This Is How Easy It Is To Centre Captions Underneath Images And Photos On WordPress

Once upon a time, getting captions to centre underneath photos and images on blog posts involved adding complicated CSS code to your blog.

I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t look right to me whenever I see uncentred captions. It gives blog posts a messy look.

However, WordPress now makes it much easier to centre captions under blog posts, images and photos.

Banner for the blog post 'This Is How Easy It Is To Centre Captions Underneath Images And Photos On WordPress' — Are your captions centred?

Here’s my simple guide to centring captions.

Add an image or photo to a blog post.

Click on the image to open the image toolbar.

Image of a photo on a WordPress blog highlighting the image toolbar — How to centre a caption

You’ll see that the caption is aligned to the left under the above photo. Arghhhhh!

On the toolbar, click on the ‘Align‘ button and on the dropdown menu that appears, click on ‘Align Centre.’

Image highlighting the Align Centre button on WordPress — Click on the Align Centre button.

The image or photo will now be centred on your blog post, as will the caption.

Image showing a centred caption under an image on a WordPress blog. — The caption is now centred underneath the photo.

How easy was that? No more ‘Arghhhhhs.’

The example I have given above works on the Block editor.

Of course, if you prefer captions on your blog posts to be aligned to the left or right, you can ignore everything I’ve said in this post.

If you have any questions about centring captions, leave them in the comments section.

Looking for more blogging tips? Click on the ‘Blogging Tips’ and ‘Block Editor – How To’ buttons on the menubar of my blog.

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56 responses to “This Is How Easy It Is To Centre Captions Underneath Images And Photos On WordPress”

Mthobisi Magagula

Oct 10, 2022

Thanks for the tips Hugh, it is super easy to caption picture.

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 10, 2022

You’re welcome.

Reply

Janice Wald

Oct 9, 2022

I didn’t know about this. I make my graphics at Canva for the most part. Do I need this skill?
Congratulations Hugh, your post won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party. You’ll be featured on my blog tomorrow.
Janice

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 10, 2022

Only if your captions are not aligning to the centre under any images and photos (and you want them to), on your blog posts, Janice.

Thanks for the great news about winning the inspire Monday Link party.

Have a great week.

Reply

dgkaye

Oct 7, 2022

Great share Hugh. I couldn’t be without the align option. :) x

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 7, 2022

Same here, Debby. Everything looks so messy if it’s not aligned. Thank you.

Reply

Eugenia

Oct 4, 2022

Thank you for this information, Hugh!

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 5, 2022

You’re welcome.

Reply

BookerTalk

Oct 4, 2022

Good to know this is now so easy. If only they would make image editing more robust.

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 4, 2022

I think they are working on it, Karen, although I know that the gallery options in the Block editor are not to everyone’s liking. Many bloggers use the Classic block when adding photo galleries to get around the problems.

Reply

petespringerauthor

Oct 4, 2022

I can always get the pictures centered, but the captions don’t seem to center consistently. Sometimes they’re centered in the draft and switch to left justification when I hit publish.

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 4, 2022

Pete, there are a few things you can try to fix the issue –

1. I don’t know which method you use when adding captions, but try a different way. If you add them in the block, try adding them in the media library instead, and vice-versa. I use both methods, which always work for me.

2. Try adding a CSS code to your blog to centre captions. The code I previously used was –

/* align caption on center-aligned images KG-15020525-hc */ .wp-block-image .aligncenter> figcaption { text-align: center; } /* KG-15020525-hc */

However, some bloggers informed me that it didn’t always work. It always worked for me, though.

3. I don’t know what theme you use, but if it’s a retired theme, WordPress will ask you to choose a current one they’re still supporting. A few years ago, I was having issues and discovered that the theme I was using was retired and no longer supported by WordPress. I had to choose a new theme to get rid of the bugs. It worked!

4. It could be a theme bug that is making the caption align to the left despite you having used the ‘Align Centre’ button. Contact the Happiness Engineers and ask them if they can help check and fix the bug (if there is one).

