Hosted by Phil Johnston, Anthony Burchell, and Matt Shaw.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Phil Johnston opened the session by introducing ACF 6.7, which released on December 3rd. The centerpiece of this release is Inline Editing, a feature that allows content editors to edit ACF fields directly within the block preview, eliminating the need to use the sidebar or a separate edit form.

Phil conducted a live demo showcasing two primary modes of Inline Editing:

• Text Editing: For text-based fields like Text or Text Area, users can click directly on the text in the preview and type changes, which automatically syncs to the ACF field.

• Toolbar Editable: For non-text fields like Images, clicking the element reveals a popover toolbar where users can modify the field, such as swapping out an image.

The demo highlighted how easy it is to enable this feature. Developers simply need to add "autoInlineEditing": true to the acf object in their block.json file. ACF then automatically scans the render template to detect fields and apply the editing capability.

For more advanced use cases, Phil demonstrated how to customize the experience using the acf_inline_toolbar_editing_attrs() helper function. This allows developers to manually define which fields appear in the toolbar for a specific element. He showed a sophisticated example where clicking a heading allowed users to set responsive font sizes for mobile, tablet, and desktop using custom icons in the toolbar.

Other key features discussed included:

• Block Toolbar Integration: Using the acf/block_top_toolbar_fields filter to add ACF fields directly to the main block toolbar (e.g., for layout toggles or background colors).

• Hide Fields in Sidebar: A new block.json setting to hide ACF fields from the sidebar entirely, decluttering the UI when Inline Editing or the pop-out editor is preferred.

• Customizable Popover Width: The ability to define a minimum width for the Inline Editing popover, useful for complex fields like Google Maps.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session may have been edited for clarity.

Q: Can I use the WordPress icon names (dashicons) for the toolbar icons instead of custom SVGs?

A: Currently, you need to provide the SVG markup for custom icons. However, the team agreed that allowing users to simply pass a WordPress icon name would be a great enhancement and something they could look into implementing.

Q: Does Inline Editing work if I assign the field value to a PHP variable before outputting it in the template?

A: Yes. ACF scans the template for field values, so assigning get_field() to a variable and then outputting that variable will still work with the automatic detection.

Q: What does the acf_inline_toolbar_editing_attrs() function output?

A: It outputs a string of HTML attributes that are used by the block editor to identify the element as inline editable and determine which fields to show. These attributes are only present in the editor and do not render on the front end.

Q: How did you implement the responsive font size controls in the demo?

A: The implementation involved three Select fields (mobile, tablet, desktop) that output specific CSS classes (e.g., mobile-font-size-small). These classes are combined and added to the heading element. In the stylesheet, media queries define the font size for each class at different breakpoints.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.7 Release Post
• Inline Editing for ACF Blocks
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here: https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• January 9, 2026

• February 6, 2026

• March 6, 2026

• April 3, 2026

Tag or DM us on X (formerly Twitter) with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: Inline Editing for ACF Blocks appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Matt Shaw, Phil Johnston, and Anthony Burchell.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Matt Shaw kicked off the session by announcing that ACF 6.6 has been officially released. This is a significant update centered on the introduction of ACF Blocks v3.

This new version leverages WordPress Core’s Blocks v3 API, which finally solves the long-standing “iframe” issue. This change prevents WP admin styles from “bleeding” into or competing with your theme’s styles, ensuring that blocks in the editor look exactly as they do on the front end. The team noted one important caveat: for the new iframed experience to activate, all blocks on the page (including non-ACF blocks) must be upgraded to apiVersion: 3.

ACF 6.6 also introduced a new editing experience. The old in-preview edit form has been replaced by a new “pop out” editor modal. This provides a much larger, more focused area for field editing, which is a major improvement for complex fields like Repeaters and Flexible Content.

This release serves as the critical foundational work that paves the way for the next major feature: inline editing, which is planned for ACF 6.7.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: Is there documentation for the new inline editing feature and how to use it?

A: Documentation will be published when the feature is released, which is “soon”. We demoed an early version in a previous session, and it’s important to know it will be completely opt-in. The new pop-out form editor introduced in 6.6 will remain the default. We’ve received feedback that many users prefer a form-based experience (especially for data entry), so both methods will be fully supported.

