Gallery block

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The Gallery block allows you to easily add multiple photos and automatically arrange them in a gallery. You can control the number of columns and the size of the images in the gallery.

Add a Gallery block

The Gallery block can be added to a page by clicking on the Block Inserter (+) icon and selecting the Gallery block.

Alternatively, you can type /gallery and press Enter.

Detailed instructions on adding blocks

Block toolbar

Each block has its own block-specific controls that allow you to manipulate the block right in the editor.

The Gallery block has a toolbar for the individual images as well as a toolbar for the entire Gallery block. 

The main options in the Gallery block toolbar are:

• Transform to
• Block moving handles
  • Drag and drop
  • Move up and down
• Change alignment
• Link
• Caption
• Add button
• More options

Transform to

You can transform or change the block to another block including the Group, Image, and Column blocks.

When you change the block type to the Image block, every image in your gallery will be converted into a single image block.

Block moving handles

The block-moving handles allow you to move the block up and down the editor. Use the six dots icon to drag and drop the Gallery block and place it anywhere on the page. Alternatively, click on the up and down arrows to move the block up or down.

Get more information about moving a block within the editor.

Change alignment

• Align left – Make the block align-center
• Align center – Make the block alignment centered
• Align right – Make the block align-right
• Wide width – Increase the width of the block beyond the content size
• Full width – Extend the block to cover the full width of the screen.

Wide width and Full width alignment options are only available if they are enabled in your theme.

Link

You can choose link options to apply to all images in your gallery.

• Link images to attachment pages: Selecting this option will link the image to its WordPress media attachment page. This is an informational page about your image, which includes the image, the caption, the image description, and a comment field.
• Link images to media files: Selecting this option will link the image to the image file in the original size in a new browser window.
• Enlarge on click: Selecting this option creates a link in the image that opens it to a bigger size, as a dialog on the same page, when clicked. This is called the lightbox effect and it’s useful when you want the viewer to have the chance to see a certain image with more details without needing too much space while reading the content.
• None: Selecting this option will not link the image to anything.

Caption for the gallery

You can add this by clicking on the caption icon on the block settings toolbar.

Adding images

The Add button in the Gallery block lets you add images to the gallery. You have two options to add images to the Gallery block: Open Media Library and Upload.

The Upload option allows you to upload a new image or multiple images to the Gallery block and to your media library. The Media Library option lets you select from previously uploaded images in your Media Library.

You can also drag and drop multiple images at the same time from your explorer or finder window into the Gallery block.

Alternatively, you can open the main inserter panel on the editor and open the media tab. Then, you can drag and drop images from the media library and Openverse into the Gallery block.

Options

These controls give you the option to copy, duplicate, and edit your block as HTML.

Read about these and other settings.

Block toolbar for images in the gallery

You will see additional block toolbar controls when you select an individual photo inside a gallery. Some options such as Add text over image or Align may not be present or my not work as expected when an Image block is inside a Gallery block.

Move images

After you add images to the Gallery block, you can change the order of images in the gallery. Click on an image and in the block toolbar use the move left and move right arrow handles to arrange the images as you like.

Learn about additional block settings on the Image block page.

Block settings

Every block has specific options in the editor sidebar in addition to the options found in the block toolbar. If you do not see the sidebar, click on the Settings button next to the Save/Publish button.

The settings available for the Gallery block are

• Columns
• Resolution
• Crop images to fit
• Randomize order
• Aspect Ratio
• Advanced

Columns

You can choose how many columns your Gallery block can have.

Select between 1 column and 8 columns. Keep in mind that you can only select as many columns as you have images.

This means that if you add 4 images, you’ll be given the option for a maximum of 4 columns. This number will increase as you add more images until you reach the maximum of 8. Even if you add more images to the Gallery, you will not be able to add more than 8 columns.

Your images will automatically arrange themselves to look good no matter how many columns you select. Try changing the setting and see what you like best.

To change the setting you can either manually enter the number of columns you want or visually change the number by using the slider to drag the number up and down.

Resolution

• Thumbnail: Displays a small thumbnail-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note, by default the Thumbnail size is a square, so some cropping of your original image may occur.
• Medium: Displays a medium-sized version of your image on the page/post. This is a good size to use with Left/Right alignments, as it leaves sufficient space for legible text to either side.
• Large: Displays a large-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note: WordPress will determine the width of the content column of your theme, and display the largest possible image for that space.
• Full Size: Displays a full-sized version of your image on the page/post. Note: WordPress will determine the width of the content column of your theme, and display the largest possible image for that space. If your original image is larger than this column width, the full size of the image may not be displayed.

Note: For these resolution or images sizes to work, your theme needs to support them.

Crop images to fit

You can select whether or not you’d like all of your images to be cropped in your Gallery block.

This option is useful if you have images of varying sizes and shapes. Cropping them will make the images in each row of the gallery the same size. You can toggle this option on and off to see which way you prefer.

Randomize order

You can choose to randomize the order of images in the Gallery block.

Note: This setting will display the images in a randomized order on the published page/post. However, in the Block Editor, the images will appear in the order they were added.

Aspect ratio

The Aspect Ratio setting modifies the aspect ratio for all of the images within the Gallery with the choices in the dropdown list, enabling you to set a consistent aspect ratio.

Advanced settings

HTML anchor allows you to do page jumping to the gallery. Page jumping, also sometimes referred to as anchor links, is where you click a link and instantly get moved somewhere further up or down a long page.

To enable this, you put an HTML anchor in the Advanced settings in the Gallery block. You can then create a link to this anchor anywhere on the page and it scrolls to the Gallery block.

The advanced tab also lets you add a CSS class to your block, allowing you to write custom CSS and style the block as you see fit.

Block style settings

You can access the Style settings for the Gallery and Image block by clicking on the Styles tab.

Color

The Gallery block provides color settings options to change the background for the block

For details, refer to this support article: Color settings overview

Dimensions

The Gallery block provides dimension settings options to add padding and margin.

For details refer to this support article: Dimension settings overview

Border

The Gallery block provides border settings options to add border color, width, and radius.

For details refer to this support article: Border settings overview