For some time now it is been frustrating me that, as a photographer, when I want to add multiple images to a blog post using the new WordPress Gutenberg interface I have to do each image one at a time.
In fact, it annoys me so much, that I started to post multiple images as galleries instead.
WordPress galleries though, have never been ideal, as options are limited for enlarging images on click, or linking to external files, and the layout is inflexible.
I am aware, of course, that there are myriad plugins to present pretty galleries of images within your blog post but, as someone who likes to keep a WordPress site as lean and efficient as possible, unnecessary plugins are not, for me at least, the answer.
It was while trying to add a WordPress gallery and then changing my mind, that I discovered a nifty trick for adding multiple images and presenting them in classic Gutenberg image boxes image blocks, without having to do them one at a time.
So how did I do it?
At the point in your blog post where you would like the images to start, choose the Gallery style of block and proceed to add images. You will be taken to the WordPress media library to select the images you would like your gallery. Choose the images accordingly and complete the process so that WordPress inserts a gallery at that point in your post.
Then in the top left of that you can block change the style of the block from a Gallery to Image and, hey presto, the gallery unfolds and you are presented instead with a list of Gutenberg image blocks which previously would have taken you a while to add individually.
You’re welcome.
30 comments
Iris
Thank you so much! This saved me sooo much time!!
chris
Oh man, I could kiss you! Thank you so much for this.
I’m a neophyte WP user and I’m slowly building up my bag of tricks.
Thanks again!
David
Thank you so much. Once I had mastered this, I found the old “reverse the order of the images” option appears to be missing. Instead of bulk selecting all the images I needed, I ended up ctrl-selecting in reverse order. Still a huge improvement over individually adding images!
//--MSC
SOLVED! Many thanks, indeed. I’ve been browsing through plug-ins which would help me to add a dozens of pics at once, apparently there’s a way around, if Gutenberg editor is used.
Sue
You absolute star! Thank you :-0
Carolyn
Thanks so much for this time saving tip! Gutenberg’s UI has been a challenge for me (I post a lot of images) and I have been switching back and forth between it and the classic editor.
Humphry
Thank you very much, you saved my life.
JB
Awesome tip, thank you!
Jovana
Omg thank you for this!! Found you from google and you have just saved me a lot of time 🙂
Susan
Wow!
Like others, I was getting frustrated with ONE. IMAGE. AT. A. TIME.
Your trick saved me many hours of work as well.
Thank you for sharing!!!
Haydn
This has saved me so much time, thanks! Madness that this isn’t a more obvious or well-publicised feature.
Tatum
Thank you so much!!
Danielle L Pientka
THANK YOU! This has been driving me crazy. Also, beautiful horse photos <3
nico
Thanks Danielle.
Kristy Bernardo
AWESOME.
Reuben
wow.. how simple and easy! Thanks!
Dominic Whiten
Thank you for this – you’re a star!
nico
Glad to be of service!
Amanda Green
Thank you SO MUCH!!!!
Betty
Thank you so much for this helpful tutorial! I’m still getting used to Gutenberg, and while I overall like it, there are definitely some areas that need to be improved.
I was getting so frustrated with how much longer it takes to upload each individual photo! So glad to have found your article which will help me be more productive!
Sunshine
Thank you so much!!! I’ve really be struggling to enjoy posting with the new interface that wordpress has upgraded to. But this tip is a huge help. It was not uncommon for me to make posts with 20-30 images and it was just taking forever until now. Thank you thank you!!!
nico
I’m glad it was useful. It’s particularly useful for posts with lots of images.
James Spencer
You! You wonderful human you! Thank you so much, this has been annoying me for ages! Yay! 🙂
Ian Bursill
Thank you for sharing this invaluable tip! You’ve saved me hours and I’ve now stopped pulling my hair out! 😉
Sasha
I knew you could convert galleries to images so god knows why this hack didn’t occur to me for multiples – you’ve just saved me literally days of image uploading. Thank you!
Willie Pena
dude, awesome trick, just what I needed for a couple of my photo-heavy sites. THANKS!
Lisa
Brilliant! Thanks so much!
William Wenzel
Yes! That’s the trick I needed too! Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
Nora
Thanks for sharing this amazing trick!
I’ve also been very annoyed by the Gutenberg limitation on inserting multiple images. This method totally works and saves me so much time that I feel the need to leave this comment to thank you! 🙂
nico
Hi Nora. I’m glad it is useful. I only discovered it by accident!