Q: I have a Relationship field in a metabox with 20-30 items. The field’s container is very short and only shows about 6 items, which makes it extremely difficult to manually re-order them by dragging. My only solution is to hack the CSS. Can this UI be improved?

A: This was excellent feedback. The team watched a live demo of the issue and agreed that the fixed-height container is a significant pain point for managing large data sets. We are taking this feedback directly into our planning sessions and will investigate making that container resizable to provide more space for sorting.

Q: I have two related post types, “Issue” and “Article.” Can an “Article” automatically inherit the pub_date field from its parent “Issue” only if the “Article’s” own date field is empty?

A: That’s a very interesting idea for a visual rule builder. It sounds like a conditional rule that also performs a “data-syncing” action. While the closest feature we have now is the bidirectional setting for Relationship fields, this is a great suggestion. We will pass it along to our product manager for future consideration.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.6 Release Post
• ACF Blocks Inline Editing Demo
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here: https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• December 5, 2025
• January 2, 2026
• February 6, 2026

Tag or DM us on X (formerly Twitter) with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: Exploring ACF 6.6 & Blocks v3 appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, Phil Johnston, and Anthony Burchell.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson kicked off the session with the big news that ACF 6.6 is expected to be released very soon, likely this week. This major version is centered around the introduction of ACF Blocks v3, a significant update that improves compatibility with modern features of the WordPress block editor. This new version resolves the conflict caused by WordPress’s use of iframes to render blocks in the editor and introduces a much-improved editing experience for fields located in the block sidebar. This foundational work also paves the way for the highly anticipated inline editing feature, planned for a future release.

Beyond ACF Blocks v3, ACF 6.6 will ship with several other highly-requested features:

• Field Group Display Title: A new setting that allows developers to define a user-friendly title for a field group that is shown to content editors, while keeping a separate, more administrative title for the backend.
• Enhanced Color Picker: The Color Picker field now has two new options for defining its color palette. Developers can either provide a custom list of hex or RGB values, or toggle an option to automatically inherit the color palette defined in their theme’s theme.json file.

The session concluded with an in-depth discussion about how the changes in ACF Blocks v3 will impact existing workflows and solve specific editor issues.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: We have a persistent bug with custom blocks that contain multiple WYSIWYG fields. When adding a new paragraph or block above the first WYSIWYG, the cursor focus unexpectedly jumps to the last WYSIWYG field on the page, making editing very difficult. The lazy-loading workaround hasn’t solved it. Will this be fixed?

A: Yes, we believe this will be resolved in ACF 6.6. The engineers on the call were able to replicate this bug with ACF Blocks v2, but also confirmed it does not occur with the upcoming ACF Blocks v3.

The issue is resolved because ACF Blocks v3 changes the architecture of block editing. Fields will no longer render in a form inside the block preview. Instead, they will only be available in the sidebar or a new, larger pop-out modal. This change removes the underlying conflict between multiple TinyMCE instances that was causing the focus-jumping behavior. To get the fix, you will need to opt-in to ACF Blocks v3 by updating the apiVersion in your block.json or PHP block registration.

Resources & Links

• ACF Blocks Inline Editing Demo
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here: https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• November 7, 2025
• December 5, 2025
• January 2, 2026
• February 6, 2026

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: A Look Ahead at ACF 6.6 and Blocks v3 appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, Phil Johnston, and Anthony Burchell.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson opened the session by announcing that ACF 6.5 is officially released. This release brings enhancements to the user experience for the Flexible Content field in ACF PRO, with four key improvements: the ability to rename layouts, disable layouts without deleting them, a focus mode for easier navigation, and buttons to expand or collapse all layouts at once.

Looking to the future, the team is hard at work on ACF 6.6, which will introduce ACF Blocks v3. This is a foundational update aimed at improving compatibility with modern block editor features and solving longstanding issues like iframed blocks. Following that, future releases are expected to deliver the highly anticipated inline editing feature for ACF Blocks.

