How to use Advanced Custom Fields on WordPress

Navigate to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard. Search for Advanced Custom Fields and click Install Now on the official ACF plugin by Elliot Condon. Once installed, click Activate to enable the plugin. You'll see a new Custom Fields menu item appear in your WordPress admin sidebar.

Go to Custom Fields > Field Groups and click Add New. Enter a descriptive title for your field group in the Add title field, such as "Product Details" or "Author Information". This title helps you identify the field group later but won't be visible to users.

Click Add Field to create your first custom field. Configure the following settings:

• Field Label: The display name users will see
• Field Name: Auto-generated from the label, used in code
• Field Type: Choose from Text, Textarea, Number, Email, URL, Image, etc.
• Instructions: Optional help text for users
• Required: Toggle to make the field mandatory

Repeat this process to add multiple fields to your group.

Scroll down to the Location section. Set rules to determine where your fields appear by choosing:

• Post Type: Show on posts, pages, or custom post types
• Page Template: Display only on specific page templates
• Post Category: Show on posts in certain categories
• User Role: Restrict based on user permissions

Click Add rule group to create additional location conditions with OR logic.

In the Settings section, configure:

• Style: Choose between "Seamless" (no metabox border) or "Standard"
• Position: Set to "High" to show fields near the top of the edit screen
• Label Placement: Choose "Top" or "Left" alignment
• Instruction Placement: Position help text above or below fields

Click Publish to save your field group.

Edit or create a new post/page that matches your location rules. You'll see your custom fields appear in the editor. Fill in the field values as needed. For image fields, click Select Image to choose from the media library. For text fields, simply enter your content. Save or update the post to store the field data.

Add ACF functions to your theme templates to display the field data. Use get_field('field_name') to retrieve values and the_field('field_name') to display them directly:

<?php if( get_field('custom_text') ): ?>
  <p><?php the_field('custom_text'); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>

For image fields, use:

<?php 
$image = get_field('custom_image');
if( $image ): ?>
  <img src="<?php echo $image['url']; ?>" alt="<?php echo $image['alt']; ?>">
<?php endif; ?>

Create test content to verify your fields work correctly. Check that fields appear in the right locations, display properly on the frontend, and behave as expected. Return to Custom Fields > Field Groups to edit field settings if needed. You can add new fields, modify existing ones, or adjust location rules without losing existing data.