ACF Recent Posts Widget vs Loop Grid Extender for Elementor – ACF Repeater & Smart Filters

ACFRPW adds a new widget to the Appearance -> Widgets -> ACF Recent Posts Widget. Most of the fields are quite obvious, you can choose from a set of settings to display the posts from. Each setting alters the amount and type of posts listed in the sidebar. Available Settings The widget supports the following settings: Widget Title Custom Widget container CSS class Option to ignore sticky posts Search keyword query Id based post exclusion Date Display, Date Modified, Relative and Custom Date Format specifiaction Listing posts from specific date period (start and end) Listing posts with specific password, listing password protected posts only or excluding these Post Type selection Post Formats selection Post Statuses selection Listing posts limited to author via author id Order specifiaction (ASC or DESC) Orderby specification (ID, Author, Title, Date, Modified, Random, Comment Count, Menu Order, Meta Value, Meta Value Numeric) Meta Key specifiaction (if Meta Value or Meta Value Numeric were chosen as orderby rule) Meta Comparison selection Meta Value Specification (for the Meta Comparison selection) Category limitation Tag limitation Id based custom taxonomy limitation Operator specifiaction for the above rules Number of posts to show Number of posts to skip Thumbnail display, thumbnail size (width, height), thumbnail alignment, default thumbnail Excerpt display, its word limit, its readmore text (occurs only if the amount of words exceeds the limit) Custom HTML to display before the loop Custom HTML to display after the loop Custom HTML to display before each posts. It supports custom meta keys and ACF fields Custom HTML to display after each posts. It supports custom meta keys and ACF fields Custom HTML to display for no posts found Custom and default CSS Custom HTML templates ACF supported fields The plugin has been tested with ACF 6 (Free and Pro). The plugin supports the following ACF fields: Text Textarea Number Email Password Wysiwg Editor Image File No other fields have been tested and are supported at the moment. Shortcode From version 4.4 the plugin supports shortcode embeds. Given the amount of options and their specific names (as in shortcode attributes) the shorcode builder has been introduced see 7th and 8th screenshots for the reference. You’ll see a popup once clicked on ACFRPW button which gives one an ability to automatically set up the shortcode code for you. The rest follows all of the options specified here. To use the shortcode one needs to have the WordPress editor enabled for the current page / post type. In case it was disabled (say via ACF) the button won’t appear. Creating Custom Templates From version 4.3 the plugin supports custom templates. To make usage of these one needs to make a copy of all the files found in the acf-recent-posts-widget/templates directory and copy them over to the active template directory to acfrpw subdirectory. The approach is similar to the way WooCommerce plugin works and has it’s drawbacks. With every new feature the files may be outdated. Similarly to the widget template files, a separate, custom markup can be created for the shortcode build post listing. Copy the acf-recent-posts-widget/template files to acfrpw-blog directory created inside your active theme directory. Template files There are 3 main template files: loop-after.php (which displays the markup after each of the posts and closes the markup container) loop-before.php (which displays the markup before each of the posts and opens the markup container) loop-inner.php (which is enqueued for each of the posts separatelly and contains the markup of every single post) Usage The usage is quite advanced hence each template file contains a quite detailed documentation on how to use it. First of all the template files mustn’t have the global variables removed. Each of these variables stores the widget settings, which are then used to generate the code. Second of all the variable names are unobvious, loop-inner.php template file contains a list of all the names used, which are then extracted and available as php variables. Different template per widget / sidebar The templates allow one to adjust the markup of each single widget. One needs first to verify the widget id used, which may then be referenced. The variable which stores the widget id is $acf_rpw_args[‘widget_id’]. Dumping the value in the template is the best way to find out which automatic id has been created for your widget. The best way to handle the templates is to learn from their code. My personal suggestion is to copy over the templates to the current theme and work directly on them, doing one change at a time. The templates require learning curve to use and there’s no single answer to everyones problem. Complex usage This section covers plugin complex usage for advanced user willing to have more control over the behavior of the plugin as well as explains uncommon functionalities. Using the HTML textarea fields These sections might not be obvious. The HTML or text before / after the whole loop setting is an area where you can specify custom HTML markup to be added before / after the whole posts list. The HTML or text before / after each post is an area where you can not only specify custom HTML, but you are also given an ability to print any meta key or certain ACF fields (see ACF supported fields) Meta Key Name / ACF Usage These fields need to be wrapped inside the {meta name} or {acf field_name} tags (which are similar to shortcodes). The plugin will then parse these fields and print their according value. Say we have a custom ACF field of type text, for which the Field Name is “text”. To print its value one has to use [acf text] inside the befoe / after each post textarea. A similar solution applies