The main segment of the session was a deep dive into the results of the third annual ACF survey. Key insights from the 2025 report include:

• WordPress Usage: Hybrid themes remain the most popular way to build sites, while classic themes are still used by a significant 47% of respondents.
• Support Satisfaction: User satisfaction with ACF support has seen a major increase, rising from 73% to 81% in the last year.
• ACF Blocks: Adoption remains strong, with half of all respondents who use the block editor choosing ACF Blocks to build their custom blocks.
• Popular Field Types: The top four most-used fields remain Text, Text Area, Image, and the powerful Repeater field.
• AI in Development: A new question this year revealed that a majority of developers are using AI for tasks like writing code and generating content.
• Developer Workflows: While 60% of users manage their code with version control, FTP remains the most common deployment method, also at 60%.

The team emphasized that while the public report focuses on statistics, the qualitative feedback provided in the survey’s free-form answers is critical for shaping the product roadmap. You can see more results from this year’s survey here.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: Can you show the progress on the inline editing feature for ACF Blocks that was previewed a few months ago?

A: Inline editing is slated for ACF 6.7, which will follow the release of ACF 6.6 (ACF Blocks v3). While the user experience will be the same as what we’ve previously demoed, there is no new visual progress to show at this time. The team’s current focus is on the extensive “under the hood” work required to ensure the feature is stable, backward-compatible, and handles all potential edge cases. We are working to make it a solid, opt-in feature that works well with existing workflows right out of the box.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.5 Release Post
• 2025 ACF Annual Survey Results
• ACF Blocks Inline Editing Demo
• ACF Flexible Content field
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here: https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• October 3, 2025
• November 7, 2025
• December 5, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: Results from the 2025 Survey appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, and Anthony Burchell.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session in the player below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson opened the session with two key announcements. First, the 2025 ACF Annual Survey went live in July 2025. The data provides invaluable insights into how the community uses ACF and WordPress, helping to identify trends in block editor adoption and shape the future of the plugin. Take the ACF Annual Survey here.

The main news was the launch of the first release candidate for ACF PRO 6.5. This release is heavily focused on improving the editing experience for the Flexible Content field, a powerful tool for creating custom page-builder-like layouts. The four cornerstone features of ACF 6.5 include:

• Rename Layouts: Content editors can now rename individual layouts after adding them to a page, providing crucial context when multiple instances of the same layout type are used.
• Disable Layouts: A new option allows editors to disable a layout, preventing it from rendering on the front end while preserving its content in the editor. This avoids the need to delete and recreate layouts for temporary changes.
• Focus Mode: When editing fields within a layout, a new “focus mode” visually highlights the active layout, making it easier to navigate complex pages with many layouts.
• Expand/Collapse All: Buttons have been added to expand or collapse all layouts at once, simplifying the management of long pages. The team requests that developers who rely on the Flexible Content field to test the release candidate on staging sites. Looking beyond 6.5, future updates include ACF Blocks v3, aimed at creating a more native block editor experience.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: Are there plans to make ACF Blocks more portable by defining fields within the block.json file?

A: Yes, this is something we are actively investigating. We understand the benefit of having a block’s fields defined in the same block.json file, which would make blocks self-contained and much easier to share across projects and manage with version control. It would streamline deployment by removing the need to separately import/export field group JSON files.

Q: What are your thoughts on integrating AI into the ACF development workflow?

A: The team is very interested in how AI can create a more seamless and assistive experience. We discussed several potential applications, such as using AI to intelligently suggest field types based on a field name, generate boilerplate field group settings, or diagnose potential schema issues (like duplicate field keys or inefficient field choices). The goal is to enhance workflows without being intrusive. We may schedule a future session dedicated to this topic.

Q: What is the status of adding support for block variations?

A: This is a popular request on our feedback board that we’ve discussed internally. It requires more investigation before we can schedule it on the roadmap, but we encourage users to continue voting for it on the feedback page to help us gauge priority.

Resources & Links

• ACF 2025 Annual Survey
• ACF 6.5 Release Candidate 1 Release Post
• ACF Flexible Content field
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here: https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• September 5, 2025
• October 3, 2025
• November 7, 2025
• December 5, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: ACF 6.5 RC1 & Improving the Flexible Content Experience appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Matt Shaw and Phil Johnston.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Matt Shaw kicked off the session, recapping the recent bug-fix releases, ACF 6.4.1 and ACF 6.4.2. In addition to bug fixes, these updates introduced valuable new functionality. For example, Select fields can now be configured to allow the creation of new options when editing the field’s value. The releases also extended High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) support to the WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on, building on the work done for standard WooCommerce orders in ACF 6.4.

