Builder Template Categories - for WordPress Page Builders

Organize your Page Builder Templates in the WordPress Admin. Better overview, don’t get lost. Time saver. With extended plugin & theme support.

Builder Template Categories plugin banner

Tested Compatibility

Support Project Installation Description Frequently Asked Questions Screenshots Changelog Plugin Scope / Disclaimer

Support the Project

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Installation

Quick Install – as Plugin

  1. Download ZIP: builder-template-categories.zip
  2. Upload via WordPress Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
  3. Go to your already active plugin or theme which has the template library and you’ll see the additional template category as a new submenu item (for example: “Template Categories”).
  4. Now enjoy organizing your templates, get better overview and save time ;-)

Minimum Requirements

Description

Organize your Page Builder Templates in the WordPress Admin. Time saver, especially for bigger projects. Get a better and faster overview, don’t get lost. Filter templates with your categories. With extended plugin & theme support.

Video of Plugin's Live Demo and Walkthrough
original video link by plugin developer David Decker

Out of the box the plugin includes integrations for a lot of awesome Page Builders, Themes and Plugins. If any supported integration is installed & active, the “Builder Template Categories” plugin just applies its additions. The plugin is really lightweight and simple. Just activate and you’re done - and can use the categorization.

♥️ What the Plugin does?

🚀 Typical Use Case of this Plugin

You are building a big site with lots of different templates across various template libraries of different plugins. Now the “Builder Template Categories” plugin helps you organize those templates better and more efficiently. For example you have a template category “Landing Pages”. This category is now visible in Elementor’s “My Templates”, as well as in the Theme “GeneratePress” and its “Elements” Module, as well as in “PopBox for Elementor” plugin and also in “Pods” plugin’s “Templates”.

So in every one of those libraries you can now filter and list all parts of templates for this specific post type that belong to your “Landing Pages” category.

Please note: The categories are global but when filtering only those items are listed that are connected to the specific post type. See the FAQ for more info on that

🎉 Supported Page Builders

🎨 Supported Themes

🚀 Supported Plugins

📦 Supported Gutenberg-specific Plugins (Block Editor)

Frequently Asked Questions

How to apply template categories in bulk?

Applying template categories to more than one template at once is easily possible: just use the built-in “Bulk Actions” from WordPress Core, which are available for any post type.

Video of adding template categories via Bulk Action - Live Demo and Walkthrough original video link by plugin developer David Decker

Why is the taxonomy “global” and applied to more than one post type?

The answer is simple: Our taxonomy is only for organizing purposes if you have to manage many, many templates. It is easy to just enter 2 or more different categories if you use more than one of the supported integrations (and therefore have our taxonomy applied to more than one post type).

It would add a lot of bloat to register a “organizing taxonomy” for every supported post type of an integration. This really makes absolutely no sense in my opinion. Of course, you are free to tweak the behavior of the plugin with the built-in filters or WordPress Core functions, filters, actions and classes. Plus, you can at any time easily register any custom taxonomy yourself.

This plugin here is a “quick and easy” solution: install, activate, organize with categories. Done.

The category counter displays wrong number?

The counter works fine, really. The “issue” you’re seeing is most likely that: you have more than one of the supported integrations active. Therefore the categories are global and applied to each of the integrations. But the terms count for the categories remains also global.

Example:

The term counter in the taxonomy list table will always display: 15. This is the global term count.

Continuing the example: When filtering in “Elementor My Templates” for “Landing Pages” you will get 5 results. Which is fully correct. These are the 5 results that are connected to this post type. The same filter in “Astra Custom Layouts” will bring 10, of course, as only these 10 terms are connected to this Layouts Post Type. And so on…! :)

This plugin only works and makes sense for Administrator users just because the post types it integrates with are mostly only accessable for administrators. The target user group of this plugin are site builders, admins, developers who want to organize their admin area better, plus their website projects.

To customize the capability to make the taxonomy appear in the Admin Dashboard you can use a filter:

add_filter( 'btc/filter/capability/submenu', 'btc_custom_capability_submenu' );
/**
 * Plugin: Builder Template Categories - Custom capability.
 *
 * @return string String ID of new capability.
 */
function btc_custom_capability_submenu() {

	return 'edit_posts';

}  // end function

(This code snippet as a GitHub Gist)

Is Elementor required for this plugin?

