How to Show Missing Gutenberg Blocks and Panels in WordPress?

WordPress introduced Gutenberg blocks editor with version 5.0 and after that each release brings new features to the interface. Gutenberg editor offers more than 90 blocks and your plugins can also add additional blocks/panels to the editor. To avoid cluttering, there is a possibility of to hide or show the required blocks and panels in Gutenberg. If you are missing some blocks and panels in Gutenberg, here is how to bring them back. Learn more if you want to hide specific Gutenberg blocks only on mobile devices.

Blocks and Panels

Before we explain, make sure to understand blocks and panels in the editor. Panels are available in the sidebar and bottom portion of the editor when you select the document type tab (for example, post or page).

However, blocks are available within the editor and show its own settings panel in the sidebar. Blocks in the widgets area works similar to the content editor.

1. Show Missing Gutenberg Blocks in WordPress

You can insert the available blocks by clicking on the + icon showing on top left corner with the name as “Toggle block inserter” (hover over the icon to see its name). Alternatively, you can type / and search blocks directly within the content area. For example, let us search /list to find the default list block. As you can see in the below screen, the list block is missing and we can’t create a list without that block.

You might have hidden the block while playing around the settings. Follow the below instructions to show the hidden blocks in Gutenberg editor.

• click “Options” icon showing as three vertical dots on top right corner of the editor.
• It will show a list of menu items and select “Preferences” which is the last item in the current interface.

• On the “Preferences” pop-up, go to “Blocks” tab.
• Check under “Visible Blocks” section. If you see “xx block is hidden” message, then there are hidden blocks which you need to unhide. In our case, the message shows “1 block is hidden” and as you can see the “List” block under “Text” category is deselected.

• Check all the unchecked blocks to reveal them in the editor when you search with / or from block inserter.
• You can also use the search box to confirm the block is available in the editor. This helps especially for the blocks added by the plugins as you may need to enable the blocks from plugin’s settings page.  

• Close the “Preferences” pop-up and search for the /list block and you should find all hidden blocks.

2. Show Hidden Panels in Gutenberg

Similar to blocks, sometimes you may also miss some panels in the sidebar or below the editor. For example, you may miss featured image, category permalink or tags panel in the post sidebar.

• Click on the “Options” icon and select “Preferences” menu.
• Go to “Panels” tab and select the items you want to show and disable the item that you would like to hide.

3. Show Missing Reusable Blocks

Next is a missing reusable block that you have created to insert across your site. If you miss a reusable block, there are possibilities you might have unpublished it or changed its visibility.

• When you are logged into your admin panel, go to yoursite.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=wp_block shortcut URL in the address bar. Alternatively, go to “Options > Manage Reusable Blocks” menu.
• This will show all the reusable blocks available in your site. Check whether you have any “Draft” blocks and publish to make them visible.

• If all the blocks are in published status and still you are missing a reusable block, then edit the missing block. Check the “Visibility” and make sure it is set as “Public”. Private blocks will be only visible to admins/editors and not for all other users on the published site.

• After changing the visibility, click “Update” button to make the block visible for all.

4. Show Missing Blocks from Plugin and Theme Panels

Most of the plugins and themes will add its own blocks and panels in Gutenberg editor. If you are missing these items, you may need to read the plugin/theme documentation and understand its settings to bring them back. For example, if you are missing some tabs in Yoast SEO panel in the editor, then go to “Yoast SEO > General” menu. Click on the “Features” tab and enable “SEO Analysis” / “Readability Analysis” options. This will show bring SEO / Readability tabs in the Yoast SEO panel in Gutenberg editor.

Some plugins need you to enable an option to show or hide bulk blocks and widgets. This is the case with popular Jetpack plugin. You need to enable “Make extra widgets available…” option under “Writing > Widgets” section to use email subscription and other blocks in Jetpack.

Most of the blocks plugins in WordPress work integrated with its parent theme. For example, Kadence blocks plugin will add a block control button in Gutenberg editor. You can click on the button and set the block’s visibility based on user role.  

Final Words

As you can see, there are different ways to fix missing blocks and panels in WordPress Gutenberg editor depending on the situation. You can show to hide default Gutenberg blocks, custom reusable blocks and blocks from your theme/plugins. Though you can enable all the blocks and panels, we recommend hiding unnecessary items. This will not only help to reduce the clutter but also increase the loading speed of Gutenberg editor.