Widgets are the handy extras that sit around your content — a search box, your latest posts, a short line of text. The Customizer lets you add one and watch it land on your site as you go, so there's no guessing where it will end up.

## Before you start

- An account that's allowed to customise your site — on most sites that means an administrator.
- A theme with at least one widget area set up. Not sure? The Customizer's **Widgets** panel lists every area your theme offers.

## Steps

### Step 1: Open the Customizer

In your site's dashboard, go to **Appearance** and then **Customize**. The Customizer opens with your site on the right and its controls on the left, so you can see every change before anyone else does.

![Open the Customizer](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAwNTgsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--62e91e4bdc8feb09f54385a682dde25240472535/block_open-the-customizer.png)

### Step 2: Open the Widgets panel

In the Customizer sidebar, select **Widgets**. The panel opens and lists the widget areas your theme makes available for the page you're previewing.

![Open the Widgets panel](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTk0NywicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--76ea1df4ef5013f4c28dfae49842908a5eb7e35c/block_open-the-widgets-panel.png)

### Step 3: Open your widget area

Select the area you want your widget to live in — the **Sidebar**, for example. Areas your theme registers but this page doesn't display are listed too; open those from a page that shows them.

![Open your widget area](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTk0OCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--c729ada1a8a4b2310e3ab983c460d6612f4d515e/block_open-your-widget-area.png)

### Step 4: Add and choose the widget

Select **Add a Widget** underneath the area's widget list. The chooser lists everything you can add, grouped by name — type a few letters into **Search Widgets** if the list is long. Select **Recent Posts**, and it appears in your widget area with its settings open.

![Add and choose the widget](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAwNTksInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--dee697d3276cd43a6b0775cd23cb840b49804508/block_choose-the-widget.png)

### Step 5: Set up and publish the widget

The widget opens with its own settings. Give it a **Title**, then fill in whatever else it asks for — **Recent Posts**, for example, wants **Number of posts to show** and **Display post date?**. When you're happy, select **Publish** at the top of the Customizer.

![Set up and publish the widget](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6OTk2NywicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--32ffc7fe2fb689c087c2f9d7329b22de5e2c06bf/block_set-up-the-widget.png)

## Tips

- The preview is your real site — click around in it to check how the widget sits next to your posts and pages.
- **Reorder** in a widget area lets you drag your widgets into a different order without starting over.
- A widget you take back off your site keeps its settings, so you can add it again whenever you like.

## You're all set

That's it — your widget is on the site, and you saw exactly where it landed before anyone else did. Add as many as you like; nothing goes live until you publish.