Elementor (free) is not required. But once it is installed and active the integration gets loaded, meaning, the taxonomy for categorizing Elementor templates appears (My Templates Library). This will make organizing templates a breeze ;-)

I totally recommend Elementor - so, with it active, this plugin here will make the perfect sense!

Is Elementor Pro required for this plugin?

Absolutely not. For the Elementor integration the free version of Elementor is enough as it already adds the template library (“My Templates”).

However, I strongly recommend Elementor Pro as it is so useful for Non-Coder Designers site builders.

Where are the other popular Page Builders?

All the others already have template categories by default, or, on the other hand, cannot be supported with a post type taxonomy.

Update:

Will other Themes be supported?

Yes, absolutely. – Once I discover another theme (or via an add-on plugin) which adds a template library but has no categories for organizing I consider adding an integration. Of course, you can also make me aware of other themes and plugins with such libraries.

Will other third-party Plugins be supported?

Yes, absolutely. - Once I discover another plugin which adds a template library but has no categories for organizing I consider adding an integration. Of course, you can also make me aware of other themes and plugins with such libraries.

Does this Plugin work with Gutenberg / WordPress 5.0+ / Block Editor?

Yes, of course! - The plugin is fully compatible with Gutenberg Block Editor which is (becoming) WordPress 5.0+. It even supports the “Reusable Blocks” feature and adds our template category for that. This means, you can now categorize your reusable blocks and edit them from a dedicated screen!

Beyond that, there is already integration with some Gutenberg-specific plugins built-in. More integrations might follow over time.

Does this Plugin work with Classic Editor and even ClassicPress?

Yes, this plugin works with the Classic Editor plugin perfectly fine.

I will try my best to also have my plugin work perfectly in ClassicPress, the fork of WordPress without Gutenberg. It should already be fully compatible but I will follow all events closely to adjust compat if needed.

Will this Plugin slow down my site?

Absolutely not. The plugin will only do its stuff for logged-in Administrator users. It does nothing for visitors of your site. Plugin loads its stuff only when needed and if supported theme/ plugin is active. Plugin was built to be as lightweight as possible.

Does the Plugin work with Multisite?

Yes, it works fine in Multisite, you could even activate it Network-wide. However, the taxonomy is only added on a per site basis (if the supported integrations are active). Therefore it makes the most sense to activate the plugin on a per site basis.

Do I need to have any of the integrations installed?

Technically not. However, without the integrations this plugin doesn’t make any sense. So you want to have at least one of the integrations installed and activated.

Or, you can also register your own custom integration (see snippets below) if you do not want or need the built-in integrations.

Note: One exception is the new Block Editor since WordPress 5.0+. The Block Editor has a feature called “Reusable Blocks” and this is already natively integrated with our plugin, “Builder Template Categories”. So, once you have Gutenberg or WordPress 5.0+ active you already have one native integration active by default ;-).

Do I still need this plugin since Elementor has its own Category now?

Good question. If you used our plugin, Builder Template Categories, before it’s recommended to use it still to not lose your data and for consistency, of course. You absolutely can run both taxonomies side by side. This plugin always plays nice with others! ;-)

And, Builder Template Categories, has a big advantage over Elementor’s own taxonomy: our taxonomy is global! This means, it is used by other integrations at the same time - if those are active side by side with Elementor. This “effect” just makes our plugin way more smart and usable.

That is especially useful if you work with Elementor, PLUS one of these:

If you ask me: In such a case Builder Template Categories has way more power and makes just more sense, also if you’re working with a team.

Note: Shortly I will also provide ways to disable Elementor’s taxonomy if you want.

Can I extend or customize the plugin?

Yes, of course. There are numerous filters built-in, plus the default filters for taxonomies from WordPress Core apply.

If you want to add support for your own custom library, just declare the following register statement via our filter:

add_filter( 'btc/filter/integrations/all', 'btc_register_custom_integration' );
/**
 * Plugin: Builder Template Categories - Register custom integration.
 *
 * @param  array $integrations Holds array of all registered integrations.
 * @return array Tweaked array of registered integrations.
 */
function btc_register_custom_integration( array $integrations ) {

	$post_type = 'your-post-type';

	$submenu_hook = 'your-custom-settings-page';	// as in: your-site.domain/wp-admin/admin.php?page=your-custom-settings-page;
	// or alternative: $submenu_hook = 'edit.php?post_type=' . $post_type;

	$template_label = 'template';	// or: library, layout, element, popup, lightbox, block, listing, post-type, field, box, bar, hook, filter, section, flow, snippet

	$integrations[ 'your-custom-handle-lowercase' ] = array(
		'label'          => __( 'My Custom Templates', 'your-textdomain' ),
		'submenu_hook'   => $submenu_hook,
		'post_type'      => $post_type,
		'template_label' => $template_label,
		'admin_url'      => 'edit.php?post_type=' . $post_type,
	);

	return $integrations;

}  // end function

(This code snippet as a GitHub Gist)

Best practice is to wrap the whole code above in a conditional to check if the theme/ plugin/ post type is active before applying anything from our “Builder Template Categories” stuff.

