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How to Add Caption to Images in WordPress (Beginner’s Tutorial)

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Do you want to add captions to your images in WordPress?

Captions are brief text descriptions that you can add to your images. They are typically used to provide additional details about an image. WordPress comes with the built-in capability to easily add a caption and other metadata, including title and alternative text for each image.

In this beginner’s guide, we will show you how to easily add a caption to images in WordPress.

How to Add Caption to Images in WordPress

Why Add Caption to Images in WordPress?

An image can be worth a thousand words but doesn’t show the whole story. Captions are short descriptions that you can add to your images. They help describe the picture and provide context.

For example, if you have an online store, then you can add captions to product images. This helps provide additional information to potential customers. You can describe different features and benefits, helping convert visitors.

Similarly, if you have a wildlife photography website, then you can use captions to add the location of the image or give credit to others who assisted in capturing the moment.

Besides that, images with captions can also help boost your WordPress SEO. You can include relevant keywords in the captions and help search engines to discover and understand your pictures easily.

That said, let’s look at how to add captions to images in WordPress.

Adding Captions to Images in WordPress

The first thing you need to do is to create a new post or edit an existing one. Then, on the post-editing screen, click the ‘+’ icon and select the Image block.

Add an image block

Next, you will need to upload an image or select one from the media library.

Upon clicking on it, the Image block will be added to the post.

Add your image

You can now click on the ‘Upload’ button to select and upload an image from your computer to WordPress. You can also select a previously uploaded image by clicking on the ‘Media Library’ button.

To learn more, see our article on how to add and align images in WordPress.

As soon as you add an image, it will appear inside the editor with a text box labeled ‘Add caption’ below it.

That’s where you can add a caption for your image.

Add caption to the image

Once done, you can save your post by clicking on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button. Wasn’t that easy?

The WordPress content editor also comes with a Gallery block. It allows you to upload multiple images and display them in a grid layout with rows and columns.

Let’s see how to add captions to images in a WordPress Gallery block.

To create a gallery, create or open an existing post or page in the block editor. Then click the ‘+’ icon and select the Gallery block.

Add a gallery block

You will see the Gallery block added to your page/post area.

Now, you can upload images one by one from your computer or select the pre-uploaded pictures from your media library.

Upload images to gallery block

If you upload images individually, then you can add a caption after uploading each one.

When an image is uploaded, simply click on the image, and the ‘Add caption’ field will appear. You can add a caption by clicking on it and typing text into the field.

Add caption for gallery images

If you select pre-added images from the library, you can add a caption to each one in the ‘Caption’ field on the right.

If the photos already have a caption, then you don’t need to add it again.

Select Images to Create Gallery in WordPress

If you want to create a more advanced image gallery in WordPress, we recommend using the Envira Gallery plugin.

Envira comes with modern templates to create beautiful galleries, a drag and drop gallery builder, and the ability to add image captions, lightbox effects, watermarks, and more.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to create an image gallery in WordPress.

Adding Captions to Images in the WordPress Media Library

WordPress allows you to upload images directly to the media library without embedding them in a post or page.

Here, we will show you how to add captions to images when uploading them directly to the Media Library.

First, you need to visit the Media » Add New page in the WordPress admin area.

Add New Media to WordPress

From here, you can upload an image by dragging and dropping it or by selecting one from your computer.

Once done, you will see the uploaded image below the ‘Upload New Media’ box. You need to click the ‘Edit’ link.

Edit Image Option in WordPress Media Upload Page

This will open the Edit Media page in a new tab. You may notice that it looks similar to the post-editing screen. That’s because WordPress treats attachments (for example, images) as a default post type.

This allows it to store image metadata like title, description, and caption in the WordPress database.

From this screen, you can edit your image title and add image metadata, including a caption, alternative text, and description.

Image Post Edit Screen in WordPress

Once you have added the necessary information, you can update your image. This image metadata will now be saved in your media library.

You can add this image to as many posts as you like without having to add the caption and other metadata again. Whenever you add this image to your post from the media library, it comes with the metadata already saved.

Select Image to Add in a WordPress Post

Adding Caption to Images in WordPress with the Classic Editor

If you are still using the old Classic Editor on your WordPress website, then this is how to add captions to images in WordPress.

Simply click on the ‘Add Media’ button above the post editor to upload an image or select one from the media library.

Add media button in the old classic editor

Once the image has been uploaded, you can enter metadata like a title, alt text, and a caption.

Then, simply click on the ‘Insert into post’ button to add the image to your post or page.

Adding caption to images using the Classic Editor

You will now be able to see the image preview in your post editor with the caption.

You can save your changes and preview the post to see how it will look on your live site.

Preview of an image with the caption

You can also add captions to images when creating a gallery using the Classic Editor.

Simply upload and select multiple images and then click on the ‘Create Gallery’ link from the left column.

Create gallery in media uploader

After that, you will need to click on the ‘Create a new gallery’ button in the bottom right corner of the popup.

From here, you can add captions to each image.

Create a new gallery with selected images

You will be able to add captions directly below each image or click on an image to load its settings in the right column and then add the caption.

You can now click on the ‘Insert Gallery’ button to add the gallery to your WordPress post or page.

This is how the images look on our demo website.

Classic editor gallery images with captions

We hope this article helped you to add caption text to your images in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to fix common image issues in WordPress and our expert picks for the best social media plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

45 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
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  2. Peter Samuel says

    How do I caption a picture? After I insert a picture I get an appearing and disappearing instruction in light grey ‘Write caption…’ I try writing my caption but no typing takes. I click different places. That doesn’t help.