I hope that helps.

Reply
1. petespringerauthor
  
  Oct 4, 2022
  
  Thanks for taking the time to make all these suggestions, Hugh. Interesting that some themes work and others don’t. I don’t think I want to change themes, but I’ll try some of your other recommendations.
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 5, 2022
    
    You’re welcome.
    
    Reply

orthodoxmom3

Oct 4, 2022

Thanks! I haven’t worried about this one yet but what an easy fix!

Erika

Oct 3, 2022

I second that, it is absolutely simple!

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 4, 2022

Thanks for the backup, Erika.

Reply

Brenda

Oct 3, 2022

Hugh you’re such a font of essential and helpful information. Another new tip to help improve. Thank you.

I’m also learning so much just from the conversations in your comments 😁

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 4, 2022

The comments section can hold a wealth of new information, Brenda. I always read them. Sometimes they can be more interesting than the post.

Reply

JT Twissel

Oct 3, 2022

I must admit, I have suffered with the left leaning captions! Thanks for the tip!

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 4, 2022

You’re welcome.

Reply

Liesbet @ Roaming About

Oct 3, 2022

I’ll have to try this again, Hugh, as until recently, my caption would show up “vertically” with every word underneath the previous one. Also, creating galleries – with captions for each photo – was still not possible when I last checked this out on the block editor. That’s why I’m still using the classic blocks for photos and galleries on my blog. It is possible to center the photos in the classic editor as well, which I always do.

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 3, 2022

I’m going to have to play around with the galleries on the Block editor and see if I can get captions to centre on them, too, Liesbet. Thank heavens we have the Classic Block, although I do find it rather strange that some bloggers still refuse to use the Classic block.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Reply
1. Liesbet @ Roaming About
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  Thanks, Hugh. As far as I know, galleries don’t even show up correctly in the “new” Editor, let alone the captions…
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 4, 2022
    
    Which gallery do you use the most, Liesbet?
    
    Reply
2. Liesbet @ Roaming About
  
  Oct 4, 2022
  
  I always use the classic block gallery, Hugh. If it ever comes to using the newer photo blocks, any gallery would do. I like being able to put 4-8 photos in the same “block”, because grouping my many photos according to a theme or a place makes most sense.
  
  Right now, in the classic block, the captions show when someone clicks on the photo in a gallery or hovers their mouse over it. Not sure how the captions would show up in a block other than the classic one. They might partly cover the photos… I would have to play around with it more but don’t have time for that right now.
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 4, 2022
    
    OK, thanks, Liesbet. I’ll also play around with some of the gallery blocks and let you know how I get on.
    
    Reply

Terri Webster Schrandt

Oct 3, 2022

I remember your last post on this subject and used the code for centering. Ot worked but only intermittently. I scrolled through and see that my captions are centered, but the caption is the same size as my body font. Always appreciated when you post these how-to’s Hugh!

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 3, 2022

Hi Terri, the font size could have something to do with the theme you’re using or the font sizes you have chosen if not using the default font sizes for the theme. Some themes have the option for users to change the size of the font. I tend to leave them alone unless the font size is too small, although I’d probably choose another theme if the font size could not be changed and was too small.

Reply
1. Terri Webster Schrandt
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  I believe you are right, Hugh. Not a big deal, I don’t think it detracts from the post. At least their centered!!
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 3, 2022
    
    Absolutely! Thanks, Terri.
    
    Reply

Colleen M. Chesebro

Oct 3, 2022

I’ve struggled with this forever! Thanks so much Hugh. I’ll give this a go. On my new author blog I can’t get my messages from the little bell icon on the front page of my blog. I have to go into the dashboard. I contacted WP… they claimed it was my browser, but it happens no matter what I do. Both Chrome and Safari have the issue. But on WordCraftPoetry I can use the bell to retrieve messages. I think the how we retrieve messages is going to change soon.

