WordPress 4.7 was released just a few hours ago. It is the last major release of the year 2016, which brings some exciting new improvements and several bug fixes. In this article, we will show you what’s new in WordPress 4.7 and which features you should try after updating your websites.
4.7 is a major WordPress release, and unless you are on a managed WordPress hosting service, you will have to manually initiate the update.
Important: Don’t forget to create a complete WordPress backup before starting the update.
Twenty Seventeen – A New Default Theme
WordPress 4.7 is the last release of the year. It is a WordPress tradition to release a new default theme each year named after the year.
Meet Twenty Seventeen.
This beautiful default theme comes with focus on business websites instead of blogs. It even comes with starter content to help new users start a WordPress website in minutes.
Twenty Seventeen is flexible enough to be used as a blog theme as well. Perhaps the most noticeable thing about Twenty Seventeen is crisp typography, which looks great on all screens.
Other noticeable features include large featured images, full screen header video and images, and graceful mobile-first design. All these elements make Twenty Seventeen a great starter theme for any kind of website.
Video Header Support in WordPress 4.7
WordPress 4.7 brings video header support for themes. Many free and premium themes were already allowing users to add full screen videos. The video header feature will make it easier for theme developers to integrate it with in customizer with live preview.
Users can upload their own videos in mp4 format, or add a YouTube video. We recommend adding a video using YouTube. See our article on why you should never upload videos to your WordPress site.
Starter Content Support for Themes
Some premium WordPress themes allowed their customers to import starter content when they purchased a theme. The purpose of this content is to immediately setup a site for users with dummy content, which they can later edit to meet their own needs.
WordPress 4.7 brings similar functionality to the WordPress core and themes. Themes can now automatically add starter content on fresh sites.
A user will need to just visit the theme customizer and the starter content will be displayed. However, this starter content will not be saved until a user clicks on the save button.
PDF Previews in WordPress 4.7
WordPress 4.7 generates thumbnail previews for PDF files and displays them in media library. Previously, when you added a PDF document WordPress showed a generic document icon. Users had to use different PDF plugins for thumbnail previews.
This feature creates an image for the first page of PDF document during upload. This image is then stored in different sizes and is displayed in media library, media upload popup, and attachment pages.
Edit Shortcuts in Customizer Preview
WordPress 4.7 also brings ‘Edit Shortcuts’ in customizer preview. These edit shortcuts are small blue icons placed on editable items in your theme’s live preview.
This will be immensely helpful to new users who can now just point and click to edit an item.
Don’t be surprised if you don’t see edit shortcuts for your theme. It is a new feature and it may not be available with your current theme.
Add Custom CSS in Live Preview
Sometimes you may need to quickly add some CSS to your WordPress site. Previously you had to add custom CSS to your theme or child theme‘s stylesheet. WordPress 4.7 allows you to directly add custom CSS using Customizer and view live preview of your changes.
However, this custom CSS is specific to the WordPress theme you are currently editing. If you want to apply custom CSS regarless of which theme you are using, then see our guide on on how to add custom CSS in WordPress.
Admin Language Control
WordPress 4.7 allows users to switch the admin area language from their user profile. You will still need to install the languages before users can switch them.
Editor Improvements in WordPress 4.7
The post editor in WordPress is where users spend most of their time creating content. Each WordPress release strives to improve the editing experience by making it more easier and intuitive.
WordPress 4.7 brings some important changes to the editor. Users can now see keyboard shortcuts in tooltips and drop down menus.
The paragraph and heading selector menu will now appear in the top bar. The underline button has been removed, and the strikethrough and horizontal line buttons are moved to the kitchen sink bar.
Under The Hood Changes
WordPress 4.7 brings lots of exciting changes for developers as well. Here are some of those under the hood improvements.
Post Type Templates in WordPress 4.7
WordPress has custom page templates which allows users and theme developers to create different layouts for pages in WordPress. 4.7 brings this functionality to all post types including custom post types. (#18375)
Rest API Content Endpoints
Rest API Endpoints make their way into WordPress 4.7. (#38373)
Locale Switching
If the content of your website is displayed in a different locale than the one set in admin area, then WordPress will show the toolbar in the language of the content page. (#26511)
Accessible Alt Text for Images
WordPress automatically used file names as title and alternate text for images added in WordPress. Starting from 4.7, WordPress will now leave the alt text field blank if a user does not make any changes to the title or alt text fields when uploading an image. (#34635)
We hope this article offered you a good scope of what’s new in WordPress 4.7. We are particularly excited about video headers and edit shortcuts in customizer. What are you excited about?