Looking ahead, Phil Johnston noted that the team is developing a series of improvements for the Flexible Content field and continuing the extensive work on ACF Blocks. This includes the highly anticipated inline editing feature, first previewed at DE{CODE} 2025.

The majority of the session was dedicated to a lively Q&A with the community. The conversation provided valuable insight into the development roadmap and the technical considerations behind user-requested features. Key discussion points included the potential for native custom database table support, with the team confirming it is on the roadmap and that the recent HPOS integration was a foundational step. The team also addressed challenges and future plans for making ACF fields integrate more deeply with the native WordPress block editor, including assigning fields to inspector tabs and other UI slots. The session concluded with an open invitation for users to help shape the upcoming ACF Blocks creation UI by participating in UX research.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: Are there plans for native support for custom database tables, similar to what other plugins offer?

A: This is on our roadmap, and we’ve done preliminary investigative work. Much of the recent refactoring for HPOS support was done with custom database tables in mind to make data storage more extensible. We don’t have an ETA, but we encourage users to submit their specific use cases and needs to the ACF feedback board to help inform the development process.

Q: I have an ACF Block that pulls data from a post’s meta fields. How can I make the block’s preview update automatically when I change the meta field value, without a full page refresh?

A: We understand this is a common issue caused by the block’s attributes not being updated in the React DOM. There is a JavaScript hook that can be used as a workaround to trigger a re-render. Please contact our support team, mention you were in the chat, and we can provide you with the necessary code snippet.

Q: Will it be possible to assign ACF fields to the native block inspector tabs, like “Settings” and “Style,” to better organize the editor UI?

A: This is a goal and something we’d like to tackle, but it will be difficult with the current version of ACF. It requires a substantial refactor to make our fields behave more like native Gutenberg components. For now, the ACF Tab field is the best way to organize fields in the sidebar.

Q: What are your plans for AI or Model-View-Controller (MVC) integrations, perhaps using WP-CLI as a way for AI tools to build out ACF fields, post types, and schemas automatically?

A: This is a very interesting concept. We are keen to improve our WP-CLI support, and using it as a well-documented protocol for AI is a fascinating take. A REST API for creating fields and post types would be a prerequisite, which is also under consideration. We encourage you to post these ideas on our feedback board, as this helps us gauge community interest and prioritize our roadmap.

Q: When can we expect the UI for creating ACF Blocks?

A: It is in progress and we are actively working on it, but we cannot commit to a release date at this time. We are currently conducting UX research to help shape this feature. If you build a lot of ACF Blocks and want to provide feedback, please contact support to get involved.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.4.1 Release Post
• ACF 6.4.2 Release Post
• ACF Feedback Page
• ACF Support

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:

https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

Upcoming sessions:

• August 1, 2025
• September 5, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: Community Q&A appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Iain Poulson, Liam Gladdy, Phil Johnston, and Matt Shaw.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson opened the session by recapping ACF PRO 6.4’s stable release, which introduced support for WooCommerce HPOS and WordPress 6.8 compatibility. The main draw of the session, however, was the demo of inline editing for ACF Blocks, conducted by Phil Johnston.

A highly anticipated feature poised to transform block development, the public got its first glimpse of inline editing during the ACF-focused session at DE{CODE} 2025.

The demo revealed how users can click and edit content directly within the block preview, bypassing traditional sidebar forms. This “magic mode” automatically detects ACF fields in render templates, though developers retain granular control via optional HTML attributes for complex layouts.

To ensure compatibility with existing workflows, inline editing will be opt-in via block.json settings. Developers can enable automatic field detection or manually tag elements with attributes like data-acf-inline-editable for precision. The team emphasized backward compatibility, using helper functions such as acf_is_block_editor() to conditionally render editing attributes only in the editor, avoiding front-end clutter.

Repeater and Flexible Content fields won’t support inline editing initially due to technical complexity. Instead, the team recommended leveraging nested blocks (e.g., InnerBlocks) for a native editing experience. Feedback on repeater use cases was encouraged to shape future updates.

