Meta Box – WordPress Custom Fields Framework Plugin

Meta Box is a powerful, professional, and lightweight toolkit for developers to create custom meta boxes and custom fields for any custom post type in WordPress.

Meta Box helps you add custom fields and details on your website such as pages, posts, custom post types, forms and anywhere you want using over 40 different field types such as text, images, file upload, checkboxes, and more.

On top of that, each WordPress custom field type has extensive internal options for unlimited content possibilities. Complete customization and control is just a few clicks away.

Adding WordPress custom fields and custom meta boxes for custom post types is quick and painless: Select the field types you want in the user-friendly Online Generator, then copy and paste the code into your child theme’s functions.php file.

Boom! All the power with none of the bloat.

There are also free and premium extensions available to add enhanced capabilities. You can manage the display and organization of your WordPress custom fields, the conditions upon which they appear, and become the ultimate WordPress data wizard.

You can also check out the full list of extensions and MetaBox.io for details.

Features

Create any type of metadata or custom fields in WordPress

That’s right – any type. No matter where you need to insert custom data and features, Meta Box’s WordPress custom fields have your back, and with infinite options to boot.

Here are just a few of the data types you can customize:

• Posts
• Pages
• Custom post types (you can also use our free plugin MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies to create custom post types and custom taxonomies)
• Taxonomies
• Settings pages
• Theme option pages
• User profile pages
• Post comments
• And even more data types than Batman has tools on his utility belt.

A wide-range of field types and options

Take your standard WordPress custom field and imagine it infinitely expanded. That’s how many options Meta Box gives you:

• Meta Box supports 40+ built-in WordPress custom field types for all your needs including text, textarea, WYSIWYG editor, image, file, post, select, checkbox, radio buttons, date/time picker, taxonomy, user, oembed and more to come.
• Not enough? You can also effortlessly create your own field type.
• Meta Box supports cloning fields for most field types including the WYSIWYG editor field. It also supports repeatable field groups.
• Utilize WordPress’ powerful action and filter system so you can build or change a site’s appearance and behavior in the plugin.

It’s developer-friendly

As a developer, you have enough on your plate. You shouldn’t have to create an entirely new system for each project. Use Meta Box to your full advantage.

You can use Meta Box and its custom fields for any custom post type in WordPress on as many websites as you want so you can use it on client projects as well.

• Has an ultra-lightweight, yet powerful API that won’t overload your site.
• Add only what you need instead of getting stuck with a bundle of features you don’t even want that bloat your site.
• Meta Box easily integrates with any theme and plugin, and also works with the Composer package dependency manager.
• We use the native WordPress meta data storage and functions for ease of use and lightning-fast processing.
• It’s compatible with WPML multilingual plugin, and is officially supported by the WPML team.

Don’t love coding? You’re in luck!

Meta Box is built mostly for developers since you need to copy and paste some code, but if you prefer a more visual system to create custom fields in WordPress, you can choose one or all of the extensions below:

• MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies
• Meta Box – Beaver Themer Integrator
• Meta Box Builder

The Meta Box Builder extension has a ton of features to make quick work of any project:

• All the power of Meta Box without touching a single line of code.
• It’s designer-friendly, lightweight and works at top-notch speeds.
• Create an unlimited amount of WordPress custom fields at lightning speeds and with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
• Over 40 custom field types available that you can drag and drop to where you need ‘em.
• Export your custom fields and settings to PHP. Then, add it to a new site without needing to install this extension for an incredibly lightweight option.
• It has the goods with conditional logic, priority and context options ready and waiting.

Extensions

Speaking of extensions, there are a ton of free and premium ones available to further extend the already powerful core Meta Box plugin so you can supercharge your custom fields in WordPress.

You’ll have ultimate control to add whatever meta box and custom fields in WordPress you could ever want. Then, you can tailor it all to fit your exact specifications.

Free Extensions

• MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies: Create and manage custom post types and taxonomies quickly with an easy-to-use interface.
• MB Relationships: Create as many connections as you want from post-to-post or page-to-page.
• Meta Box Yoast SEO: Add WordPress custom fields to Yoast SEO Content Analysis to generate more accurate SEO scores.
• MB Rest API: Pull all meta values from posts and terms into the WP REST API responses.
• MB Comment Meta: Add WordPress custom fields to comments in WordPress. It supports all field types and options.
• MB Custom Taxonomy: Create and manage custom taxonomies in WordPress with a user-friendly interface.
• Meta Box Text Limiter: Limit the number of characters or words entered for text and textarea fields.
• Meta Box – FacetWP Integrator: Integrates Meta Box, and FacetWP to make WordPress custom fields searchable and filterable in the frontend.
• Meta Box – Beaver Themer Integrator: Integrates Meta Box, and Beaver Themer to show WordPress custom fields easier in the frontend.

