How to Build / Update / Delete Reusable Blocks
Contents
How to Build / Update / Delete Reusable Blocks
Reusable Blocks allow you to add common content to certain pages of your site.
Where you want that content, you simply drag the Reusable Block to that location, select the content you want from the Reusable Block Selector, and it appears on that page, instantly.
They also allow you to add "content templates" (e.g., a 5 x 2 Responsive Grid Block with Image Blocks and Text Blocks inside), inside which you can change the content of the blocks without affecting the Reusable Block itself. You do this by cloning the Reusable Block.
In order to use Reusable Blocks, you must build them. This help discusses how to do that.
You can also edit/update any Reusable Block's content. That's discussed here as well.
Building Reusable Blocks
You can build a Reusable Block that contains content from just one block (e.g., a block of text, or some HTML), or you can build one that contains content from multiple blocks (e.g., a headline, a block of text, a divider, more text, then an image).
The building process is slightly different for each, so they're discussed separately.
Single Content Block
- Drag a block to the page. Add content.
- Click on the Reusable icon.
- Give the block a name and click on Save Reusable Block.
To create a Reusable Block with a single block of content, drag the type of block you want over to the page. For example, if you want a common block of text, drag a Text Block to the page.
Add your text by typing or pasting it in. Once you're satisfied with it, click on the small Reusable icon on the far right of the block's header...
An overlay window will appear. Type in the name you want to give to this block. Click on Save Reusable Block to save it.
After the block is saved, the overlay window closes and you'll see your block. Hover over it with your mouse and you'll see the name you just gave this block.
Tip
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Get into the habit of starting the name of similar blocks (e.g., all affiliate product blocks) with the same word or letters, so that those related blocks all appear together in the Reusable Block Selector, and in the Reusable Block Library.
Multiple Content Blocks
- Drag a Container Block to the page.
- Drag the desired blocks to the Container Block. Add content.
- Click on the Reusable icon for the Container Block.
- Give the block a name and click on Save Reusable Block.
If you want to have multiple blocks inside your Reusable Block, the process has one additional step, right at the beginning.
The first block to drag over is a Container Block. This block, empty to start, can hold any of the other types of blocks.
Drag into the container the blocks you want to use to create your common content. For example, if you want to create a mini-navigation for the Extra Column, you'll need several blocks.
You might start with a Headline Block, then an Image Block (making it a link to a Tier 2 page, and making the image's caption a link to the same Tier 2 page), followed by another Image Block, then another, etc.
Once you've dragged over all the blocks and created all the links for your navigation, click on the small Reusable icon on the far right of the Container Block's header.
The overlay window will appear. Type in the name you want to give to this block. Click on Save Reusable Block to save it.
After the block is saved, the overlay window closes and you'll see your block. Hover over it with your mouse and you'll see the name you just gave this block.
Tips
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Get into the habit of starting the name of similar blocks (e.g., all affiliate product blocks) with the same word or letters, so that those related blocks all appear together in the Reusable Block Selector, and in the Reusable Block Library. For example, use "AFF" for affiliate blocks, "AS" for AdSense blocks.
This applies as well if you plan to make some "content templates." Start each one with "template-" or "t-" to keep all the templates together in the list.
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You can drag a Reusable Block inside a Container Block that then becomes a Reusable Block (in other words, a nested Reusable Block). If you ever change the content in the inside Reusable Block, it will also automatically update in the outside Reusable Block.
Cloning Reusable Blocks
- Drag a Reusable Block to the page.
- Select the Reusable Block you want to add to the page.
- Click on Clone Block and Add to This Page.
When you drag the Reusable Block to the page, an overlay appears. Select the block you want on the page. Then click on the Clone Block and Add to This Page button.
This drops the content of the Reusable Block (e.g., text, HTML, a set of blocks) onto the page. Any editing you do to that content does not affect what's in the Reusable Block itself.
Use this feature to create a "template" for Tier 2 breadcrumbs, and templates for each Tier 2 section's Tier 3 pages.
Editing/Updating Reusable Blocks
- Click inside the Reusable Block on one of your pages.
- Click OK to unlock the block.
- Edit/update the content of the block.
- Build the page to save the edit/update.
You can edit or update any Reusable Block.
Click on the block you want to edit. An alert will appear, warning you that changes to the content will affect multiple pages. If you want to proceed with the edit/update, click OK.
Make the changes you want (remove, add or update content).
Click the Build It! button to save the changes to the page. If you don't build the page, the Reusable Block will not be updated.
To see the contents of any Reusable Block without adding it to the page, visit the Reusable Block Library, click on the desired block name, and select preview.
Note: The above discussion applies only to a Reusable Block that you do not clone on the page.
Cloning puts all the blocks inside the Reusable Block (including any content inside those blocks) as regular blocks, which you can then edit without affecting the Reusable Block itself.
Deleting a Reusable Block From a Page
- Click on the X next to the name of the block.
- In the confirmation overlay, click on Delete Block.
- Click on Cancel if you change your mind.
If you decide that you no longer want some common content on a particular page, you can delete it from that page without affecting any other page with the same common content.
(Note: this is different from Sitewide Dot behavior.)
To delete the block, click on the X next to the name of the block. Click on the X. An overlay window will appear. Click on Delete Block to delete it and all the content inside it.
To delete a Reusable Block from every page where it's used, visit the Reusable Block Library, click on the desired block name, and select delete.
Note: The above discussion applies only to a Reusable Block that you do not clone on the page.
If you cloned a Reusable Block, and you want to delete all the blocks inside the Reusable Block, you will have to delete each of those blocks individually.