How to Selectively Enable Gutenberg Block Editor

Previously, we covered numerous techniques to disable Gutenberg. For example, you can disable Gutenberg on specific post types, user roles, post IDs, and so forth. But what about doing the opposite and conditionally enabling Gutenberg? For example, if Gutenberg is disabled by default, you could then selectively enable it on whichever post types, user roles, or whatever criteria that’s required. So this tutorial explains how to enable Gutenberg using simple WordPress filter hooks. You’ll learn how to enable Gutenberg for any single posts, new posts, post meta, categories, tags, and post types. Plus some juicy tips and tricks along the way!

First: Disable Gutenberg by default

In WordPress 5.0 and beyond, Gutenberg is enabled by default. So if you want to enable Gutenberg everywhere, you don’t need to do anything: it just works.

Otherwise, if you want to enable Gutenberg only on specific post IDs, post types, and so forth, you will need to first disable Gutenberg everywhere. To do this, we can use either of the following filter hooks (depending on WP version):

// WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', '__return_false', 5);

// WP >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', '__return_false', 5);

So choose either or both of these hooks (to support all versions of WP), and add to your theme’s functions.php. Or, if you would rather disable Gutenberg and restore the Classic Editor using a plugin, check out Disable Gutenberg, which is super lightweight, flexible, and easy to customize exactly where Gutenberg should be disabled on your site. However you choose to disable Gutenberg, you will need to do so in order for the following techniques to work properly.

Enable Gutenberg for any Post IDs

Once Gutenberg is disabled everywhere, here is an example showing how to enable it only for specific post IDs:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_ids($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	if (1 === $post->ID) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_ids', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_ids', 10, 2);

As written, this function will enable Gutenberg on post ID = 1. You can change that as needed in the third line of the function.

Enable Gutenberg for new posts

To enable Gutenberg for all new posts, you can do something like this:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_new_posts($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	$current = get_current_screen();
	
	if ('post' === $current->base && 'add' === $current->action) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_new_posts', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_new_posts', 10, 2);

As written, this function checks if the user is viewing the post-new.php screen, and if so returns true (to enable Gutenberg).

Enable Gutenberg for specific Post Meta

What about enabling Gutenberg Block Editor only on posts that have some specific meta data attached? Easy, here is an example showing how to do it:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_meta($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	if ('Happy' === get_post_meta($post->ID, 'current_mood', true)) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_meta', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_meta', 10, 2);

As written, this function checks the current post for a custom field named current_mood with a value of Happy. If it exists, the function then returns true to enable Gutenberg for that post. Note that these examples are kept as simple as possible to help understanding. Much more is possible!

Enable Gutenberg for specific categories

Here is an example showing how to enable Gutenberg only for specific categories:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_cats($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	if (has_category(12)) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_cats', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_cats', 10, 2);

As written, this function uses WP’s has_category() to check if the current post belongs to category 12; if so, true is returned thereby enabling Gutenberg. Of course, you can specify your own category or array of categories, or whatever.

Enable Gutenberg for specific tags

Here is an example showing how to enable Gutenberg only for specific tags:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_tags($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	if (has_tag(50)) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_tags', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_tags', 10, 2);

As written, this function uses WP’s has_tag() to check if the current post is tagged with tag ID = 50; if so, true is returned thereby enabling Gutenberg. Of course, you can specify your own tag or array of tags.

Enable Gutenberg for any Post Type

One more for the road! Here is an example showing how to enable Gutenbeg only for specific post types:

function shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_type($can_edit, $post) {
	
	if (empty($post->ID)) return $can_edit;
	
	if ('books' === $post_type) return true;
	
	return $can_edit;
	
}

// Enable Gutenberg for WP < 5.0 beta
add_filter('gutenberg_can_edit_post_type', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_type', 10, 2);

// Enable Gutenberg for WordPress >= 5.0
add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post_type', 'shapeSpace_enable_gutenberg_post_type', 10, 2);

This function is similar to the others, but hook-wise it does something a bit differently. When working with post types, WordPress/Gutenberg provide the following filter hooks for working with Post Types:

// WP < 5.0 beta
gutenberg_can_edit_post_type

// WP >= 5.0
use_block_editor_for_post_type

So we use these recommended hooks to enable Gutenberg for specific post types. Note also that our function currently checks the current post type. As written, it checks for a post type named books; feel free to modify as needed to suit your needs. The possibilities are endless!