Katsushi Kawamori

<h4>Set a featured image for post by a category</h4>
<ul>
<li>Bulk set the featured image of all the posts, when setting the category featured image.</li>
<li>If there are multiple categories, the parent category featured image takes precedence.</li>
<li>Can apply a category featured image to the post featured image, when posting.</li>
<li>Supports Custom Post Types.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Warning</h4>
<ul>
<li>Pressing the “Update” button after “Add New Image” or “Replace Image” under “Edit Category” will change the featured image for all posts in that category.</li>
<li>Even if you do not set an image, pressing the “Update” button under “Edit Category” will remove the featured image for all posts in that category.</li>
<li>If you do not need this feature, do not use this plugin !</li>
</ul>


Category Featured Image

Set a featured image for post by a category.

Kybernetik Services

WP Cool Tools

Martin Stehle

<p>List the most recent posts with post titles, thumbnails, excerpts, authors, categories, dates and more!</p>
<p>Although the plugin is built only for widget areas users reported that it <strong>works in Elementor</strong> and <strong>works in Oxygen</strong>. Whether it runs in other page builders is unknown. Please let me know in which <strong>page builder</strong> you were able to use the plugin successfully.</p>
<p>The plugin does not collect any personal data, so it is <strong>ready for EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance</strong>.</p>
<h4>Lightweight, simple and effective</h4>
<p>No huge widget with hundreds of options. This plugin is based on the well-known WordPress default widget ‘Recent Posts’ and extended to display more information about the posts like e.g. thumbnails, excerpts and assigned categories. And it provides more options to build custom-taylored posts lists.</p>
<p>The thumbnails will be built from the featured image of a post or of the first image in the post content. If there is neither a featured image nor a content image then you can define a default thumbnail.</p>
<p>You can set the width and height of the thumbnails in the list. The thumbnails appear left-aligned to the post titles in left-to-right languages. In right-to-left languages they appear right-aligned.</p>
<h4>Custom Post Type</h4>
<p>If you want to list custom post types with the featured image, please check out our plugin <a href="https://www.kybernetik-services.com/shop/wordpress/plugin/ultimate-post-list-pro/?utm_source=wordpress_org&utm_medium=plugin&utm_campaign=recent-post-widgets-with-thumbnail&utm_content=readme" rel="nofollow ugc">Ultimate Post List Pro</a>.</p>
<h4>Demo</h4>
<p>You want to test Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails before installing on your site? Try it out on your individual and free playground site and <a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?theme=twentytwentyone&plugin=recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails" rel="nofollow ugc">click here</a>.</p>
<h4>What users wrote</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>“This plugin performs a simple task but one that I find to be invaluable.”</strong> <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/simple-but-invaluable-plugin/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by funkster on July 1, 2025</li>
<li><strong>“I just want to say thank you for developing such a good plugin.”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/thanks-for-developing-such-a-great-plugin-4/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by modelaid on July 3, 2024</li>
<li><strong>“Excellent plugin!”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excellent-plugin-8567/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by mystnick on April 18, 2023</li>
<li><strong>“… one of the dynamic and smart, yet admin and user optimized widget plugins …”</strong> in <a href="https://www.sktthemes.org/wordpress-plugins/add-widgets-wordpress-website/" rel="nofollow ugc">How to Add Widgets and Start Using Them in WordPress Website?</a> by SKT Posts Themes on September 3, 2020</li>
<li><strong>“بهترین افزونه های نمایش آخرین نوشته ها در وردپرس”</strong> in <a href="https://modirwp.com/%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B2%D9%88%D9%86%D9%87-recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails/" rel="nofollow ugc">ابزارک آخرین نوشته وردپرس</a> by Ghodsi on December 16, 2019</li>
<li><strong>“Another good all around widget, suitable for most projects”</strong> in <a href="https://howto-wordpress-tips.com/free-wordpress-recent-posts-widget/" rel="nofollow ugc">Free WordPress recent posts widget – Which one is the best?</a> on December 3, 2019</li>
<li><strong>“In just a few clicks, your website will look considerably more established and professional.”</strong> in <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/website/wordpress-thumbnail-plugins" rel="nofollow ugc">3 Best WordPress Thumbnail Plugins to Manage Images Perfectly</a> by HubSpot Staff on October 29, 2019</li>
<li><strong>The best of the recent posts widgets</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/the-best-of-the-recent-posts-widget/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by noddemix on June 13, 2019</li>
<li><strong>Number 8</strong> in <a href="https://ideiasdig.com/14-plugins-para-otimizar-seu-site/#8Recent_Posts_Widget_With_Thumbnails" rel="nofollow ugc">14 Plugins para Otimizar seu Site</a> by Ideias Dig on November 8, 2018</li>
<li><strong>“Truly EXCELLENT Plugin!”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/truly-excellent-plugin/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by dnuttal on October 11, 2018</li>
<li><strong>“Easier than making an egg, seriously.”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/easier-than-making-an-egg-seriously/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by djackofall on October 2, 2017</li>
<li><strong>“This plugin is INCREDIBLE”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/do-you-also-have-one-for-most-popular-posts/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by lucio7 on August 25, 2017</li>
<li><strong>Widgets Users Will Love</strong> in <a href="https://speckyboy.com/free-wordpress-widget-plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc">10 Ultra-Useful Free WordPress Widget Plugins</a> by Eric Karkovack on June 16, 2017</li>
<li><strong>listed</strong> in <a href="https://wpteamsupport.com/wordpress-plugins-engage-visitors/" rel="nofollow ugc">20 WordPress Plugins that Steals Attention to Engage Visitors of Your Site</a> by WP Team Support on March 6, 2017</li>
