Block Theme Patterns Explained: Use Them, Save Your Own

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If you have ever built the same page section twice — a banner, a pricing row, a call to action — you know the problem patterns solve. Instead of rebuilding it block by block on every page, you save it once and drop it in wherever you need it.

That saved section is a block pattern. In this guide, we explain what block theme patterns are, where the ones on your site come from, how to insert them, how the synced and unsynced types differ, and how to save your own — so the next section you build carefully only has to be built once.

What a block pattern actually is

A block pattern is a group of blocks that has already been arranged and styled for you. The official WordPress documentation describes patterns as a collection of blocks you insert into a post or page and then customize with your own content. A typical pattern might combine a Cover block, a heading, a paragraph, and a button into a hero section — the large banner that introduces a page.

The key point is what happens after you insert one. A standard pattern is not locked, and it is not a picture of a layout. It lands in your page as ordinary blocks, and you edit them like anything else: replace the text, swap the images, change a background color, delete what you do not need.

In current versions of WordPress, clicking into a freshly inserted pattern may first show a simpler content view, where you can change text and images without disturbing the layout; an Edit pattern control opens the full block structure. Either way, a standard pattern stays unconnected to the original.

Where patterns come from

The patterns already waiting in your editor come from three places.

Your active theme. Most block themes — themes built entirely from blocks — ship with patterns designed to match it: hero sections, galleries, calls to action, whole page layouts. They use the theme’s fonts, colors, and spacing, so they match the rest of your site straight away. If you have just activated a block theme — for example, one you installed from a ZIP file — its patterns are already in your inserter.

WordPress itself. WordPress core also includes general-purpose patterns, organized into categories such as text layouts, columns, galleries, and calls to action — neutral building blocks that work with any theme.

The Pattern Directory. The WordPress.org Pattern Directory is a public library of patterns submitted by the community. Browse by category, open the pattern you like, and click Copy. Then paste it straight into a page in your own editor, where it becomes yours to edit. Nothing stays linked back to the directory.

How to insert a pattern

The main route is the block inserter’s Patterns tab:

1. Open your post or page and click the + inserter button at the top left of the editor.
2. Click the Patterns tab. If you have saved synced patterns, there is also a Synced patterns tab, shown as an overlapping-diamond icon.
3. Choose a category to narrow the list, or click Explore for a larger view with bigger previews.
4. Click the pattern to insert it at your cursor, or drag it into position on the page.
5. Click into the pattern and replace the sample text and images with your own content.

There is also a faster route once you know a pattern’s name. In an empty block, type / followed by the start of the name, then select it from the list and press Enter. This is especially handy for your own saved patterns.

To survey everything in one place, go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns in the Site Editor — the part of WordPress where you edit your site’s templates, header, and footer. Every pattern on the site is there in one grid, ready to open and edit.

Synced vs unsynced patterns

Every pattern is one of two types, and the difference decides what happens when you edit it later. Before version 6.3, the synced kind was a separate feature called Reusable blocks. In 6.3, reusable blocks were renamed and merged into patterns: old reusable blocks became synced patterns automatically, and every pattern you save now asks you to choose whether it syncs.

Synced patterns

A synced pattern is stored as one master copy. You can insert it on twenty pages, but there is still only one pattern. Edit it anywhere — or open it and choose Edit original — and the change appears everywhere it is used. WordPress warns you at save time when a page edit also saves the pattern.

Use a synced pattern for content that must stay identical and current across the site: a call-to-action banner with your current offer, a contact strip, opening hours, or a disclaimer.

One escape hatch: if a single page needs its own version, select the inserted pattern, open the ⋮ (Options) menu in the block toolbar, and choose Detach. That copy becomes ordinary, unlinked blocks you can edit freely; the original and its other copies stay untouched. Detaching is one-way.

Unsynced patterns

An unsynced pattern is a starting point, nothing more. Each time you insert one, you get a fresh, independent copy of its blocks. Editing that copy affects only that page, and later edits to the saved pattern do not change copies already inserted.

Use unsynced patterns for layouts you expect to adapt every time: a testimonial section with different words on each page, or a feature layout you restyle as you go.

Our rule: if the content must match everywhere and update in one place, sync it. If you mainly want the layout, do not.

Save your own pattern, step by step

Start by building the section normally, in any post or page. Putting the blocks inside a single Group block — a container block that wraps several blocks into one unit — makes them easier to select and keeps the section together, but it is not required.

1. Select the blocks you want to save. Click the parent group if you used one, or click the first block and Shift-click the last. The List View (the outline panel listing every block on the page) can help with complex sections.
2. Open the ⋮ (Options) menu in the block toolbar.
3. Choose Create pattern. On older versions this may be labelled “Create pattern/reusable block” or “Add to Reusable blocks” — it is the same action.
4. Give the pattern a clear name you will recognize in a list months later, like “Homepage hero.” You can also assign it to a category.
5. Decide on the Synced setting. Turn it on if every copy must stay identical and update together; turn it off if each use will be adapted.
6. Click Create.

The blocks you selected are now an instance of your new pattern. Find it again in the inserter under My patterns; synced patterns also appear under the Synced patterns tab.

To manage everything you have saved, go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns and open My patterns. There you can open a pattern to edit it, and from each pattern’s actions menu rename it, duplicate it, export it as a JSON file (a standard text format — handy for moving patterns between sites), or delete it. On a classic theme rather than a block theme, look for a Patterns screen directly under the Appearance menu instead.

Pattern, template, or template part?

These three get confused, because all involve reusable blocks. The difference is the job each does.

A pattern belongs to your content. It is a section you choose to insert into a page, post, or template — a hero, a gallery, a call to action. Nothing uses a pattern unless you place it there.

A template is the layout frame for a whole type of page: your single post template, your page template, your archive template. The template decides where the header, the title, the content, and the footer sit, and content flows into it through blocks such as Post Content. You do not insert a template into a page; the page is displayed through whichever template applies to it.

A template part is a reusable chunk of site structure that lives inside templates: the header, the footer, a sidebar. Edit the header template part once, and every template using it shows the new header. Template parts are for the frame of the site, not the content of a page — which is why the official guidance is to reach for a template part, not a pattern, for headers and footers.

In short: patterns fill pages, template parts frame pages, and templates hold the whole arrangement together.

Worked example: a call-to-action banner you build once

Say most of your pages end with the same invitation: a short heading, one line of text, and a button. Building that by hand on every page is slow, and the copies drift apart over time. Here is the same job done the pattern way.

Build the banner once, at the end of any page: a Group block with a background color, holding a heading (“Ready to get started?”), a short paragraph, and a Buttons block linking to your contact page. Style it until it looks right.

Select the group, open the ⋮ menu, and choose Create pattern. Name it something like “Site-wide call to action,” leave Synced turned on, and click Create.

From then on, adding the banner takes seconds: open the inserter, go to My patterns, click it — or type / and its name. When your offer changes, you edit the pattern once and every page updates together. If one landing page needs different wording, insert the banner there and detach that single copy.

Wrap-up

Patterns reward a small habit: whenever you finish a section you are pleased with, ask whether you will ever build it again. If the answer is yes, take ten seconds to save it. Pages get faster to build, and your site stays consistent, because sections come from one source instead of being retyped from memory.

Because patterns are built from ordinary WordPress blocks, reusing them also keeps your pages lean — there is no extra plugin standing behind a pattern. If keeping your site fast is on your list, our eight checks to speed up WordPress is a good next read.