How to Add Custom Columns to the WordPress Post List

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June 25, 2018 WordPress
How to Add Custom Columns to the WordPress Post List

Adding and populating custom columns in the WordPress post list table

The default WordPress post list table shows Title, Author, Categories, Tags, and Date. Adding your own columns — featured image, custom field value, taxonomy terms — makes bulk-reviewing content much faster.

Problem: How do you add a custom column to the WordPress admin post list table and fill it with meta data or a thumbnail?

Solution: Two hooks do the job: manage_{post_type}_posts_columns to register the column, and manage_{post_type}_posts_custom_column to populate it.

// 1. Add the column header
add_filter( 'manage_post_posts_columns', 'add_featured_image_column' );

function add_featured_image_column( $columns ) {
    // Insert after the checkbox column
    $new = [];
    foreach ( $columns as $key => $label ) {
        $new[ $key ] = $label;
        if ( 'title' === $key ) {
            $new['thumbnail'] = __( 'Thumbnail', 'textdomain' );
        }
    }
    return $new;
}

// 2. Populate the column
add_action( 'manage_post_posts_custom_column', 'render_featured_image_column', 10, 2 );

function render_featured_image_column( $column, $post_id ) {
    if ( 'thumbnail' !== $column ) return;

    if ( has_post_thumbnail( $post_id ) ) {
        echo get_the_post_thumbnail( $post_id, [ 60, 60 ] );
    } else {
        echo '—';
    }
}

To make the column sortable by a custom field, add it to the sortable columns filter:

add_filter( 'manage_edit-post_sortable_columns', function( $cols ) {
    $cols['thumbnail'] = 'thumbnail';
    return $cols;
} );

NOTE: Replace post in the hook names with your custom post type slug to target a different post type. For example, manage_product_posts_columns for WooCommerce products.

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