to the meta key. Meta Value Usage The Meta Value field supports an array of elements, so that all of the meta_compare parameters could be used. To do so, please specify the two parameters separated by semicolon, for instance: 1234;12345. The plugin will convert these into an array and apply the proper operation for the two. Whatsmore the [date] shortcode can be used here. It takes the timestamp paramater as an argument, which is required – the possible arguments are the same as for the function described here: http://php.net/manual/pl/function.strtotime.php. For instance [date +1 day] would generate the tomorrow date in “Ymd” format. This can be used with custom meta field date. Plugin Filters The are several filters that can be used to enchance the plugin programatically: ‘acf_rwp_query’ which gives one the ability to filter the query applied to each widget. ‘acp_rwp_before’ which gives on the ability to filter the Front End output of the plugin before each post. There are two hooks attached here already which allow usage of the [acf] and [meta] shortcodes. ‘acp_rwp_after’ which gives on the ability to filter the Front End output of the plugin after each post. There are two hooks attached here already which allow usage of the [acf] and [meta] shortcodes. ‘acf_meta_value’ which filters the meta_value query parameter. Check the acf_widget_widget file for the arguments and use cases. Dependencies ACF (optional) Widget Base Class (included) Shortcode popups generator (included) Other Online Demo Plugin site and Docs Plugin Development Survey Languages Supported English (default) Polish (since May 11 2015) French (since June 29 2015), by wolforg, standalone source Spanish (since July 30 2023)

Loop Grid Extender for Elementor Pro helps you add powerful filter options to Elementor’s Loop Grid widget. By default, Loop Grid doesn’t let users filter posts or products easily, that’s where this addon comes in. Important This plugin does not currently support Elementor’s Widget Cache feature. Please disable it to ensure proper functionality. It is built specifically for people using Elementor Pro + ACF (Advanced Custom Fields), allowing to add dropdown filters, show how many posts or products are in each category, and even hide terms you don’t want to show. Think of it as a missing piece that gives Elementor Pro superpowers when working with repeater fields and dynamic layouts. View Demo KEY FEATURES ACF Repeater Field Support with Elementor Pro: Directly use ACF Pro’s Repeater fields inside Elementor Pro’s dynamic widgets through the Loop Grid widget. It means you can display complex, repeated content without writing any code. Dropdown Display for Filters: You can easily filter posts or products by categories, tags, or custom taxonomies using dropdown menus. Post/Product Count Display: Display the number of posts or products available next to each filter option, helping visitors quickly see how many items are in each category before they choose to filter. Exclude Specific Taxonomies or Terms: Exclude unwanted taxonomy terms like “Uncategorized” or any other custom terms from the filter list. Custom Post Type & ACF Taxonomy Support: The plugin fully supports custom post types and taxonomies created with ACF, ensuring that all your unique content types work with the filtering system. Multilingual + Multi-taxonomy (Pro): Build complex, language-aware filters across categories, tags, and custom taxonomies. Responsive, Optimized, Code-free: Lightweight scripts, clean markup, and mobile-first design ensure performance. USE CASES Building FAQ or testimonial sections with toggles and pop-ups using ACF repeater data. Creating WooCommerce product grids with filters for size, color, and brand. Crafting team member directories, event listings, or portfolio galleries with dynamic filter UI. Multilingual websites requiring term-specific filtering. From Frustration to Solution Elementor users have been requesting native support for ACF Repeater fields in Loop Grids, toggle/accordion widgets, and dynamic pop-ups for years. For example, issue #5979 on GitHub was opened 6+ years ago, stated: “I’m always frustrated when building a dynamic FAQ section using a custom post type with ACF fields and Dynamic Pop‑up. Elementor Pro doesn’t support a repeater functionality yet.” #5979 #23185 Despite some advances, Elementor still lacks an intuitive way to: Populate toggles, pop-ups, or loop templates with ACF repeater data, without custom PHP. Add flexible filter UI (dropdowns or checkboxes) with taxonomy and post-count controls. Our plugin directly addresses these gaps. Explore More Cool Addons For Elementor Cool FormKit For Elementor: Add advanced fields like conditional logic, range sliders, calculator fields, and country code selection to Elementor forms. Conditional Fields For Elementor Form: An essential addon for Elementor forms that allows you to add conditional logic to input fields, enabling fields to show/hide based user input. Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field: Enhances phone fields with a country code selection feature for accurate data input. Timeline Widget for Elementor: Use this plugin to showcase your history in a stylish vertical or horizontal timeline layout on Elementor pages. Events Widgets for Elementor: This plugin provides The Events Calendar widgets for Elementor, allowing you to easily display events in a grid, list, or carousel layout. Use of 3rd Party Services: This plugin connects to the Cool Plugins feedback server only for optional usage data sharing and voluntary feedback submission (for example, during plugin deactivation). Data is transmitted solely after explicit user consent. No hidden tracking is performed, and no frontend visitor or site user data is collected. For more details, please review our Data Usage Policy, TOS, and Privacy Policy.