Edit the Index and All Archives Templates

The Index and All Archives templates display blog posts on your site’s pages. In this guide, you will learn how these templates work and how to customize their layout.

The Index template displays all your latest posts by default. It is used for your default blog page that comes with the theme. It may also be used as a fallback template for all pages if a more specific template is not defined.

The All Archives template displays smaller groupings of posts organized by categories, tags, and archives (which are typically posts by month, year, and other time-based groupings). It also controls the appearance of the default portfolio and testimonial pages.

The layout of the Index and All Archives templates is determined by your site’s theme. You can customize this layout by following the steps in this guide. The changes you make to these templates will apply to all pages that use them.

This guide requires a theme that supports the Site Editor. Check for Appearance → Editor in your site’s dashboard. If you see Customize instead, you’re using a classic theme. Consider switching to a block theme.

To find and edit the Index or All Archives templates, follow these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Editor.
3. In the left sidebar, click the Templates option.
4. Locate the template called Archives (or Index). You can browse through the templates or use the search option at the top to search by name.
5. Click the template thumbnail to open it in the editor.
   • You can also click the ellipsis (three dots) at the top right of the template and select Edit.

First, it helps to understand the overall layout of the template you are working on. To see this, open List View by clicking the icon at the top left of the screen (the icon looks like three horizontal lines):

Here, you will see all the elements (known in the WordPress editor as blocks) of your template. A typical Index or All Archives template will have the following elements:

• Header: The header contains elements like a site title, logo, and menu. The header is a template part that appears across the entire site. Any edits you make to this header will apply to all pages on your site where the header template part is inserted.
• Content: The main content comes from the Query Loop block, which displays your posts in any configuration you choose. If you remove the Query Loop block, the Index or Archives pages will have no posts.
• Footer: The footer contains elements like a site title, contact information, and a WordPress footer credit. The footer is a template part that appears on every page. Any edits you make to this footer will apply everywhere on your site where the footer template part is inserted.

While every WordPress theme is different, these are the standard elements of an Index or All Archives template that you can expect to see on most themes. You may see other elements included in your template, which you can edit as you wish.

Your theme’s templates provide you with a professional, well-designed layout to start from. To personalize the default design, you can swap out the text and images for your own content and add or remove any elements on the page.

Many of the elements in these templates — such as the post title, excerpt, and featured image — are contained in a pattern. To edit these elements, you will first need to select the pattern in List View and click Edit pattern in the block toolbar. You can learn more about editing a block pattern for additional details.

Here are a few common adjustments you may wish to make to your Index or All Archives templates.

If you want to add an element that should appear on your blog page along with your latest posts, you can add it to the Index template. For elements that you want to show on specific tag or category pages, add them to the All Archives template.

A subscription box, a contact form, or a sidebar are some examples of blocks that might be relevant for the Index and All Archives templates.

Click the + block inserter to add a new block in your desired position (it can be helpful to use List View to select the position). The new block will now appear on all pages that use this template.

The All Archives template will usually have a title that specifies which tag or category is currently being viewed by the reader. It can contain a title like Category: Category Name or Tag: Tag Name as shown below:

If you want to edit this title or remove it completely, you can do that in the All Archives template:

1. Open the All Archives template for editing.
2. Using List View, click the Group block below the header to expand it.
3. Click the Archive Title block to either update the title or remove the block altogether. The options for editing the Archive Title block are in the right sidebar, where you can edit the font, colors, and background. You can also choose whether to show the archive type in the title.
   • In the previous example, Category: Recipes, the archive type is “Category.” If you toggle the option to show the archive type off, the title will change to only showing Recipes.

You may want to change the order in which elements on your template are displayed, such as moving the featured image above or below the post title.

1. Open the Index or All Archives template for editing.
2. Using List View, click the Pattern (for example, “List of posts, 1 column”) and click Edit pattern in the block toolbar.
3. Locate the element you want to rearrange, such as the title.
4. Click, drag, and drop it into position as needed. For more information, refer to our guide on moving blocks.
5. Click Save in the top-right corner.

If elements are showing in your Index or All Archives template that you would like to remove:

1. Open the Index or All Archives template for editing.
2. Using List View, click the Pattern (for example, “List of posts, 1 column”) and click Edit pattern in the block toolbar.
3. Select the block you want to remove, such as the post categories.
4. Click the ellipsis (three dots) to the right of the block.
5. Click Delete to remove the block. For more information, refer to our guide on removing blocks.
6. Click Save in the top-right corner.

The Post Template block supports the option to display your posts in a grid or columns:

1. Open the Index or All Archives template for editing.
2. Using List View, click the Pattern (for example, “List of posts, 1 column”) and click Edit pattern in the block toolbar.
3. Click the Post Template block in the List View.
4. Click the Grid view icon in the toolbar that appears above the Post Template.
5. Click Save in the top-right corner.

The Query Loop block can display a featured image for your individual posts. Add a Featured Image block if you don’t see one in the Query Loop block.

The Featured Image block contains many settings you can adjust, such as size, position, spacing, and overlay color. See the Featured Image block guide for more.

If you wish to remove the featured image, select the block, click the ellipsis (three dots) in the toolbar above it, and select Remove. See Remove a block for more.

The “Read More” text is found at the bottom of the Excerpt block, which displays a summary for each published piece of content. To customize the text:

1. Open the Index or All Archives template for editing.
2. Using List View, click the Pattern (for example, “List of posts, 1 column”) and click Edit pattern in the block toolbar.
3. Click where it says Add “read more” link text.
4. Type your preferred text.
5. Click Save in the top-right corner.

If you want the content of your Index or All Archives template to appear wider or narrower, you can control this in the specific template.

When viewing the contents of the template, the width is typically controlled by the blocks named Group. To change the width, follow these steps:

• Edit a template: For general guidance on editing any template, including saving and restoring revisions.
• Reset a template: If you want to undo all your changes and restore the original design.
• Edit the Pages template: Customize the layout of standard pages on your site.
• Edit the default homepage: Customize the layout of your site’s homepage.
• Templates: For an overview of how templates work and the common types of templates on your site.