USE THE POST EDITOR FOR FORMATTING
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| Former formatting tools |
Inexplicably, Google has rolled out new widget dialogs lacking basic functionality.
These dialogs are the versions you get when you create or edit a widget from the Layout page of the Blogger dashboard.
The Text and HTML/Javascript widgets are missing the palette of formatting controls such as bold and italics and hyperlink.There's currently no way to upload an image into the image widget.
I have to believe (and please, do not burst my bubble of hope) that someday Google will come to its senses and remedy this.
In the meantime,
Use the post editor
- Create a new draft post or page, which you will not publish, and use the formatting tools there.
- Give it a title that will help you to avoid publishing it, such as "Trash Me" if you are going to delete it or "Scratch Pad" if you are not.
- Once you have created whatever formatted text and/or image you want to put in your sidebar, switch to HTML mode, copy all the code there, paste it into your widget, and publish.
Brave new world
Update: Google has removed the quick-edits from all blogs.
The latest round of responsive themes lack this option.
Google, however, is removing the quick-edits from all blogs. It did so for four days in January (and reversed itself), and earlier this month for sidebar widgets only (and reversed itself).
My crystal ball: soon nobody will have this option and we will all be using the new dialogs.
Maybe the formatting controls will return by then.
If not, tedious workarounds R us.
Update:
As of late July, the removal of this option from all blogs is again underway.
Alas, no formatting controls in the new dialogs.
Why oh why won't they leave things alone?????!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. It shouldn't have been necessary, but it is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteBest I can come up with.
DeleteThis worked! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks, LA. It will have to do for now.
DeleteI"ll try it. Thanks Adam!
ReplyDeleteAdam - I tried this but I am confused? Does this apply to the sidebar widgets? I"m confused how you can edited the sidebar this way?
ReplyDeleteHelpless in Houston
@cotedetexas, the only way to edit a sidebar widget now is from the Layout page of your dashboard.
DeleteAnd the only thing the editing window will accept at present is html.
To edit yours, locate the widget on Layout and click edit.
I tried to remove some blogs on my blogroll widget in the layout. I clicked on the trash can and clicked save but nothing changed.
DeleteT_T Thanks for writing about this so extensively! you are a awesome i dunno why google doesn't build blogger better that quick edit tool was the best go to tool! i'm so bummed the new infinite scroll dashboard way more time consuming (also resets to top of list) you have to almost have two browsers open one for viewing/reading the posts and one for the dashboard to keyword search the post to find and THEN EDIT
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this, will give it a whirl tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI did find a sort of solution by going to add gadget in layout, selecting add a link, that does allow you to add more and edit, but so long winded compared with before. And pretty basic in as much you can't highlight, change colours etc.
As you say, Blogger might come to it's senses one day. The reply they provided to me was something along the lines it had to be removed as it wasn't compatible wit their new security updates.
Ahhh thank you so much for your post!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was going crazy because the quick edit tool disappeared. I first assumed that the error was mine. Fortunately, I am not crazy. Google is just ... rude to its bloggers. Hopefully the tool will come back one day. I keep my fingers crossed.
I did not understand Adam. Can you help me privately. Help me in social media like fb or instagram in dm. Bg the way What's your username in insta, I will follow you and ask some questions about blogger. Please provide me.
ReplyDelete@Gyanworld, sorry my writing here is not good enough.
DeleteThe only place I give help is in the help community (link in sidebar). Where there are many capable volunteers.
Why: Help there is available to others with similar problems. That makes it worth my while to help there.
Same problem here in Holland. No ordinary text in an text widget. Hope Blogger or Google will bring the easy possibilty back asap.
ReplyDeleteNow it is very complicated cause Im not used to write in HTML.
Why so complicated to write in HTML in the gadget in DASHBOARD??? Must be very disappointing for bloggers.
Thanks for the workaround. It works, but what a pain. Any idea why these extremely useful features were removed? It boggles the mind.
ReplyDelete@Olivier, no, but I published some thoughts about that in July.
DeleteThanks for this post and your Post from July, 14th. I use my blog just monthly and was suprised today by the missisng edit-tool at my html-widget in the sidebar. I don't know html, so thanks for the workaround. It's frustrating also that now I hava to go to the dashboard to get to the layout to get to the widget to update it's content, sigh, just a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI'm finding it harder and harder to justify using Google Blogger. Are there any other similar platforms for idiots that I can use to run as a website for local Sports ?
ReplyDeleteHi LPL,
DeleteI realize you only meant it in a self-depreciating sort of way, but I am having problems answering because of the idiot thing.
Certainly there are a number of good platforms, both blogging and otherwise, each with strengths and weaknesses.
Lol... Yes it was in reference to the books you can get like "Windows for idiots", "Computers for idiots" etc, etc as I'm of the older generation and can't work with HTML code. What other platforms would you reccomend adam please ? Thank you.
DeleteLPL, I am not an expert in these platforms, which are proliferating at the moment. Medium, substack, etc. may be very good for some use cases.
DeleteI do have experience with WordPress, which is a fine blogging platform with strengths and weaknesses. But I would say the same thing about Blogger.
If you just want a website you might check out Google Sites.
Thanks Adam. Was just looking something that I don't have to use HTML in.
DeleteThat solution is ridiculous! Get the basics fixed!
ReplyDeleteYour indignation is misdirected! You should complain to Google, not me.
Deletemagic - thankyou.
ReplyDeleteThey've removed them again... I have sent feedback about it three times. I might start doing it weekly or even daily. I've been working on a project to move all my photos and this is is a huge pain to accomplish without the edit pencil on the published pages. Thanks for your article and diligence historically in trying to help us out.
ReplyDeleteSorry, @Jen. What have they removed? Are you missing a widget?
DeleteNothing is too late...Why I've two Blogger's blogs working with pencil icon and a just created one does not?
ReplyDelete@Giacomo, as I note above (and in many other posts on this blog), the new blog themes do not have the quick edit tools.
DeleteThere could be other explanations, but perhaps that is why they are not present in your new blog.
Thank you Adam. I've just compared the html of a working old one with the new one. Same instructions :-)
DeleteThe last thing to try is to past the old HTML model in the new one...but I don't want to waste time ;-)
Regards
There is a workaround, sort of, for the newest Blogger themes (which, let me stress again, do not and cannot have this feature).
DeleteStressed! :-)
DeleteWell, in the meantime I'm convinced that I can survive without that **** pencil.
Thank you very much!
Thank you, this worked a treat.
ReplyDeletePleased to be of service. A shame this is still needed, though.
DeleteDoes your suggestion allow rearranging gadgets or widgets... what they are called to the layout desired?
ReplyDeleteYou can rearrange widgets on your Layout page.
DeleteThis report does not deal with that at all.