Group settings

Last updated Oct 3, 20264 min read

Group settings are in the Settings section of the field group editor, on three tabs:

Tab	Available	Contains
Location rules	always	Where the group appears. See Location rules.
Presentation	always	Style, position, label placement, instruction placement, order.
Group settings	saved groups only	Active, the four integration toggles and Delete field group....

The collapsed section shows a summary such as Style: Modern (plugin default) · Position: Normal (after content) · Active: Yes.

Presentation

Setting	Options	Default	Effect
Style	Modern (plugin default), Standard (WP metabox), Seamless (no metabox chrome)	Modern	Modern uses the plugin's own styling (fields on a grid, field widths, accordions). Standard uses plain WordPress styling. Seamless removes the box chrome (border and header) so the fields blend into the page.
Position	High (after title), Normal (after content), Side	Normal	Where the box sits on post edit screens: right under the title, in the main column after the content, or in the sidebar. Other screens (users, terms, comments, widgets) ignore it.
Label placement	Top aligned, Left aligned	Top aligned	Labels above the inputs, or in a column to their left. A field with a Width below 100% always keeps its label on top.
Instruction placement	Below labels, Below fields	Below labels	Where a field's Instructions appear: under its label or under its input.
Order	A whole number	`0`	Lower numbers come first when several groups apply to the same screen (boxes on post screens, sections on user and term screens, comment boxes, widgets, admin columns). Groups with the same number are sorted by title.

On post edit screens the box title is the group Title, and Description is shown under it. A group with Position set to High is shown before groups set to Normal, whatever their Order.

Invalid values are corrected when saving (an unknown style falls back to Modern, an unknown position to Normal).

Active

Active (default on) is the master switch of a group:

Off: the group is not loaded on any screen (no edit-screen box, no admin column).
The stored data stays in the table, and it can still be read and written from code (wpmcf_get_field(), wpmcf_update_field()), by REST and by queries.
The group card shows an inactive badge.

Use it to retire a group without losing data, or to prepare a group before you launch it.

Integration toggles

These four toggles are on the Group settings tab. They are only shown for saved groups; a new group starts with the defaults. Each has its own page of detail elsewhere.

Toggle	Default	What it does	Details
Show in the REST API	off	Adds the group's values to the REST API of the post types in the location rules, under `wpmcf`. Users who can edit a post can also update the values through REST. Password fields are never included.	Developer API
Show in GraphQL	off	With the WPGraphQL plugin, adds a read-only field holding these values to the post types in the location rules. Password fields are never included.	Integrations
Bridge get_post_meta() and update_post_meta()	on	Themes, importers and other plugins that read or write post meta by field name get and set these fields instead.	Integrations
Include in site search	off	The WordPress site search also finds posts by the text in these fields (Text, Text area, WYSIWYG editor, Email, URL and Select fields).	Integrations

Delete field group

The last block of the Group settings tab has Delete field group... with the text Permanently remove this field group and drop its database table. See Create a field group.

REST and PHP

The settings live in settings of the group definition:

json

"settings": {
  "style": "wpmcf",
  "position": "normal",
  "label_placement": "top",
  "instruction_placement": "label",
  "order": 0,
  "active": true,
  "rest": false,
  "graphql": false,
  "meta_bridge": true,
  "searchable": false
}

style is wpmcf (Modern), standard or seamless. A partial settings object in a PUT request is merged with the stored one, so { "settings": { "active": false } } only switches the group off.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
The box is in the wrong place	Check Position and Order, and that another plugin is not moving meta boxes. On the block editor, meta boxes appear below the content area.
I cannot find the Active switch	It is on the Group settings tab, which exists only after the group is saved once.
The group disappeared from edit screens	Active may be off.
Values are not in the REST API	Show in the REST API is off, or the post type is not in the location rules.

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