Meanwhile, ACF Blocks v3 will debut a redesigned sidebar interface with resizable modals, addressing cramped layouts for complex fields. This update aims to simplify editing for Repeaters and Flexible Content while maintaining backward compatibility.

The session closed with a call to join the ACF Beta News list for early access to inline editing previews, targeting a summer 2025 release.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: How does inline editing detect fields in render templates?

A: By default, it scans templates for ACF field outputs. Developers can enhance precision using data-acf-inline-editable attributes or JSON arrays for multi-field elements.

Q: Will Repeater fields ever support inline editing?

A: Not in the initial release due to technical complexity. Consider using InnerBlocks for a native block editor experience. Feedback on Repeater use cases is prioritized for future updates.

Q: When will inline editing be released?

A: Public beta testing begins in early summer 2025. Opt-in previews will arrive sooner via the ACF Beta program.

Q: How are editing attributes handled on the front end?

A: Helper functions (e.g., acf_is_block_editor()) conditionally render attributes only in the editor, avoiding front-end clutter.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.4 Release Post
• ACF Blocks Documentation
• DE{CODE} 2025 Sessions on Demand
• ACF Beta News Signup
• ACF Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:
https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• June 6, 2025
• August 1, 2025
• September 5, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: ACF Blocks Inline Editing Demo appeared first on ACF.

Hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, and Phil Johnston.

Sign up for the next session →

Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson kicked off the session by noting that testing was still underway for ACF PRO 6.4 Release Candidate 1, with the team confident the full release would be made available the following week. Indeed, ACF and ACF PRO 6.4.0 are now in full release, with support for storing ACF data on WooCommerce orders when HPOS is enabled, compatibility with WordPress 6.8, and other features and enhancements. For more information, please see the release post.

Future updates will include ongoing refinements to the block editor experience that aim to streamline inline editing and align ACF Blocks more closely with core WordPress block behaviors, such as the ability to create ACF Blocks directly from the plugin’s UI.

Attendees were also reminded to mark their calendars for DE{CODE} 2025, WP Engine’s virtual conference. Taking place on April 15, DE{CODE} 2025 will include an ACF-focused session about transforming chaos into control, ensuring sites remain efficient, scalable, and visually cohesive long after launch.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: How can I add custom classes to the block wrapper in the editor without duplicating markup?

A: While ACF currently doesn’t support direct class additions to editor wrappers, the team is exploring solutions. For now, conditional checks (e.g., is_preview()) can inject front-end-only classes.

Q: Why do ACF-registered post types occasionally disappear, causing 404 errors?

A: This sporadic issue may stem from JSON sync conflicts or caching. Ensure post types are registered via PHP/JSON and avoid database overrides. If encountered, capture a site snapshot pre-fix and contact support.

Q: Can ACF Image fields support focal point selection like core Cover blocks?

A: Not currently, but this is a priority for future updates. Workarounds include using sliders for X/Y-axis values in render templates.

Q: Why doesn’t ACF use the native render property in block.json?

A: ACF’s block rendering relies on its own system for backward compatibility. The team is investigating alignment with core’s render attribute to simplify workflows.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.4 Release Post
• DE{CODE} 2025 Registration
• ACF Blocks: Using get_block_wrapper_attributes()
• ACF Emails and News
• Sign up for ACF Beta News
• ACF’s Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:

https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• May 2, 2025
• June 6, 2025
• July 4, 2025
• August 1, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter to let us know you’ll be there. Suggest new topics, let us know what you’d like to see, and send us feedback with #ACFChatFridays on Twitter.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: April Q&A appeared first on ACF.

The March 7, 2025 session focused on the first release candidate for ACF PRO 6.4, refining the block editor experience, and streamlining ACF-driven development workflows.

Co-hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, and Phil Johnston.

Sign up for the next session →

Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson opened the session by announcing the upcoming availability of ACF PRO 6.4 Release Candidate 1, emphasizing its critical support for WooCommerce’s High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) system. This update ensures ACF fields remain compatible with WooCommerce’s order data structure, now stored in dedicated tables.

Key upcoming features in ACF 6.4 and beyond:

• Block Editor UX Improvements: Streamlined inline editing for fields within ACF Blocks, aligning with core WordPress block behavior.
• Custom Icon Sets: Future updates will let users integrate custom icon libraries (e.g., Font Awesome) into the Icon Picker field.
• ACF Block Registration UI: A new interface for configuring block.json settings directly in the ACF plugin.

