Widgets are the little extras that live in your site's sidebars and footer — a search box, your latest posts, a tag cloud. The Widgets screen lets you drop them in and arrange them without touching any code.

## Before you start

- An account that's allowed to edit your site's appearance.
- A theme with at least one widget area — most themes have a sidebar, and many have a footer too.

## Steps

### Step 1: Open the Widgets screen

In your dashboard, open **Appearance** and choose **Widgets**. You'll see every widget area your theme gives you, listed as its own panel.

![Open the Widgets screen](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTgyOCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--81f8640593407f99e8965b1310dc7d59b30a046e/block_open-widgets-screen.png)

### Step 2: Add a widget

Click the **Block Inserter** button in the top toolbar. Type what you're after — `search`, for instance — then click the widget you want from the results to drop it into the area you're working in.

![Add a widget](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTgyNiwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--9f8a75e6a1815e3a1bc3d708ae29da340311bb58/block_add-a-widget.png)

### Step 3: Set up your widget

Click the widget in the area to select it and type your own label, button text, and placeholder straight into it. Open the **Block** tab in the **Settings** sidebar for the rest — where the button sits, how wide the box is, or whether the label shows at all. Click **Update** when it looks right.

![Set up your widget](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTgyOSwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--9cfe8ed3c1ddc404db75c79f1d42f844fb942487/block_set-up-your-widget.png)

## Tips

- Each widget area is a panel you can open and close — everything inside it shows in your site in the order it appears there.
- Your changes stay on your screen until you click **Update**, so nothing goes live by accident.
- Want to see your widgets next to your actual content? Choose **Manage with live preview** to work on them in the Customizer instead.

## Summary

Your new widget is saved to the area you chose and shows up on your site right away. Add as many as you like — the Widgets screen keeps every area in one place.