Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Widget Area Manager

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Manage and replace sidebars and other widget areas on your site with Custom Sidebars, a flexible widget area manager.

Make custom sidebar configurations and be able to choose what widgets display on each page or post of your site.

Need to make a widget sticky or fixed? Try our free WP Sticky Anything plugin.

Custom Sidebars works ONLY with the classic widgets screen that was used in WordPress before version 5.8. If you want to use it with version 5.8 (and above) you have to install the official Classic Widgets plugin, or enable the classic widgets interface yourself. Once the classic widgets screen is activated the plugin will work the same as before.

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Display Different Sidebars on Pages and Posts

Custom Sidebars allows you to dynamically display custom widget configurations on any page, post, category, post type, or archive page.

"Custom Sidebars will go on my "essential plugins" list from now on. I am pleased by how easy it was to figure out and by how many options are available in the free version." - monkeyhateclean

"This plugin does exactly what it says. It's light, integrates well into WordPress and gives you tons of possibilities." - DarkNova

Every part of Custom Sidebars integrates seamlessly with the Widgets menu for simplicity and control. No confusing settings pages or added menu items, just simple core integration.

A Simple Flexible Sidebar Manager

** Custom Sidebars Includes: ** * Unlimited custom widget configurations * Set custom widgets for individual posts and pages, categories, post types, and archives * Seamless integration with the WordPress Widgets menu * Works with well-coded themes and doesn't slow down your site * Set individual widget visibility for guests, by user role, by post type, for special pages or categories * Author specific sidebars display a custom sidebar for each of your authors * Clone and sync widget settings quickly edit complex configurations * Import and export custom sidebars backup and share sidebars

Install Custom Sidebars and see for yourself why it's the most popular widget extension plugin available for WordPress with over 200,000 active installs.

Releases (32 )