Premium Extensions

• MB Views: Outputting custom fields and build front-end templates for WordPress without touching theme files.
• MB Blocks: Create custom Gutenberg blocks with PHP, using the same syntax in Meta Box.
• Meta Box Builder: Create custom meta boxes and custom fields in WordPress using a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
• Meta Box Group: Create repeatable groups of WordPress custom fields for better appearance and structure.
• MB Settings Page: Create settings pages for themes, plugins or websites with beautiful syntax.
• MB Term Meta: Add meta data to categories, tags or any custom taxonomy with simple syntax.
• Meta Box Conditional Logic: Add visibility dependency for custom meta boxes and custom fields in WordPress.
• Meta Box Include Exclude: Show or hide meta boxes by ID, page template, taxonomy, or custom function.
• MB Frontend Submission: Create frontend forms for users to submit custom content and embed them anywhere with a shortcode.
• Meta Box Columns: Display eye-catching custom fields in WordPress by putting them into 12-column grids.
• Meta Box Tabs: Painlessly create tabs for meta boxes. There are 3 supported WordPress-native tab styles and icons.
• MB Admin Columns: Display WordPress custom fields in table columns on admin screens for all post types.
• MB Custom Table: Save custom field data to custom tables instead of the default meta tables to reduce your database’s size and increase its performance.
• MB Revision: Track changes to custom fields in WordPress with revisions. You can save, compare and restore the changes smoothly.
• MB User Meta: Quickly add WordPress custom fields to user profiles in the wp_usermeta table with simple syntax.
• Meta Box Geolocation: Automatically and instantly populate location data with the power of the Google Maps Geolocation API.
• Meta Box Template: Make defining custom meta boxes and WordPress custom fields way easier with templates.
• Meta Box Tooltip: Display help information for custom fields in WordPress using beautiful tooltips.
• Meta Box Show Hide: Toggle meta boxes by page template, post format, taxonomy and category via JavaScript.

See all the available extensions on the Meta Box website.

Detailed Documentation

We won’t leave you high and dry.

We provide regularly updated, and extensive documentation as well as tutorials on how to use MetaBox and custom fields in WordPress to your advantage as well as in the most efficient way possible.

Here are a few guides to quickly get you started with Meta Box and creating your own WordPress custom fields:

• Introduction
• Custom post types
• Custom fields
• Field settings
• Displaying fields

Check out more on the Meta Box Documentation page.

Other products

If you love this plugin, please try our other great products:

• Slim SEO: A lightweight and full-featured SEO plugin for WordPress
• Slim SEO Schema: The best schema plugin for WordPress
• Slim SEO Link Manager: Build internal links easier in WordPress
• Auto Listings: The car sale and dealership plugin for WordPress
• GretaThemes: Beautiful and easy to use WordPress themes

From within WordPress

1. Visit Plugins > Add New
2. Search for Meta Box
3. Click the Install Now button to install the plugin
4. Click the Activate button to activate the plugin

Manually

1. Unzip the download package
2. Upload meta-box to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
3. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

To getting started with the plugin, please read the Quick Start Guide.

1. 

   Text Fields

2. 

   Basic Fields

3. 

   Advanced Fields

4. 

   File Image Upload Fields

5. 

   Media Fields

6. 

   Post Taxonomy Fields

5.6.18 – 2023-03-21

• Fix select dropdown overflowing in the Gutenberg sidebar
• Fix not clearing color

5.6.17 – 2023-02-27

• Use icon for file types like PDF in the file fields. Credit Eric Celeste.
• Add mb_field_id in query variable args for post field for developers to detect this kind of query. Credit Eric Celeste.
• Fix CSS for marker position for OSM field on the front end
• Fix color picker mode HSL not working
• Fix custom fields for media modal not working with custom tables
• Fix sanitizing date timestamp before Jan 01 1970

