The Site Editor lets a supported block theme's templates, navigation, reusable structure and global styles be edited with blocks. Understand which object you are editing before saving, because a template or shared part can affect many pages at once.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Check the active theme and permissions
Open Appearance, Themes and identify the active theme. The full Site Editor is associated with block themes; a classic theme may instead provide Customizer and menu controls. A missing Editor option can also reflect your role or a managed restriction, so do not switch themes solely to expose a menu without reviewing the design impact.
02 Open and navigate
- Open Appearance > Editor with an authorised account.
- Review the navigation areas available for Styles, Navigation, Pages, Templates and Patterns.
- Choose the object that matches your task. Edit a page for its own content, a template for a shared layout, or a template part for repeated structure such as a header.
- Use List View to inspect the selected object's blocks before changing them.
What is the difference between editing a page and its template?
A template can contain dynamic Title and Content blocks that display the current page's stored information. Typing fixed text into a template instead can repeat that text across all pages using it. Global styles can alter typography and colours across the site even when the current preview shows only one page.
A template part is also shared. If you edit a header while viewing one template, other templates using that same header can change too. Keep that wider scope in mind when responding to a request that mentions only one visible page.
03 Save and verify deliberately
Review the saving panel and the objects listed before confirming. Check the intended public page and at least one other page that shares the modified object. Use a staging copy for substantial design changes and retain a recovery point.
If the result is wrong, determine whether the change belongs to page content, a template, a part or styles before resetting anything. Resetting a whole template to repair one paragraph can discard unrelated design work. Tell support which object was edited and what the save panel included when the scope is unclear.