    • WPBeginner Support says

      If it’s in light grey then you may not have access to modify the caption if you’re not the admin of the site. If you are an admin you may want to try disabling your plugins to see if this could be due to a plugin conflict.

      Admin

  3. Veronica Williams says

    I liked the old classic editor ‘pop up’ style titles, that appeared when you hovered over them. How do I create those using the new editor?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      For what it sounds like you mean, that would be set up by your theme’s styling rather than the editor.

      Admin

  4. Jesper Osgaard says

    How do I center the figcaption for images? The caption is centered in the editor, but when post is published the captions are left aligned

    • WPBeginner Support says

      You would want to reach out to the support for your current theme to see if there is a styling issue with the theme itself.

      Admin

  5. Supreet says

    Hey there, I want to add a caption to gallery images, but what if I don’t want the black gradient at the bottom of my images that holds the caption? I prefer the caption to be in white and below the image. How do I do this? Thank you!

    • WPBeginner Support says

      That would be determined by your theme’s CSS so you would want to either reach out to your theme’s support or you can use a gallery plugin to style it differently than what your theme has set.

      Admin

  6. Charles Perk says

    How can I show the caption for pictures in the Upload / Media Library pop-up?
    We have to wade through hundreds of pictures of products that look rather similar and without the caption or title it is almost impossible to find the correct one to insert; clicking one only gives the Select option but shows no details. Hovering caption plugins only work on the frontend.

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Unless I hear otherwise we do not have a recommended plugin for adding the caption in the insert area. If you are not already, you should be able to upload the image in the post/page/custom post type and set the caption there rather than uploading directly to your media library.

      Admin

    • WPBeginner Support says

      You can use the advanced area to add CSS classes to the image but you would need to use the HTML editor if you wanted to add other specific classes.

      Admin

  7. Imogen says

    Hi there,

    I’m wondering if you know how to add a caption to an image on the WordPress app?

    Thanks!

  8. Isaac Yoder says

    I’m not having a problem coming up with captions, but I am having major issues with the font and color of the words in the captions. How do I edit this?

  9. Cecile Ramirez says

    I am using Genesis theme and outreach-pro child-theme. I enter captions for images and they display in the editing mode view. When I go to my actual site, the caption is missing. I need to add captions for some, but not all, images. Please help.

  10. Angela says

    How do I get my site to show the captions after they are added? I have added the captions to the pictures under media but they don’t show when I look at the site. They only show when I hover over the pictures.

  11. Robert says

    Hi,

    I want to embed some text into a photo on my website. Please advise how to do this.

    Thanks,

    Robert Fisch

  12. Christyna says

    By speaking slower and more clearly at might help the beginners a little bit more. You run over the words, so to speak ” rattle off”!!

    Not a good idea for them who just start wordpress!

    Thank you

  13. Rich says

    Thanks for this article and all your other helpful articles.
    Can you recommend any tips to add this type of info for each picture on my site that helps SEO?

    Rich

  14. Hemabandaru says

    Really helpful for my WordPress site thanks you for sharing a such a good article about image captions

  15. Nicholas Read says

    You go much too fast. Your videos are almost no help at all because you rush through everything. You have to remember that the people you’re trying to reach are beginners. We don’t know what we’re doing. That’s why we’re relying on you.

  16. Steve Procter says

    Hi, can you add an additions one stating how to edit multiple images at once? People like myself who have a photography blog, will want to add keywords and titles to multiple images in one go :)

  17. Jay says

    Hello I have added captions to photo files on my computer. Is it possible to upload the photos including the captions to a WordPress blog, or do I need to copy and paste the captions from the metadata of the photos into WordPress?

  18. bianka says

    Hi – I have a good background picture on my homepage – bkgd position 70px 0px, bkgd size cover. But I can’t seem to get the same on my other pages as it asks for scale or pixels – I’ve tried resizing on paint but no matter what to it appears too big. – that’s my 1st problem.

    2. using 2014 theme – child – where do I find the code for the pages ? I’ve looked in 2014 parent theme style.css but can’t make out if the code in there belongs to the parent or child — I’ve checked the color codes and they seem to belong to the parent theme – so where will I find the code for my pages – I am tearing my hair out , I’ve been at this for months and no one can give me an answer! – I’m learning php, html, java, just to find them to no avail.

    3. I have my title in my homepage (which is my url – But I wish to change the last word to suit all my other pages – any chance you have a code for this and where would I add it.

    Thanks again

  19. Peter McNeice says

    Thanks for this.

    Wondering whether it’s possible to have the caption appear with the photos when they’re clicked on and open in the lightbox.

    That way, when people continue scrolling through the photos, the captions continue to appear.

    Cheers.

  20. Myles says

    Question: Sometimes when I add a caption to a photo in some themes, it will make it appear a little wonky. A border box will appear off-center. What should I look for in the CSS to fix this?

  21. Steven Denger says

    These tutorals are very helpful and appreciated. I have found WordPress after a few months of researching and digging for hours a day to be almost not worth it to me. The WordPress platform seems to be and do one thing and one thing only – cram content to the left and stack it. I fight it all the time trying to get a decent customization. That only comes with a plugin and a lot of trial and error. As the saying goes: there has got to be an easier way. I am about to become an X WordPress user because it is impracticle, unreliable, difficult and time consuming to customize, and one has to do without most of time and just settle for what wordpress gives you. I give up the fight. As I am a college educated person with a higher than average IQ,I stll cannot see spending all this much time just for simple customizations. – Steve, an X WordPress user

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