yoast SEO plugin :

Custom metabox plugin Yoast Seo

Having said all this, let's finally find out how easy it is to add a custom meta box to WordPress posts and a custom post type.

Creating a Custom Meta Box

Install and activate the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. For more information, read the step-by-step instructions on how to install the plugin on WordPress .

After activation, the plugin will add a new item in the administration panel menu - “User fields”. Click on it and you will be taken to the custom fields page.

Since you have not created anything yet, this page will be blank. To fix this, click on the "Add New" button.

Create A New Custom Metabox

You will be taken to the "Add a new field group" page.

Enter a title for the field group. This title will be used as the name of your meta box.

After that you can start adding fields. To do this, simply click on the "+ Add Field" button.

Add a new field to the group

A field setup form will appear. Specify a label name for the field. This shortcut will be displayed in the box next to the box.

Specify a shortcut for the metadata field

After that, select the field type. The Advanced Custom Fields plugin provides a number of types: text, text field, radio buttons, check boxes, the full WYSIWYG editor, images, etc.

Provide instructions for the field that will help users understand what to write in the field.

Below you will see other options for the fields. Study them carefully and customize these options to suit your needs.

Other custom field options

Click on the “Close field” button to collapse the field.

If you need to add more fields to the meta box, then repeat the process - click the "+ Add field" button to add another field, and so on every time.

If necessary, add more fields

After you finish adding the fields, scroll down to the "Location" section. Here you can specify when and where your meta box will be displayed.

The place where and when the metabox will be indicated

The Advanced Custom Fields plugin comes with some predefined rules from which you can choose. For example, you can select post types, post categories, taxonomy, parent page, etc.

Then go the settings for meta boxes.

First you need to choose a serial number, i.e. the order in which fields are displayed. This means: if you have several groups of fields defined for one location, then you can select a number to display them. If you do not know what number to put, then leave the number 0.

Display order of arbitrary fields

Determine the position of the meta box on the page. You can choose: display the meta box after the content, before the content or in the right column.

Then select the style for the meta box: standard, i.e. the same as all other meta boxes in WordPress, or you can choose it seamlessly (without meta boxes).

If you are not sure what to choose, then leave the Standard option (WP Metabox).

Finally, you will see a list of fields that are usually displayed on the record editing screen. If you want to hide certain fields from this screen, then check the box next to these fields. If you are not sure what to hide and what not to, then it is better to leave everything unchanged, i.e. nothing to highlight. After you finish editing, click on the "Publish" button.

Publishing created metabox

Congratulations! You have just successfully created a meta box for posts in WordPress.

Depending on the selected settings, you can look into a record or a custom record type to see how the created meta box looks and works in reality.

How the created metabox works

You can use the meta box to add metadata to posts or to a custom post type. This data will be saved in the WordPress database when you post or save the post.

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