How to Create an Archive Template in WordPress for Free?

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Creating an archive template in WordPress allows you to design a custom template for displaying archive pages such as category, tag, author, date archives etc. With a custom archive template, you can add your own style and content to these pages, providing a more engaging and cohesive user experience.

Requirement  – This is a feature of Nexter theme and Nexter Extension (Free) plugin, make sure its installed & activated to enjoy all its powers.

With Nexter Builder, you can create custom archive templates for posts, categories, tags, date archive, author archive, and more. This means you can display your archive pages with your own custom design and content instead of the default WordPress design.

To create an archive template with the Nexter Builder, from the Dashboard, go to Nexter Builder > Add New.

On the next page, give a name to your template.

Now scroll down to the Nexter Builder section, from the Layout, select Pages, and from Pages options, select Archives.

nexter builder archive options

In the Archive 1 tab, you can add display condition for your archive template.

From the Include/Exclude column, you can choose whether to show or hide the template in the selected locations.

From the Conditional Rules dropdown, you can select the location. 

Based on the option selected in the Conditional Rules, you’ll get an additional option Condition Type to select the individual items of the source.

In the Conditional Rules, you’ll find many archive template related location options – 

All Archives – This will target all the archive pages, like post, search, author, category etc.

Author Archive – This will target the author archive page.

Date Archive – This will target the date archive page.

Search Results – This will target the search results archive page.

Default Posts Archive – This will target the default posts archive page i.e the blog page.

Posts : Categories –  This will target the post category page, you can also select individual categories from Condition Type dropdown.

Posts : First Child Category – This will target the immediate subcategory page of a category, you can also select individual parent categories from Condition Type dropdown to target its first child category.

Posts : All Child Category – This will target all the subcategory pages of a category, you can also select individual parent categories from Condition Type dropdown to target its subcategories.

Posts : Tags – This will target the tag archive page.

Note: You’ll get additional plugin specific options for Elementor, Woocommerec and Custom Post Type plugins.

Select the appropriate option for your template.

Note: You can add multiple locations in the Condition Type dropdown.

Click on the ADD CONDITIONS button to add additional conditions. Follow the same process to add multiple conditions.

Note: Using multiple conditions you can include the template in a certain location and exclude it from a certain location at the same time.

From the Preview Settings, you can select individual archive pages to check the template preview. 

So when you check the template preview using the WordPress Preview option, it will use your selected archive page.

Once the settings are done, publish the template.

Next, you can use the WordPress block editor or Elementor to create the layout and content of your archive page template. Be sure to use archive related blocks or widgets to ensure that your content is displayed correctly.

For WordPress block editor users, you can use the blog builder blocks available in The Plus Addons for Block Editor to enhance your template building experience. And for Elementor users, you can use the blog builder widgets available in The Plus Addons for Elementor.

nexter builder archive demo

Also, check How to Add an Action & Filter Hook in WordPress Website.