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 3, 2022

You’re welcome, Colleen.

I use Chrome and can access my messages from the bell icon anywhere it appears on my blog. I wonder if it’s a problem with the theme of your blog, as many of the older ones no longer have support? However, I don’t use the bell icon much because it sometimes does not always show all the messages, so I use the comments dashboard. I switch between the Default and Classic views, especially when dealing with spam, although I don’t get much spam any more since doing a big cleanup and housekeeping exercise on my blog.

Reply
1. Colleen M. Chesebro
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  Thanks, Hugh. It could be the theme but this is a new blog. I’ve had issues receiving comments here. It’s so frustrating. I’m on Premium and you would think we would get some better themes. It seems all the specialty blogs are getting the themes.
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 3, 2022
    
    I’d recommend using the comments section on the dashboard of your new blog, Colleen. I think it’s far more reliable, although do check your spam folder for genuine comments that could end up in there.
    
    Once upon a time, you could check whether the theme you were using was active or retired, but WordPress seems to have moved or removed that option. I recommend you ask them the question next time you speak with them.
    
    Reply
    1. Colleen M. Chesebro
      
      Oct 3, 2022
      
      Thanks, Hugh. That’s sound advice. ❤️
      
      Reply

Michelle (Boomer Eco Crusader)

Oct 3, 2022

Once again, Hugh, you have solved one of my little annoyances with my blog. Now I need to go back and update some posts. LOL

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 3, 2022

Good to hear, Michelle. I’m glad it has helped. And it’s so quick to do, although it may take some time to update your older posts (depending on how many you have).

Reply
1. Michelle (Boomer Eco Crusader)
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  I have a lot but some are more picture-heavy than others. I will tackle them first.
  
  Reply
  1. Miss Judy
    
    Oct 4, 2022
    
    Michelle – this bit of CSS might work and save you a lot of tedious updating. Use in your site Customize – Appearance – Advance CSS
    .wp-block-image figcaption {
    text-align: center;
    }
    
    Reply
    1. Michelle (Boomer Eco Crusader)
      
      Oct 4, 2022
      
      Thanks Judy. I will give that a try!
      
      Reply

Cathy Cade

Oct 3, 2022

I don’t often add captions to my blogs.
I would have thought the instructions above were obvious, had I not, fairly recently, added one and found it impossible to centre, in spite of trying the obvious. I’ll go back and try again.
How can it have taken so long to make this possible?

Hugh W. Roberts

Oct 3, 2022

It used to be done by adding CSS code to your blog, but as the Block editor has developed, WordPress is adding many features, so you don’t need to do the work.

This new way has been available for quite some time because I’ve been using it, but I still see many blog posts with inconsistent captions. To me, it looks so wrong. Hopefully, this post put things right.

Reply
1. Cathy Cade
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  I suppose once we’ve failed to get the effect we want we give up tryinng :( thanks for the update.
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 3, 2022
    
    You’re welcome, Cathy.
    
    Reply
2. Miss Judy
  
  Oct 3, 2022
  
  I’d be interested to know the CSS code so it would automatically be done. Do you have it?
  
  Reply
  1. Hugh W. Roberts
    
    Oct 4, 2022
    
    Here’s the code I used, but I can not guarantee it works anymore.
    
    /* align caption on center-aligned images KG-15020525-hc */ .wp-block-image .aligncenter> figcaption { text-align: center; } /* KG-15020525-hc */
    
    Let me know how you get on.
    
    Reply
    1. Miss Judy
      
      Oct 4, 2022
      
      I found this snippet of code on helpmegeek.com. It seems to have worked and has even updated older posts. The post describes how it works, if you are interested.
      .wp-block-image figcaption {
      text-align: center;
      }
      
      Reply
      1. Hugh W. Roberts
        
        Oct 4, 2022
        
        Thanks so much for that piece of information. I’m sure it will help many people who want to update the captions on their older posts.

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