To create custom fields using the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin in WordPress, follow these steps:
- Install and Activate Advanced Custom Fields: First, you need to install and activate the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. You can do this by navigating to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress admin dashboard, searching for “Advanced Custom Fields,” and then clicking “Install Now” and “Activate.”
- Create a New Field Group: After activating ACF, go to Custom Fields > Field Groups > Add New in your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Add Fields: Within the new field group, you can start adding fields by clicking the “+ Add Field” button. ACF provides various field types such as text, textarea, image, file, select, checkbox, etc. Choose the appropriate field type for your custom field.
- Configure Field Settings: For each field, you can configure settings such as label, name, field type, required status, default value, instructions, etc. Adjust these settings according to your requirements.
- Location Rules: Define where you want your custom fields to appear. You can set rules based on post type, page template, taxonomy, etc. For example, you can choose to display the custom fields only on specific post types or pages.
- Save Field Group: Once you have added all the fields and configured their settings, click the “Publish” button to save the field group.
- Associate with Content: Now, when you create or edit a post, page, or any other content type that matches the location rules you defined, you’ll see the custom fields you created in the editor screen. Fill in the values for these fields as needed.
- Display Custom Fields: You can display the values of custom fields in your theme templates using PHP functions provided by ACF. For example, you can use
get_field()
orthe_field()
functions to retrieve and display the values of custom fields within your theme files.
Here’s an example of how you can display a custom field called “custom_text_field” in your theme template:
<?php
// Get the value of the custom field
$custom_text = get_field('custom_text_field');
// Display the value of the custom field
if ($custom_text) {
echo '<p>' . $custom_text . '</p>';
}
?>
- Repeatable Fields and Flexible Content: ACF also supports advanced features like repeater fields and flexible content fields, which allow you to create repeating sections or flexible layouts within your content.
By following these steps, you can create and use custom fields using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin in WordPress to enhance the content editing experience and add flexibility to your website.