The team also highlighted ongoing work to refactor block rendering, aiming for tighter integration with React and core WordPress patterns.

The session also included development workflow insights from a session participant, sharing his process for managing ACF fields via PHP/JSON files in a plugin, automating block registration, and locking down production environments to prevent accidental edits.

Q&A

We always include some of the questions and answers from the latest session, with minor edits made for clarity and style. In this case, the questions and answers have been reworded from discussions during the session:

Q: What’s the best way to structure ACF field groups and blocks in a reusable plugin?

A: Export field groups as PHP code via ACF’s Tools page, then integrate them into a plugin. Automate block registration by scanning for block.json files in dedicated folders. Use hooks to separate styling (theme) from functionality (plugin).

Q: How do you prevent ACF field group conflicts in production?

A: Disable the ACF admin interface on live sites using the acf/settings/show_admin filter. Load field groups via PHP/JSON files only, ensuring they’re read-only in production.

Resources & Links

• ACF PRO 6.4 Release Candidate 1
• ACF Emails and News
• Sign up for ACF Beta News
• ACF’s Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:

https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• April 4, 2025
• May 2, 2025
• June 6, 2025
• July 4, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter to let us know you’ll be there. Suggest new topics, let us know what you’d like to see, and send us feedback with #ACFChatFridays on Twitter.

The post ACF Chat Fridays: March Open Forum appeared first on ACF.

The February 7, 2025 session of ACF Chat Fridays focused on upcoming features in ACF 6.4, block editor improvements, and custom icon set support.

Co-hosted by Iain Poulson, Matt Shaw, Anthony Burchell, and Phil Johnston.

Sign up for the next session →

Session Recording

You can see the entire session in the player below, or catch the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Iain Poulson kicked off the session by highlighting the recent release of ACF 6.3.12, which addressed some critical bugs, particularly around ACF Blocks. He also mentioned the release of the new ebook Getting Started With ACF, which serves as a handy reference guide for newcomers to the plugin.

The team also discussed the upcoming ACF 6.4 release and future releases, which will include:

• Support for WooCommerce’s High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) system
• A significant blocks refactor that fixes several bugs
• Improvements to the block editor user experience
• New ways to register blocks

While not part of the 6.4 release, the team is working on making ACF fields in the block editor more React-based in the future. They’re also developing inline editing capabilities for Text and Text Area fields within ACF blocks.

Matt Shaw shared information about ongoing work to make the Icon Picker more extensible. In the future, users will be able to use custom icon sets with the icon picker, leveraging the same UI for searching and selecting icons.

The team also discussed potential improvements to block visibility in Full Site Editing (FSE) templates and the various ways to control block behavior using existing WordPress APIs.

Q&A

Q: Are there instructions for creating a custom post type with ACF and making it a plugin?

A: While there isn’t specific documentation for setting it up as a plugin, you can use the ACF tools page to export your field groups as PHP code. This exported code can then be integrated into a standalone plugin file. There’s also a YouTube video tutorial called Building a Reusable Plugin for All Your ACF Projects that covers this topic.

Q: Is it possible to hide blocks from certain templates when using Full Site Editing (FSE) templates?

A: While ACF doesn’t have a built-in feature for this, there are several WordPress core features that might help achieve this:

1. The block.json file allows you to specify post types where a block can be used.
2. The Block Locking API provides ways to control where and how blocks can be used.
3. The allowed_block_types_all filter can be used to control which blocks are available in different contexts.

Resources & Links

• ACF 6.3.12 Release Notes
• Getting Started with ACF ebook
• Building a Reusable Plugin for All Your ACF Projects (Video)
• Block Locking API Documentation
• allowed_block_types_all Filter Documentation
• ACF Emails and News
• Sign up for ACF Beta News
• ACF’s Feedback Page

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:

https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

The list of upcoming sessions is below.

• March 7, 2025
• April 4, 2025
• May 2, 2025
• June 6, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter to let us know you’ll be there. Suggest new topics, let us know what you’d like to see, and send us feedback with #ACFChatFridays on Twitter.

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