How to Customize WordPress Post Excerpts

By default, WordPress Post excerpts are displayed on the blog/front page or some posts grid elements you add on the pages instead of the full post. Excerpts use the first 30 words in the post and exclude links, images, and all other HTML. See now an easy method to customize WordPress post excerpts text.

After WP 5 Version & Gutenberg

Adding custom excerpts in WordPress is easy. First, create a new post or edit an existing one. You should see the Extract drop-down menu in the WordPress content editor’s right panel.

Click the down arrow next to it. It expands to reveal the Statements panel. Here you can enter your custom release statement. We just copied the first paragraph of the post ourselves. Your WordPress theme will now use the custom excerpt from this post.

As you can see, the “read more” link does not appear after the excerpt. Depending on the theme used, custom excerpts may not have this link. Readers can still click on the post title or image to read your full post.

How to Customize WordPress Post Excerpts in Classic WP?

Your excerpts will default use the first 30 words in the Post. However, you may not want to use any content from your post as an excerpt.

You can create a custom excerpt for any post using the Excerpt box.

1. Visit the Posts menu
2. Locate and click on the Post you want to editHow to Customize WordPress Post Excerpts
3. Scroll down the page until you see the Excerpt boxHow to Customize WordPress Post Excerpts
4. If you don’t see the Excerpt box, scroll up the page and click on the Screen Options tab.Screen Options Tab
5. Click on the Excerpt checkbox, and scroll back down the page until you see the Excerpt box.
6. In the Excerpt box, enter the text you want to use for the Post’s excerpt, you also can add links (using HTML) in this area to display on the blog page on it some page posts grid element.
7. Click the Update button.Update WordPress Blog Post

Your Post will now use the excerpt defined in the Excerpt box instead of the default excerpt.

The WordPress Excerpt is an optional summary or description of a post; in short, a post summary.

The Excerpt has two primary uses:

1. It replaces the full content in RSS feeds when the option to display summaries is selected in Dashboard › Settings › Reading.
2. Depending on the WordPress theme, it can be displayed in places where quick summaries are preferable to full content:
   • Search results
   • Tag archives
   • Category Archives
   • Monthly archives
   • Author archives

For more information, please go to WordPress ORG.