Repository navigation
MetaBoxesMain renders empty "Meta Boxes" panel when there are only sidebar metaboxes #84173
Description
Description
Our site only has a couple of metaboxes registered to "side".
wp.data.select('core/edit-post').getActiveMetaBoxLocations()
// returns
[ "side" ]
wp.data.select('core/edit-post').getAllMetaBoxes()
// returns
[
{
"id": "ef_editorial_meta",
"title": "Editorial Metadata"
},
{
"id": "mdt-review",
"title": "Review"
}
]MetaBoxesMain decides visibility based on whether metaboxes are registered for normal, advanced or side:
isMetaBoxLocationVisible2("normal") || isMetaBoxLocationVisible2("advanced") || isMetaBoxLocationVisible2("side")
But the panel body only renders normal and advanced metaboxes:
<MetaBoxes location="normal" />
<MetaBoxes location="advanced" />side metaboxes are rendered separately in the Editor component.
If the only registered boxes sit in the side location, we get the "Meta Boxes" toggle bar and a drag handle with nothing inside it.
This looks broken. We should remove side from the visbility condition.
Step-by-step reproduction instructions
- Have a site with at only one metabox registered in
side. - Go to
wp-admin/edit.phpand edit a post. - Note the empty "Meta Boxes" panel at the bottom of the editor.
Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet
Environment info
- WordPress 7.1.
- Gutenberg 23.6.
Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.
- Yes
Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.
- Yes
Please confirm which theme type you used for testing.
- Block
- Classic
- Hybrid (e.g. classic with theme.json)
- Not sure
Activity
t-hamano commentedon Oct 8, 2026
Thanks for the report.
Unfortunately, the situation is not that simple. Metaboxes can be moved between the main area and the sidebar. This feature is disabled if the empty main metabox is not rendered.
This is untested, but we might be able to check if the main metabox is empty and set its height to zero if so.
andfinally commentedon Oct 8, 2026
Thanks @t-hamano, I didn't think of that!
FWIW, in my version of the editor, I'm not able to drag the metaboxes out of the sidebar to that panel. And when a metabox is at the bottom of the sidebar, the down arrow is greyed out. So there must be some conditions involved in their positioning.