What is Block Transform Feature in Block Editor and How to Use it

What is Block transform Feature in Block Editor

The WordPress Block Editor has been around for a while now and users are slowly switching to Gutenberg. Our core developers have introduced tons of amazing features in the Gutenberg editor and are continuing to do that. One of the amazing features in Block Editor is the Block Transform feature. The feature is useful to transform a block type to another supported block type.

If you are writing in a specific block, but you want to convert it to some other block type with necessary designs and patterns, the ‘Block Transform’ feature in block editor can help you. It allows you to try out different block types at utter ease. For instance, if I am using a paragraph block and want to transform it into a quote or heading or maybe pullquote, then I can simply use the Block Transform feature available on the block editor. I do not necessarily have to copy the text, create another block, and paste it again on the block type I want to use. Click on the tiny Block Transform button and convert your block to any other block within a second. Simple and quick!

Here I am going to quickly demonstrate how the Block Transform feature in Block editor actually works.

Using Block Transform Feature in Block Editor

So first of all, let’s add a new post or page and paste in/enter some content. As you can see in the screenshot below, there are block editor tools on the top of the editor. From there, you can add a new block and further customize them.

Block Editor Tools

Now, to transform blocks, you need to first select a block and click on the Block Transform button. The button will first show you the current block type of the paragraph or block you’re chosen. Here, since this is a paragraph, the Block Transform button shows the paragraph icon/symbol.

When you click the button, you will see a bunch of other convertible blocks named under ‘Transformed To’. This shows that different blocks in Gutenberg can be transformed into another block type easily.

On the screenshot, you can see that you can change the Paragraph block to other blocks like Heading, List, Quote, Preformatted, Pull quote, Verse, and Group.

I will now convert my paragraph block into a quote block. Here is how it instantly changes into the Quote block.

I didn’t have to copy the text, create a new quote block, and paste it. The Block Transform button made it a piece of cake for me. Now that I’ve changed the block type into Quote, the convertible blocks are different and I can also choose how I want the quote to be displayed with the available Style option.

So this is how you convert a block type into another with the Block Transform button. The Block Transform Feature in Block Editor is a great feature when you need to convert a block type to a different block.

However, please keep in mind that the convertible blocks can differ from block to block. It depends on the block type that you are using. Not all the block types can be transformed into all different block types.

But, the Group block is available for all the block types. This particular block type does not actually transform the block type; it just encloses the block type into a group. You can also transform a block type into a group and also ungroup from the More options button.

The Block transformation not only works on individual blocks but also you can work in bulk. You can bulk select multiple blocks to transform them into other block types as well. You just simply have to select the desired blocks and transform them with the Block transform feature. However, if you select two different types of blocks, then you will be able to convert them into a group only as shown in the image below.

So, I hope this article helped you see how powerful and useful the Block transformation feature in Gutenberg really is. It is kind of a hidden feature in the block editor and if used in the right manner, it can save you a lot of time and bring out the best in your content.  It’s a very convenient tool and makes Gutenberg an easier editor for your content creation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *