WordPress Block Editor – More Block
This tutorial is part of our series on How To Use The WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg).
- To learn more about using the WordPress block editor interface, go here: The WordPress Block Editor – Content Area
- To learn more about using blocks, see this tutorial: How To Use WordPress Block Editor Blocks
- For additional information, see these tutorials:
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More Block – Description
The More block lets you set a post excerpt or teaser for your content with a “Read More” link that users can click on to read the rest of your article.
Your excerpt will display on your blog page and on your archive pages.
How To Use The More Block
In this section, we’ll cover:
- How to add a More block to your content.
- How to edit and configure your More block and block settings.
- How to remove the More block from your content.
For more details on using blocks (e.g. how to move blocks around your content), see this tutorial: How To Use Blocks.
Adding A More Block
To add a More block to your content:
- Click where you want to insert a ‘read more’ tag and either:
- Click on the ‘Add Block’ tool in the Editing Toolbar section and select the More block (in Most Used or Design section),
- Add the More block in the Content Area.
- Your excerpt will be automatically created.
- Use the More Block Editor or Block Settings section to edit your ‘Read More’ tag and set options for your post excerpt.
Let’s go through the above steps.
First, create a new post or open an existing one and either:
Click on the Add Block tool and select a More block…
Or, select the location where you would like to add a More block, then select the More block by clicking on the Inserter tool in the Content Area.
Either of the above methods will add a More block to your content.
Note: If using the Add Block tool to insert a More block, you will probably need to drag or move the block to the location in your content where you want the “Read More” tag to appear.
After adding a More Block, your content will be broken into two sections when users visit your blog page:
- A short excerpt or “teaser” (visible to users), followed by
- The rest of your article. Once your post is published, users will need to click on the ‘read more’ link to view the rest of the content and continue reading your article.
There is nothing more to do unless you want to edit or customize your ‘read more’ link (see ‘How To Edit A More Block’ section below).
After adding a ‘Read More’ tag:
- Edit and configure block settings,
- Save, publish, or update your post or page.
How To Edit The More Block
To edit the More Block:
- Click inside the More Block to select it.
- Click on the “Read More” tag to edit the link text pointing to the full article.
- Use the Block Settings to hide the teaser section (i.e. the excerpt before the “More” tag).
Let’s go through the above steps.
After adding a More block to your content (and placing it in the location where you would like the excerpt to end followed by a “Continue Reading” tag), you can leave the default ‘Read More’ text or click on the text inside the ‘Read More’ box and change it to whatever you like.
- The default text and style of the ‘Read More’ tag is typically determined by your active theme settings.
- Depending on what type of content you are planning to create, you can use the “read more” link to create a compelling call to action.
Note: You can edit and customize the Read More link of every post where you have used the More block.
Additionally, you can hide the teaser section (i.e. the post excerpt) before the Read More tag by turning on the block’s settings ‘Hide the excerpt on the full content page’ section.
If you leave this setting ‘off’, the post excerpt will remain visible when users click on the ‘Read More’ link.
In other words, users will see the same post excerpt used in your teaser when they click through to read the full article.
If you turn the setting ‘on’, users will be taken straight to the section after the More block when they click on the ‘Read More’ link.
Basically, this setting assumes that the reader either doesn’t need to re-read the post excerpt or that you are using the content preceding the More block as a ‘teaser’ to encourage visitors to click through to the full article.
Remember to update and publish your post to save your settings after adding the More block.
How To Remove The More Block
To delete or remove the More block from your content:
- Click inside the More block to select it.
- Select the ‘More Options’ tool in the Block Editor.
- Click on ‘Remove block’.
- This will remove the More block from your content.
Additionally…
- You can reposition your block using the ‘Move Up’ and ‘Move Down’ arrows or the Drag and Drop handle tool (if you need help with this step, see our tutorial on How To Use Blocks).
- You can also convert a More block into a Reusable block.
More Block Tools, Options & Settings
The More Block includes tools, options, and settings for:
- More Block Editor
- More Block Settings
More Block Editor
The More Block Editor includes tools that let you perform the following operations:
- Change Block Type (See ‘More Block – Additional Info’ section below.)
- Drag & Drop Tool
- Move Up and Down Tool
- More Options – See How To Use Blocks to learn how to use this section.
- Edit Link Text
- Click on the “read more” block to change the link text.
More Block Settings
More block settings include:
- Block description area
- Hide the excerpt on the full content page
- Turn On/Off
More Block – Additional Info
You can convert a More block into the following block types:
Installing plugins or themes on your site may also add new functionality, options, or settings to a More block.
Congratulations! Now you know how to use the WordPress content editor’s More block.
To learn how to use other blocks, go here: WordPress Block Editor – How To Use Blocks
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Updated: July 5th, 2024