More info on Translations?

Easy WordPress.org plugin translation platform with GlotPress platform: Translate “Builder Template Categories”…

Note: All my plugins are internationalized/ translateable by default. This is very important for all users worldwide. So please contribute your language to the plugin to make it even more useful. For translating and validating I recommend the awesome “Poedit Editor”, which works fine on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Some Statistics?

As of version 1.5.0 of the plugin the following was achieved:

Screenshots

1. Template Categories for Elementor “My Templates” - Filtering for templates: 1) Dropdown of template categories, 2) Links to template categories

Template Categories for Elementor "My Templates" - Filtering for templates: 1) Dropdown of template categories, 2) Links to template categories

2. List of Template Categories - plus help info about all current active integrations

List of Template Categories - plus help info about all current active integrations

3. Edit a template category: 1) Title is the most important item; 2) Description field ist useful for internal notes or for your team of designers/ site builders etc.

Edit a template category: 1) Title is the most important item; 2) Description field ist useful for internal notes or for your team of designers/ site builders etc.

4. Template categories for “Astra Custom Layouts” - Astra Theme via Astra Pro plugin

Template categories for "Astra Custom Layouts" - Astra Theme via Astra Pro plugin

5. Template categories for “GeneratePress Elements” - GP Premium plugin (v1.7+)

Template categories for "GeneratePress Elements" - GP Premium plugin (v1.7+)

6. Template categories for “OceanWP My Library” - Ocean Extra plugin

Template categories for "OceanWP My Library" - Ocean Extra plugin

7. Edit a template - and set the template category (Example of an Elementor template)

Edit a template - and set the template category (Example of an Elementor template)

8. Post type Bulk Actions: add template category to selected templates in one action step

Post type Bulk Actions: Add a template category to selected templates in one action step

9. Plugins page - list of all plugins - “Builder Template Categories” with link to taxonomy listing table

Plugins page - list of all plugins - "Builder Template Categories" with link to taxonomy listing table

10. Reusable Blocks support in Block Editor (Gutenberg) in WordPress 5.0+ - post type list table (overview)

Reusable Blocks support in Block Editor (Gutenberg) in WordPress 5.0+ - post type list table (overview)

11. Editing a Reusable Block - adding the “Builder Template Categories” taxonomy via the new Block Editor JavaScript-based meta box

Editing a Reusable Block - adding the "Builder Template Categories" taxonomy via the new Block Editor JavaScript-based meta box

Changelog

1.8.0 – March 2025

Currently being worked on!

🎉 1.7.0 - 2019-09-23

🎉 1.6.0 - 2019-08-16

⚡ 1.5.1 - 2019-05-03

🎉 1.5.0 - 2019-03-28

⚡ 1.4.3 - 2019-01-21

⚡ 1.4.2 - 2018-12-14

⚡ 1.4.1 - 2018-12-13

🎉 1.4.0 - 2018-11-21

🎉 1.3.0 - 2018-10-30

🎉 1.2.0 - 2018-10-12

🎉 1.1.0 - 2018-09-30

⚡ 1.0.1 - 2018-08-30

🎉 1.0.0 - 2018-08-20

⚡ 0.9.1 - 2018-08-17

⚡ 0.9.0 - 2018-08-16

Plugin Scope / Disclaimer

Original Idea Behind / Philosophy: Just a little lightweight plugin for all the Non-Coder site builders out there using plugins or themes with template libraries and wanting to categorize these templates. Just making their daily work and life just a little easier.

This plugin comes as is.

Disclaimer 1: So far I will support the plugin for breaking errors to keep it working. Otherwise support will be very limited. Also, it will NEVER be released to WordPress.org Plugin Repository for a lot of reasons (ah, thanks, Matt!).

Disclaimer 2: All of the above might change. I do all this stuff only in my spare time.

Most of all: Have fun building great sites!!! ;-)

Copyright © 2018-2025 David Decker – DECKERWEB.de