WordPress / WordPress/gutenberg

Improve the multi-select inspector, allow mixed values across mixed blocks

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#65,645 10 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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[Feature] Writing Flow [Status] In Progress [Type] Enhancement Needs Dev
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
11.8k
Forks
4.9k
PR merge metrics
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Description

If you select two paragraphs, you get text formatting tools across, in the inspector:

two text blocks

If you select two image blocks, you get image formatting tools across, in the inspector:

two images

If you select mixed content, such as a paragraph and an image, you get no controls at all, in the inspector:

paragraph and image

This is not very useful.

Proposed solution

September 2026: there's a fresh mockup in the comments:

Image
  • Note how the colour swatch shows a "Mixed" value.
  • Note how the Borders panel remains available, because it works across both paragraphs and images.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by examining the multi-select inspector behavior for selections of paragraphs, images, and mixed blocks, then compare it with the mockup linked in the issue comments. Done means applicable shared controls remain available across mixed selections and controls such as the colour swatch can show a mixed value.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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