5.6.16 – 2023-01-29

• Fix multiple file fields in cloneable groups not cloning properly
• Fix custom fields not showing up in media modal
• Fix warning when image select field not having options
• Fix autoload file not found when the whole WordPress site is managed by Composer
• Fix taxonomy_advanced not displaying selected values in sub groups
• Fix CSS for files in settings pages with no-box style
• Add a type-safe check for meta box settings

5.6.15 – 2022-12-21

• Remove empty post types from meta box settings
• Fix multiple type file fields in cloneable groups not cloning properly
• Fix color for date month/year dropdown
• Fix error message when deleting images in the Customizer with MB Settings Page

5.6.14 – 2022-12-13

• Improve style for date picker
• Update jQueryUI to 1.13.2
• Fix inline date field not localized
• Fix visibility for object field’s query() method, which is called in MB Views and Meta Box Builder
• Fix $meta is not countable in object field’s query method
• Remove return type for is_save() to be compatible with old version of MB Term Meta
• Start to use PSR-4 and Composer

5.6.13 – 2022-12-08

• Fix name for adding form enctype to match with MB Term Meta extension
• Fix return type for RWMB_Helpers_Array::map()
• Fix required param type for RWMB_Helpers_Field::get_class()

5.6.12 – 2022-12-06

• Fix error getting license key

5.6.11 – 2022-12-06

• Fix compatibility with other extensions

5.6.10 – 2022-12-06

• Fix padding for images in custom blocks
• Fix sidebar::query not compatible with object_choice::query
• Fix compatibility with custom models in MB Custom Table. Closes #1466.
• Modernize code: use short array, add type hints, remove comments

5.6.9 – 2022-12-05

• Improve accessibility for form controls, especially when using on the front end
• Use all admin themes for switch and button group
• Add filter ‘rwmb_validation_message_string’ for validation message
• Display field label description even if no label
• Fix not displaying the language according to user preference
• Fix not setting post parent for the uploaded images on the front end for image_upload fields
• Fix warning when using file_info helper function
• Modernize code for PHP 7

5.6.8 – 2022-11-11

• Fix PHP8 warning in image field file info
• Fix wrong comment for translation
• Bump PHP version requirement to 7.0

5.6.7 – 2022-09-16

• Fix file_upload not working with required validation
• Fix wrong text domain
• Fix button group option to display horizontally not save in the builder

5.6.6 – 2022-08-05

• Fix meta box not showing for settings page under Media
• Fix upload to the custom folder does not display the image
• Fix field taxonomy not creating new term if required = true

5.6.5 – 2022-07-14

• Fix select advanced don’t escape HTML characters

5.6.4 – 2022-05-05

• Fix when field taxonomy return WP_Error
• Fix field image_upload not working with tab
• Fix wysiwyg not working for attachment in the media modal
• Improve license check

5.6.3 – 2022-04-18

• Improve Google Maps search, allowing to search by place names
• Fix incorrect the label ID for subfield in groups
• Fix validation not working when a cloneable group collapse
• Improve license key check

5.6.2 – 2022-04-01

• Fix map not showing in block preview
• Fix deleting images in cloneable groups
• Fix PHP notice for file_upload field
• Expose the uploader for file_upload/image_upload so developers can work on that. For example: disable the submit button when uploading files.

5.6.1 – 2022-03-08

• Fix compatibility for PHP < 7.3

5.6.0 – 2022-03-01

• Field background and file_input: support showing image thumbnail
• Add link param in helper functions for taxonomy, post, user fields to show view, edit link or plain text (false)
• Add support for float values for range field
• Add minlength as a common props for fields
• Remove FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING to compatible with PHP 8
• Fix PHP notice when run rwmb_the_value() for taxonomy field with no values

5.5.1 – 2021-12-15

• Fix warning for post field caused by the search by post title

5.5.0 – 2021-12-14

• Add min_clone parameter to set the minimum number of clones. Props @baden03.
• Post field: find by title only
• Meta Box Builder compatibility: parse choice options in real-time
• Prevent inputs overflow the container

5.4.8 – 2021-10-20

• Respect cols attribute of textarea field to set the width of the input (without cols, textarea is 100% width)
• Fix padding for seamless style in Gutenberg
• Fix divider not showing in Gutenberg
• Remove unnesseccary escape meta value

5.4.7 – 2021-09-16

• Fix deleting files and images inside groups.
• Fix maxlength and pattern not working if not set inside attributes
• Fix not switching tabs for wysiwyg editors
• Fix unit for checkbox width
• Fix remove clone button on top of inputs
• Fix style for checked checkboxes on desktops
• Hide hidden field with custom class, not .hidden