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Ed Reichenbach
Using Twenty Sixteen, how do I change the prompt on the comments “leave a reply”? WP Tutorial gives indications, but when I go to Settings/Discussion, contrary to what tutorial says, I see no box where I can do that. Thanks for your help!
Kev Man
Video headers have black bars in them, either at the top or the sides, depending on what your screen size is. As you resize it, they get even worse and no one seems to be addressing that fact.
The video header is not fully responsive and the black bars make the feature completely useless.
MIKE KLEYN
I updated to 4.7.2 and have since been inundated with new users, my email inbox is full of notifications. Are these real users or spam and how do I stop this if the latter?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Mike,
Please see how to stop spam registrations on your WordPress site.
Admin
Ted
Dear WP Beginner,
About a month ago I bought a WP theme and started what I hoped to be creation of a simple 2-3 page ‘blog’ type website (no ads, no social media, nothing fancy shmancy) creation (on local computer, not hosted). Sadly after many hours (probably over 50) of solid effort I’ve gotten nowhere…the theme has literally thousands of ‘settings’ and with no experience in web creation whatsoever (read:total newb) I’ve reached point of absolute frustration and ‘loss of hope’ so to speak.
Wordpress, buddypress, WPbakery, Akismet – leave me just bewildered. Plus hundreds upon hundreds of page ‘elements’ for which I’ve got zero idea what the heck they are (dropcase? Megamenu? slider3? default blockquote? etc.) even after reading the documentation page by page (which explains HOW to change a setting, not what the setting is or what it affects) I end up just aimlessly changing settings and going back forth trying to see what changed and where.
So my question is this: the WordPress platform and ‘predeveloped themes’ are clearly geared towards folks with a LOT of webdev training/experience and is akin for a newb to a 1st year college student being placed in a neurosurgery suite and asked to repair a circle of willis defect. How would you advise a newbie (as in NO webdev experience) go about creating a simple blog website – is there a newb platform that is something other than the canned blogspot type default?
My other option is to hire a website designer but for a most basic website they are quoting the price of a decent new car…literally. There has to be a way for inexperienced people to get into this without a platform/theme that requires extensive knowledge and thousands of settings at every level.
Any advice? I’m exasperated and really don’t want to fork over $10k per page minimum + $625 / hour for a blog site that is no more complex than “Drudge” for example (I use that merely as example of the level complexity I need, not as a site I follow lol!)
Thoughts appreciated. There has got to be a way that regular folks can create a website that is somewhere between blogspot and WordPress neurosurgery.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Ted,
We totally understand why you would be upset. Many WordPress themes come with just too many options. You are not supposed to use all of those options but they are there. However, there are many other theme development companies that understand this and have really nice user interface to easily setup websites. We will recommend you to take a look at our guide on things you should consider when selecting a WordPress theme.
Admin
Karakaplan
Hi
I want to change “Admin Language Control” settings from default to English for all my users. My site is another language. How to do that in bulk?
Mario Yee
Hi, I am relatively new to WP.
We have located a Worpress Theme compatible up to version 4.4.2, but I would like to install the most recent one (4.7).
Can anyone advise me if it’s better to look for another template compatible with 4.7 or it will be ok if I get that 4.4.2 theme and install it in 4.7 WP version?
Thanks in advance!
John
Hi, I have updated to wordpress 4.7 and now my primary sidebar has moved from the right side to the left side of pages and a secondary bar has been added underneath it. Can anyone advise how to get my layout back?
Thanks
John
sumanth
I have installed 4.7 and theme 2017 but i did not find PDF preview working,
it still shows default icon ???
WPBeginner Support
You probably don’t have imagemagick support on your WordPress hosting. Please contact your WordPress hosting provider.
Admin
Marcus
Very fine theme.
