Quick Start
From a fresh install to a published gallery — in about five minutes.
Once both plugins are installed and licensed, there are two ways to get a gallery onto a page. Pick the one that matches where you work.
Haven't installed yet?
Start at Installation & License — it covers both plugins and the license key. Then come back.
Before you begin
Three things worth having ready. None takes long, and each saves backtracking:
- [ ] Both plugins are active and the license is activated. Check Shaped Gallery → Settings → License Key.
- [ ] Your images are uploaded to the Media Library.
- [ ] A page to build on. A draft is fine — you'll preview as you go.
Fill in alt text while you're in the Media Library
Alt text is what screen readers announce. Title and caption become the tile's title and description, the lightbox caption, and what image search matches against. Ten minutes now saves a lot of blank tiles later.
Path A: put a gallery on one page
This is the one to use if the gallery belongs to a single page or post.
- Open the page in the block editor (Pages → Add New, or edit an existing one).
- Click the + (Add Block) button and search for Shaped Gallery.
- Insert it. The block opens on the layout picker — seven cards, one per layout.
- Pick a layout. (Not sure? Start with Automatic Justified; you can change it later without losing anything.)
- Click Add from Media and choose your images. Add to Gallery closes the picker.
- Tune it in the inspector on the right — columns, spacing, titles, the click action. Every change updates the canvas live.
- Publish, then open the real page in a private window.
Path B: build a reusable gallery
Use this when the same gallery needs to appear in more than one place, or when you build pages in Elementor, Divi, Bricks or another builder.
- Go to Shaped Gallery → Add New Gallery.
- You land in the ordinary WordPress editor, with a Shaped Gallery block already on the canvas. Build it exactly as in Path A.
- Give it a title and Publish.
- Copy the shortcode from the sidebar — it looks like
[shaped_gallery id="42"]. - Paste it anywhere: a page, a post, a widget, a template, or your page builder's shortcode element.
One gallery, many placements
A page stores a reference, never a copy. Edit the gallery once and every placement updates — there's no re-sync step and no stale duplicates.
In a hurry? Start from a pattern
Inside the editor you can skip the build entirely. The Ready Patterns Library button in the editor header opens a browsable catalogue of finished gallery designs, grouped by layout. Import one and it lands on the page as an ordinary gallery block you can keep editing — then swap in your own images.
What "done" looks like
Whichever path you took, you should end up with:
- A gallery visible on the published page, not just in the editor.
- Your own images, in the order you want them.
- Something that still works when you shrink the browser to phone width.
If the third one fails, the usual fix is Columns: set it to 1 or 2 for mobile in Layout Settings using the device switcher beside the control.
Always check the published page
The editor canvas and the live page load different CSS and JavaScript. A gallery that looks perfect on the canvas can still break on the front end — usually because of a caching or optimization plugin. Open the real page in a private window before you call it finished. Troubleshooting covers the fixes.
Make the plugin yours
Once something is live, spend a few minutes in Shaped Gallery → Settings. It's where you switch off features you don't use (so their code never loads), connect your page builder, and tune caching.
Where to go next
- Compare all seven layouts
- The full gallery block reference
- Adding images, videos and embeds
- Organise a gallery with categories
- Turn the lightbox on and style it
- Best Practices — the settings worth getting right before you launch
- FAQ · Troubleshooting · Glossary