5.4.6 – 2021-07-08

• Remove debug code

5.4.5 – 2021-07-08

• Fix styling issue for heading field and side meta boxes

5.4.4 – 2021-07-06

• Improve usability for time picker on mobile by adding +/- buttons
• Make all input, select, textarea 100% width
• Export clone functions to the global “rwmb”

5.4.3 – 2021-06-30

• Fix trailing comma in function call for PHP < 7.3

5.4.2 – 2021-06-29

• Improve style for media fields to reuse style/HTML markup.
• Make input, select, input group, select2, textarea full width on the side context.
• Improve style for button group when buttons don’t have same width.
• Set better default options for date time pickers.
• Allow to output HTML in input prepend/append (ex. icon).
• Add filter rwmb_dismiss_dashboard_widget to dismiss dashboard widget.

5.4.1 – 2021-06-01

• Improve style for prepend, append text
• Improve style for select2 on mobiles
• Make select_tree extend select_advanced and respect select_advanced options

5.4.0 – 2021-05-08

• Shortcode: add render_shortcodes attribute (default true) to allow render inner shortcodes.
• File fields: allow to change uploaded file name when uploading to custom folder via unique_filename_callback setting
• Dashboard: add more video tutorials
• Image fields: fix actions (edit, delete) not visible on mobile
• Choice fields: fix not saving value if they contain quotes
• Datetime fields: fix not saving timestamp via REST API

5.3.10 – 2021-04-24

• Disable autocomplete for date/datetime fields
• Input list field: Fix label not working if contains HTML
• Fix multiple OSM on the same page
• Add auto update for solutions
• Fix various bugs for the wysiwyg editor field (mostly in blocks) and allows to pass tinyMCE/quicktags settings to the editor

5.3.9 – 2021-03-10

• Fix taxonomy_advanced doesn’t load options in attachment with media_modal set to true.
• Fix rwmb_{$field_id}_choice_label not working for checkbox_list field type
• Fix clone_default not working for switch if set std = true
• Update jQueryUI styles to 1.12.1

5.3.8 – 2021-01-28

• Fix value not available when loaded in map and osm fields.

5.3.7 – 2021-01-11

• Fix editor not editable in Gutenberg
• Fix content in the visual tab of editors not saving
• Make required validation work for color, map, osm, switch, text-list fields
• Add dismiss action for dashboard news

5.3.6 – 2020-12-29

• Fix validation not working for image-select, image and wysiwyg fields
• Fix clone_default not working for switch
• Fix saving select field value when defining each option as an array
• Fix wysiwyg not editable in WP 5.6

5.3.5 – 2020-11-30

• Update color picker library to v3.0.0 and fix color picker with opacity not working in the Customizer (used with MB Settings Page).
• Cache update requests
• Show (No title) in object fields if they don’t have title

5.3.4 – 2020-09-23

• Add default title
• Update autoloader
• Bypass the validation when previewing in Gutenberg
• Add MB Views to the updater
• Update color picker script to latest version 2.1.4
• Fix missing labels for color field (wp 5.5.1)
• Fix preview is not generated
• Fix seamless style in WordPress 5.5
• Fix style for file_input field (description is inline with input field)

5.3.3 – 2020-07-21

• Hide Go Pro link for premium users
• Update intro and image for the Online Generator in the welcome page

5.3.2 – 2020-07-03

• Fix validation not working for media fields
• Add “add_to” option for media fields to allow adding new images to the beginning/end of the list
• Improve style for input & select on the sidebar
• Improve style for mobiles

5.3.1 – 2020-06-03

• Fix validation not working for multiple forms (front end)
• Fix PHP warning: Creating default object from empty value
• Fix cloning, sorting wysiwyg field when users disable visual editor
• Change color of switch based on admin color scheme

5.3.0 – 2020-05-11

• Add rwmb_set_meta function to set meta value.
• Add Gutenberg compatibility for validation.
• Fix wrong label output for switch when it’s off.

5.2.10 – 2020-04-17

• Hotfix for getting meta value for checkbox list.

5.2.9 – 2020-04-17

• Fix cloning default value not working for some fields.

5.2.8 – 2020-04-06

Added

• Add option open info window in Google Maps when loaded
• Add alpha_channel & update style to background field
• Add support for custom Ajax parameters for object fields.

Fixed

• Fix validation rules still applied for hidden fields
• Fix image_upload field select files not working on iPhone
• Fix fatal error with Frontend Submission & Elementor
• Fix ‘zoom’ parameter not working for OSM field on the front end

Changed

• Remove languages folder. Load languages from translate.wordpress.org only

5.2.7 – 2020-02-07

• Fix warning in image field for metadata[‘sizes’].
• Allow to quick define text fields with “name” attribute only.

5.2.6 – 2020-02-03

• Fix wrong tag when deploying

5.2.5 – 2020-02-03

Fixed

• Fix CSS in about page and add MB Core to list of premium plugins
• Fix edit icon not showing popup for image fields
• Fix OpenStreetMap not loading properly in tabs

Changed

• Replace date() with gmdate()
• Update style for input prepend/append for WordPress >= 5.3

Added

• Add custom trigger after validation for Tabs/Settings extensiosn to show error fields
• Add URL to all sizes in the returned value of helper functions for images

5.2.4 – 2019-12-11

Added

• Add hook rwmb_field_registered after a field is registered.
• Add (*) to required fields

Changed

• Remove required attribute for license input box.
• Don’t redirect when bulk activate with other plugins.

Fixed

• Fix style for select, select_advanced fields in WordPress 5.3.
• Fix getting object fields for settings pages

5.2.3 – 2019-11-01

Changed

• Set clone=false if max_clone=1
• Shows only images in the selection popup for image field
• Hide license key

Fixed

• Fixed parsed terms in taxonomy advanced for MB Blocks
• Don’t show date picker for readonly fields
• Fix warning when output empty background field value
• Fix empty meta value when save_field=false

5.2.2 – 2019-10-09

Fixed

• Fix sanitizing empty post field
• Fix post thumbnail not saving in MB Frontend Submission
• Fix undefined index for image_select field when using helper functions with no value.
• Fix JQMIGRATE: ‘ready’ event is deprecated

Changed

• Add styling for date picker, autocomplete, select2 to show in the Customizer (for MB Settings Page)

5.2.1 – 2019-09-26

Fixed

• Fix object fields show only selected items when field type is not select advanced
• Fix background field not saving position, attachment & size
• Fix undefined variable in media modal
• Fix non-unique input name for a non-cloneable file in a cloneable group

5.2.0 – 2019-09-18

Added

• Add ajax support for object fields.
• Add custom CSS class for meta box wrapper div.

Changed

• Improve file upload, making it works in groups.
• Optimize performance for cloning wysiwyg field.
• Bypass updates for embed extensions via TGMPA.

Fixed

• Fix PHP warning when using clone with date formatting.
• Fix file upload input not visible when clone a file field with uploaded files = max_file_uploads.

5.1.2 – 2019-08-29

Fixed

• Fix adding >= 2 blocks containing a wysiwyg field not rendering
• Fix CSS for wyswigy field in Gutenberg
• Do not show upgrade message in the Dashboard for premium users
• Fix media field is blank
• Fix cannot access to license page in Multisite

Changed

• Fire change and/or mb_change events when fields change to update custom blocks in real-time (requires MB Blocks extension)

5.1.1 – 2019-08-23

Fixed

• Fix sanitizing number always return 0 if it’s blank
• Fix sanitizing URL

Changed

• Set default field ‘type’ to ‘text’, make it optional and help you write less code
• File/image fields: do not show add new file link if max_file_uploads = 1

5.1.0 – 2019-08-19

Fixed

• Fatal error with RWMB_About::redirect()
• Ensure change event fires when editors change
• Fix rwmb_{$field_id}_choice_label not working for cloneable fields
• Fix missing dependency (underscore) for datepicker JS
• Fix unindex notice for key_value field
• Fix alignment for video field

Changed

• Update notification sytem
• Improve sanitization for fields. See documentation for details.

5.0.1 – 2019-07-25

Fixed

• Fix license notification always show

5.0.0 – 2019-07-24

IMPORTANT: Since version 5.0.0, the plugin requires PHP >= 5.3. If you use an older PHP version, please ask your host to upgrade or use an older version of Meta Box.

Changed

• New minimum PHP version is now 5.3.
• Rewrite all JavaScript to prepare for Gutenberg blocks
• Allow to create meta box with no fields.

Added

• Add the updater for auto update of premium extensions
• Add support for user, settings_pages in rwmb_get_object_fields

Fixed

• Fix warning for cloneable single image.

See full changelog here.