Show the announcements widget in a sidebar

This page shows you how to add the SimpleBoards Announcements widget to a sidebar, footer, or any other widget area in your theme. The widget shows the latest announcements from one board, so visitors see your updates on every page, not only on the board itself.

Before you start

• SimpleBoards Pro is active and your license is in the Active state.
• You have at least one board with announcements enabled. See Turn on the announcements tab for a board.
• You have at least one published announcement. See Write your first announcement.
• Your theme has at least one widget area. Most classic themes have a sidebar and a footer. Block themes use a different system, and the widget screen may not be available.

Step by step

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Widgets.
2. Find the widget area where you want the announcements to appear, for example Sidebar or Footer.
3. Click the + button in that widget area.
4. Search for SimpleBoards Announcements and click it to add it to the area.
5. The widget opens with four settings:
   • Title: the heading shown above the widget. The default is Announcement. You can leave it, change it to What's new, or clear it for no heading.
   • Board: the board the widget pulls announcements from. Pick a specific board from the list. If you leave it set to Use current board page, the widget only shows up when the visitor is reading a board page, and uses that board.
   • Item limit: the maximum number of announcements to show. The default is 5. You can pick a number between 1 and 20.
   • Mode: pick Dropdown to show a small button that opens a list when clicked, or List to show the announcements inline as a vertical list.
6. Click the Update button at the top of the Widgets screen.

What changed

The widget now shows on the front of your site. Open any page where that widget area appears and you will see your announcements, in the layout you picked. If you chose Dropdown, visitors see a button they click to open the list. If you chose List, the announcements show right there.

The widget always shows the newest announcements first. If you pinned any announcements on the board, they appear above the rest. Expired announcements are skipped.

A note on block themes

If your theme is a block theme (the Widgets screen does not exist, and Appearance only shows Editor), use the SimpleBoards Announcement block instead. Open the Site Editor, place the block inside a Navigation block or a template part, and pick the same board, label, and limit options.

See also

• Turn on the announcements tab for a board
• Write your first announcement
• Link a menu item to a board's announcements

Last updated

2026-05-23 · SimpleBoards Pro 1.0.1