Version	Release Date	Change Log
3.36	2022-11-26	2022-11-26 Minor security fixes
3.35	2022-01-24	2022-01-11 Improved the classic widgets screen detection - "Classic Widgets" plugin is no longer necessary if you add appropriate filters via some other plugin or theme
3.32	2021-07-28	2021-07-18 Added notice for WP 5.8
5.32	2021-07-18	= 1.0 = Caution: Version 1.0 needs WordPress 3.3 to work. If you are running an earlier version do not upgrade. = 0.7.1 = Now custom sidebars works with Thesis theme and some minor bugs have been solved. = 0.7 = This version fix a bug of v0.6 and before that reset the custom sidebars of posts and pages when they are quick edited or bulk edited, so upgrade is recommended. This version also changes the capability for managing custom sidebars to 'switch_themes' the one that allows to see the appearance menu in the admin page. I think the plugin is more coherent this way, but anyway it is easy to modify under plugin edit. = 0.6 = This version adds several options for customize the sidebars by categories and replace the default blog page sidebars. Now it's possible to edit sidebar properties. Also fixes some minor bugs.
3.31	2021-01-30	2021-01-30 Minor fixes Added action link to plugins table
3.3	2021-01-14	2021-01-13 Minor fixes WebFactory took over development
3.2.4	2020-12-07	Added deprecation notice
3.2.3	2019-05-10	Added "custom_sidebars_allowed_pages_array" filter to allow pages where Custom Sidebars can be loaded. Fixed problem with double function declaration when Gutenberg is in use. Removed "Sidebar Location" from build-in/theme sidebars to avoid misunderstandings. Updated "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.1.0.
3.2.2	2018-10-25	Fixed an unclosed A tag.
3.2.1	2018-08-22	Fixed a problem with sidebar replacement on front page.
3.2.0	2018-08-20	Added ability show/hide widgets depend on screen size, using CSS media queries. Added integration with "WP Multilang" - now you can choose a sidebar to depend on "WP Multilang" language. Allow using categories and tags for pages. Improved plugin initialization now, plugin classes are loaded only on necessary admin pages. Improved UX for Custom Sidebars Metabox on special pages: "Front Page", "Blog Page" and "WooCommerce Shop Page". Updated "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.0.9.
3.1.6	2018-05-28	Fixed an export problem on PHP 5.2, json_encode() have only one parameter.
3.1.5	2018-05-21	Fixed a problem with saving an entry sidebars replacement. Added ability to allow change sidebars by an entry author.
3.1.4	2018-05-07	Fixed a problem with widgets display on IE11. Handle custom taxonomies. Updated "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.0.6.
3.1.3	2018-04-09	Added version to scripts, to avoid browser cache problem. Fixed problems with widgets alignment on mobiles. Improved custom sidebar edit modal, now it remembers "Advanced Edit" status. Load JavaScript templates only on the widgets page.
3.1.2	2018-02-13	Added integration with Polylang - now you can choose sidebar depend on Polylang language. Added integration with WPML - now you can choose sidebar depend on WPML language. Added check to avoid warnigs when user delete term which is assigned to "Sidebar Location". Updated "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.0.5.
3.1.1	2018-02-05	Improved assets directories. Improved widgets on very small screens. Fixed bulk edit problem with resetting sidebars. Fixed few notices on import screen.
3.1.0	2017-10-04	Added a quick and a bulk edit to custom post types. Added nonce check for set location, import & export actions to avoid CSRF vulnerability. Fixed a problem with getting sidebars settings for nested pages with more than 2 levels. Fixed a problem with widget visibility on taxonomy archive page. Fixed a typo on Import/Export screen.
3.0.9	2017-10-02	Added ability to turn off "Custom Sidebars" for certain roles. Fixed a problem with a category, category archive, and post in category replacement. Fixed a problem with removed "Category Archive" from "For Archives" options. Fixed build in taxonomies problem on "Sidebar Location" edit window.
3.0.8.1	2017-06-29	Fixed CSRF vulnerability. Props for qasuar
3.0.8	2017-06-08	Added bulk sidebars edit. Fixed category archive and entry in category replaceable. Visibility of "Custom Explain" link is limited only to front-end.
3.0.7.1	2017-06-05	Fixed visibility of Custom Explain - now it is visible only for administrators.
3.0.7	2017-05-25	= 1.0 = Caution: Version 1.0 needs WordPress 3.3 to work. If you are running an earlier version do not upgrade. = 0.7.1 = Now custom sidebars works with Thesis theme and some minor bugs have been solved. = 0.7 = This version fix a bug of v0.6 and before that reset the custom sidebars of posts and pages when they are quick edited or bulk edited, so upgrade is recommended. This version also changes the capability for managing custom sidebars to 'switch_themes' the one that allows to see the appearance menu in the admin page. I think the plugin is more coherent this way, but anyway it is easy to modify under plugin edit. = 0.6 = This version adds several options for customize the sidebars by categories and replace the default blog page sidebars. Now it's possible to edit sidebar properties. Also fixes some minor bugs.
3.0.6	2017-05-11	Added width to "Custom Sidebars" column on entries list screen to avoid uncontrolled column width. Added ability to add new sidebar using the only keyboard, after you fill name just push enter to move to the description field. Hit enter on description field to add a new sidebar. Fixed "WPMUDEV Frash" module message for pro version.
3.0.5	2017-05-08	Improved columns display on post list screen - now "Custom Sidebars" column is hidden by default. Prevent to load assets on front-end. Updated "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.0.4. Fixed a CSS glitch on media library. Fixed a JavaScript conflicting with CiviCRM plugin. Fixed a problem with taxonomies.
3.0.4	2017-04-11	Improved "Create a custom sidebar to get started." box. Upgraded "WPMU Dev code library" to version 3.0.3. Fixed a problem with empty taxonomies, now we can see all taxonomies, including empty. Fixed fetching posts. Fixed a problem on the Customizer page - removed clone option. Fixed Widgets Screen for Right to Left languages.
3.0.3	2017-04-10	Removed WP Checkup banner.
3.0.2	2017-03-21	Fixed compatibility issue with uBlock Origin and AdBlock Plus. Fixed getting started box not appearing.
3.0.1	2017-03-20	= 1.0 = Caution: Version 1.0 needs WordPress 3.3 to work. If you are running an earlier version do not upgrade. = 0.7.1 = Now custom sidebars works with Thesis theme and some minor bugs have been solved. = 0.7 = This version fix a bug of v0.6 and before that reset the custom sidebars of posts and pages when they are quick edited or bulk edited, so upgrade is recommended. This version also changes the capability for managing custom sidebars to 'switch_themes' the one that allows to see the appearance menu in the admin page. I think the plugin is more coherent this way, but anyway it is easy to modify under plugin edit. = 0.6 = This version adds several options for customize the sidebars by categories and replace the default blog page sidebars. Now it's possible to edit sidebar properties. Also fixes some minor bugs.
3.0.0.1	2017-03-17	Fixed a problem with wp_enqueue_script wich was called too early. Fixed a problem with advertising, which should stay close when you close it.
3.0.0.0	2017-03-06	= 1.0 = Caution: Version 1.0 needs WordPress 3.3 to work. If you are running an earlier version do not upgrade. = 0.7.1 = Now custom sidebars works with Thesis theme and some minor bugs have been solved. = 0.7 = This version fix a bug of v0.6 and before that reset the custom sidebars of posts and pages when they are quick edited or bulk edited, so upgrade is recommended. This version also changes the capability for managing custom sidebars to 'switch_themes' the one that allows to see the appearance menu in the admin page. I think the plugin is more coherent this way, but anyway it is easy to modify under plugin edit. = 0.6 = This version adds several options for customize the sidebars by categories and replace the default blog page sidebars. Now it's possible to edit sidebar properties. Also fixes some minor bugs.
2.1.2.0	2017-03-06	Fixed a problem with empty selectors. Remove unnecessary HTTP header - it is only needed when we run cs-explains. Update Dash notice.