A custom field is used to associate values other than the title, excerpt or content to an article or page. WordPress stores this information as metadata.

There are many examples of how to use these custom fields:

  • The name of a client in a portfolio.
  • Technical details for a product page.
  • A writer’s name, date of publication, genre, or a note you would give to a book on a literary review site.
  • A download link.

Custom fields are hidden by default. If you want to make them visible on the screen for editing posts or pages, click on “screen options” in the upper right corner. In the menu, check the “custom fields” box.

Once created, these fields can be reused on your site. To do this, you will need to use a special feature within the WordPress template files.