Are there any plugins not working with WP 4.7?
Inez
Hello
I updated to the word press jobify 4.7 version, but now my main menu pages has been changed to a hidden drop down version instead of being able to see the various menu pages listed horizontally/across the top of the website page.
Is there a way that I can change it back? I have tried, but can’t seem to be able to change it back to the original horizontal display of the menu pages. Thanks.
Ali
Very good updates though i first i thought the new theme is the only update for this wordpress version
PDF utility is huge plus
George
Removing the “UNDERLINE” button was NOT a good idea. I use that button often. The B-I-U buttons are the basics of all writing programs. Why was it removed? I am NOT pleased! It now takes me longer to underline if I need.
James Denning
The underline button can be reintroduced using plugins. (e.g. Advanced Code Editor/Black Studio TinyMCE Widget/TinyMCE Advanced) I also use HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter/Preserved HTML Editor Markup Plus but there are issues with these when you switch between Visual and Text display. You must do an Update and Reload when you switch between the two or sometimes code is lost.
Paolo
Removing the underline and justify action is really bad idea.
Susan Grace
Please, please, please restore the Underline function. I use it all the time and find it extremely helpful.
Thanks so much!
James Denning
You can restore this. See my comment above.
Dawid Kunicki
Add Custom CSS in Live Preview – this seems to be a great improvement, need to try that.
James Denning
I use Simple Custom CSS plugin so I can view my changes in a full page.
Jason Ring
It’s all fun and games until Wordpress removes the underline button….. I suppose most people don’t use it much anymore, but if you do, you’re have to text more often………….
Shehryar aziz
There is another big feature released in WordPress 4.7, which is auto creation of pages! Just by adding menu’s from the backend it will create pages automatically with the menu name and this feature is going to be very helpful for the developers and users to customize themes.
4.7 is a great update! CSS Preview option is great too.
Sal
This is great for theme developers. Finally!
Atta
You forgot to highlight the REST API feature. REST API is especially useful if you want to develop mobile apps for your website. It is something which was lacking in previous versions.
Overall, the new version features pretty good stuff.
Foysal Imran
Some of the features really lovely.
Banna
New theme look good. It will help to created business sites instant.
Aboo
Yes, true. It is very easy for the new people now. I love the edit shortcuts feature.
Vijaygopal Balasa
Can I update my WordPress version from 3.6 to 3.7 without back up my files. Will my settings will erase?
Adi
Your settings will not be erase, but its recommended that you take full backup of your theme or DB once to update it. But some times widget settings remove or may be theme settings. But now a days themes are very mature and this not happen.
Sangy
My site is currently on 4.4.2 version and the template i got installed apparently supports till 4.6.0 and 4.6.1 when I last checked in Sep 2016.
Do you think updating to 4.7 version will change anything major on my site?
I am currently getting alerts to update to 4.7 due to some known vulnerabilities
Any help or information in this regard is highly appreciated
WPBeginner Support
Hi Sangy,
You can update to latest version of WordPress. It may take some time before theme developers update their documentation, this does not mean that your theme will break. Make sure that you create a complete backup of your WordPress site before updating. This will allow you to revert back to the old version if something goes wrong.
Admin
Sangy
Thanks for your prompt reply. Will do.
I have another query. I actually ended up updating few plugins which created this mess. And later I realized the Yoast isn’t working correctly either. It keeps pointing out mistakes – keyword being used only once for example when it’s actually used around 5 times.
Does uninstalling and installing this plugin help?
Any suggestion is highly appreciated!
Ihsan Khattak
Hello !
Yes off course this article is very helpful for us .We did not know above mention points which you explain very well in example. Thanks for this beautiful article. Allah Bless you….. and thanks to Wordpress too….
Prob Pob
I wish the default TwentySeventeen Theme came with Blogging Platform rather than for the business Purpose.
Syaz
It’s… disappointing…
Editorial Staff
Why?
Admin
Emer
where is the button in editor text to justify the text????????????????
Faiz Alias
You can use shortcut. This function still available in WP.
Shehryar aziz
Why do you feel that so?
The WordPress 4.7 is a great release with lots of upgrades.
I love the CSS preview feature and Alt Text feature.
Best update so far.