<li><strong>Number 1</strong> in <a href="https://www.nimbusthemes.com/8-essential-wordpress-widgets-to-supercharge-your-website/" rel="nofollow ugc">8 essential WordPress widgets to supercharge your website</a> by Rafay Ansari on January 31, 2017</li>
<li><strong>“Excellent (after trying a few)!”</strong> in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/excellent-after-trying-a-few/" rel="ugc">reviews</a> by giorgissimo on January 6, 2017</li>
</ul>
<h4>What users filmed</h4>
<p>Some users published video tutorials on YouTube:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKoqcLBHhkM" rel="nofollow ugc">Class 09 – Working with Plugins (Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails)</a> by WordPress Learning Bangladesh on March 7, 2017</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS9WIeaMb6s" rel="nofollow ugc">Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails Setup Tutorial – WordPress Lesson and Tip</a> by Making a Website on April 17, 2016</li>
<li><a href="https://youtu.be/dqzz8NZc99Q" rel="nofollow ugc">Add Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnail – WordPress</a> by eMediaCoach on August 15, 2015</li>
</ul>
<h4>Options you can set</h4>
<ol>
<li>Title of the widget</li>
<li>Number of listed posts</li>
<li>Open post links in new windows</li>
<li>Different options for post order and sorting</li>
<li>Hide the current post in list</li>
<li>Show only sticky posts</li>
<li>Hide sticky posts</li>
<li>Keep sticky posts on top of the list if not hidden</li>
<li>Hide post title</li>
<li>Maximum length of post title</li>
<li>Show post author name</li>
<li>Label for the author names</li>
<li>Show post categories</li>
<li>Show post category names as links to their archives</li>
<li>Label for categories</li>
<li>Show post date</li>
<li>Show post excerpt</li>
<li>Show number of comments</li>
<li>Excerpt length</li>
<li>Signs after excerpt</li>
<li>Ignore post excerpt field as excerpt source (builds excerpts only from the post content)</li>
<li>Ignore post content as excerpt source (builds excerpts only from the excerpt fields)</li>
<li>Show posts of selected categories (or of all categories)</li>
<li>Show post thumbnail (featured image)</li>
<li>Registered thumbnail dimensions</li>
<li>Thumbnail width in px</li>
<li>Thumbnail height in px</li>
<li>Keep the aspect ratio of thumbnails</li>
<li>Try to take the first post image as thumbnail</li>
<li>Only use the first post image as thumbnail</li>
<li>Use default thumbnail if no thumbnail is available</li>
<li>Always use default thumbnail</li>
<li>Default thumbnail URL</li>
<li>Alternative text of the default thumbnail</li>
<li>Omit all alternative texts of the thumbnails for a better accessibility</li>
<li>Print slugs of post categories in class attribute of LI elements</li>
<li>Print inline CSS instead of creating a CSS file</li>
<li>No CSS generation at all</li>
</ol>
<h4>Useful hints for developers: Supported Hooks</h4>
<p>The plugin considers the output of actions hooked on:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>rpwwt_widget_posts_args</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed argument:</strong> the query arguments as an array</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> an array of query arguments</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>widget_title</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed arguments:</strong>
<ol>
<li>the widget title as a string</li>
<li>the widget settings as an array</li>
<li>the widget base ID as a string</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>rpwwt_excerpt_length</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed argument:</strong> the maximum number of characters for the post excerpt as an integer</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> an integer</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>rpwwt_excerpt_more</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed argument:</strong> the string to append after the post excerpt</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>rpwwt_the_excerpt</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed arguments:</strong>
<ol>
<li>the content of the post excerpt field as a string</li>
<li>the post object</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>the_excerpt</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed argument:</strong> the post excerpt as a string</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>rpwwt_categories</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed argument:</strong> the category list of each post as a string</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>rpwwt_list_cats</code>
<ul>
<li><strong>passed arguments:</strong>
<ol>
<li>the category name as a string</li>
<li>the category as an array</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><strong>expected return value:</strong> a string</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<h4>Useful hints for developers: Available CSS Selectors</h4>
<p>To design the list and its items, you can use these CSS selectors:</p>
<pre><code>.rpwwt-widget: the element which contains the post list
.rpwwt-widget ul: the list which contains the list items
.rpwwt-widget ul li: the list item in the list
.rpwwt-widget ul li.rpwwt-sticky: the list item of a sticky post
.rpwwt-widget ul li a: link in the list
.rpwwt-widget ul li a img: linked image
.rpwwt-widget ul li a span.rpwwt-post-title: the post title
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-author: the post author
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-categories: the post category list
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-date: the post date
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-excerpt: the post excerpt
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-excerpt .rpwwt-post-excerpt-more: the "more" text following the excerpt.
.rpwwt-widget ul li div.rpwwt-post-comments-number: the number of comments
</code></pre>
<h4>Languages</h4>
<p>The user interface is available in several languages.</p>
<p>Starting from version 7.1.0 the handling for translations are moved to <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails/" rel="nofollow ugc">translate.wordpress.org</a>.<br />
Please help to translate into more languages, or you can re-work on the current translations if you think it’s needed.<br />
If you have done your translation, please leave a comment in the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/recent-posts-widget-with-thumbnails" rel="ugc">plugin’s support forum</a>. I’ll take care of the review and approval.</p>


Category Featured Image vs Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails