Where to find and edit your footer in WordPress

Your WordPress footer lives in one of two places depending on your theme: either in the Customizer (the easiest route for most people) or in your theme's template files (if your theme doesn't support Customizer footer editing). The Customizer is built into WordPress itself and lets you change footer text, widgets, and links without touching any code. If your theme doesn't offer footer options there, you'll need to edit the footer template file directly, which we'll cover in the steps below.

The fastest way to find out which method your theme uses is to log into your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance, and look for a Customize option. Click it. If you see a Footer section in the left panel, your theme supports Customizer editing and you can stop reading after the next section. If you don't see a Footer section, skip ahead to the template file method.

Key Takeaways

  • The Customizer (Appearance > Customize) is the safest way to edit your footer if your theme supports it, because changes won't break if you update your theme.
  • If your theme doesn't have a Footer section in the Customizer, you'll need to edit the footer.php file using the Theme File Editor or an FTP client.
  • Always save a backup of any file before you edit it, especially if you're editing code directly.
  • Footer widgets let you add content to footer columns without writing any code, and most themes support them.
  • Changes made in the Customizer are permanent until you change them again; changes to template files stay even after theme updates if you're using a child theme.

Editing your footer through the WordPress Customizer

Open your WordPress dashboard and click Appearance in the left menu. Then click Customize. The Customizer will open in a new panel, and you'll see a preview of your site on the right side of the screen.

Look in the left panel for a section called Footer, Footer Settings, or Footer Widgets (the exact name depends on your theme). Click it. You'll now see the options your theme allows you to change. Most themes let you edit footer text, add a copyright notice, or rearrange footer widgets. Make your changes in the fields provided — you'll see them update on the preview in real time.

When you're done, click the Publish button at the top of the left panel. Your changes go live immediately on your site. If you want to undo a change, go back to Customize and edit it again.

Adding footer widgets if your theme supports them

Many WordPress themes divide the footer into columns, and each column can hold a widget — a small block of content like a text box, recent posts list, or custom menu. To add footer widgets, go to Appearance > Customize, then look for Widgets in the left panel (not Footer Widgets — just Widgets).

Click Widgets. You'll see a list of widget areas your theme supports. Look for ones with "Footer" in the name, like "Footer Column 1" or "Footer Widget Area". Click the footer area you want to edit. A list of available widgets will appear — these might include Text, Recent Posts, Categories, Custom Menu, or others depending on your theme.

Click the widget you want to add. A settings box will open where you can enter text, choose which menu to display, or set other options. When you're done, click Publish. The widget now appears in your footer. You can add multiple widgets to the same footer area, and they'll stack vertically. To remove a widget, go back to Widgets, click the footer area, and click the X next to the widget you want to delete.

Editing the footer.php file if your theme doesn't use the Customizer

If your theme has no Footer section in the Customizer, you'll need to edit the footer template file directly. This requires access to your theme's files. You have two options: use the Theme File Editor (built into WordPress, but riskier) or use an FTP client like FileZilla (slower but safer).

To use the Theme File Editor, go to Appearance > Theme File Editor. On the right side, you'll see a list of your theme's files. Look for footer.php and click it. The file will open in the editor on the left. You'll see HTML and PHP code. Find the text or content you want to change — it's usually near the bottom of the file and might look like <footer> or <div class="footer">. Make your changes carefully, changing only the text you want to edit, not the code around it. When you're done, click Update File. Your changes go live immediately.

The Theme File Editor is fast but risky: if you accidentally delete or break code, your footer (or your whole site) might break. A safer approach is to use FTP. Download your theme's footer.php file to your computer using an FTP client, edit it in a text editor like Notepad++, and upload it back. This way you have a backup on your computer if something goes wrong.

Using a child theme to protect your footer edits

If you edit footer.php directly and then update your theme, your changes will be overwritten and lost. To prevent this, create a child theme — a copy of your theme that inherits all its features but lets you make permanent edits.

Creating a child theme requires FTP access and basic file creation. Connect to your site via FTP and navigate to /wp-content/themes/. Create a new folder named your-theme-name-child (replace "your-theme-name" with your actual theme name). Inside that folder, create a file called style.css and paste this code into it:

/* Theme Name: Your Theme Name Child Template: your-theme-name */ @import url("../your-theme-name/style.css");

Save the file. Now go to your WordPress dashboard, click Appearance > Themes, and activate your new child theme. You can now create a footer.php file in your child theme folder and edit it without worrying about updates overwriting your changes. This is the professional way to customize WordPress, and it's worth learning if you plan to make many edits.

Common mistakes that break your footer

The most common mistake is deleting or breaking HTML tags when editing code. If you see something like <div> or </div>, leave it alone unless you know what it does. Deleting a closing tag can collapse your entire footer layout. Always save a backup of the original file before you edit it.

Another mistake is editing the footer in the Theme File Editor without understanding what you're changing. If you're not sure what a line of code does, don't touch it. Stick to editing text content only — things between quotation marks or inside tags that clearly contain text. If you break something, you can undo it by going back to the Theme File Editor and clicking Restore (if available) or by uploading your backup file via FTP.

A third mistake is forgetting to Publish your changes in the Customizer. If you make changes and close the Customizer without clicking Publish, your changes disappear. Always click Publish before you leave.

Testing your footer changes on different devices

After you edit your footer, visit your site's home page and scroll to the bottom to see your changes. On a desktop computer, your footer might look perfect. But on a phone, footer columns might stack vertically or text might overflow. To test on a phone without owning one, use your browser's developer tools: in Chrome or Firefox, press F12, click the phone icon in the top left, and choose a mobile device. Scroll to the footer and see how it looks.

If your footer looks broken on mobile, the problem is usually in your theme's CSS (styling code), not in the footer content itself. If you edited the footer.php file, check that you didn't accidentally remove any HTML tags that control layout. If you used the Customizer, the problem is likely in your theme — contact the theme author or try a different theme.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add a custom menu to my footer?

Yes, if your theme supports it. Go to Appearance > Menus, create a new menu, add links to it, and check the box that says "Display location" or "Footer Menu" (the exact wording varies by theme). Then go to Customize > Widgets, find your footer widget area, and add a Custom Menu widget pointing to the menu you just created.

What if I accidentally broke my footer and can't fix it?

If you edited footer.php and broke it, go back to the Theme File Editor, click Restore if the button appears, and it will revert to the original. If Restore isn't available, use FTP to upload your backup copy of footer.php. If you used the Customizer and something looks wrong, go back to Customize and undo your changes — you can always edit again.

Do I need to know code to edit my footer?

No, not if you use the Customizer. The Customizer is designed for non-technical users and handles all the code for you. You only need to know code if your theme doesn't support Customizer footer editing and you want to edit footer.php directly. Even then, you can usually get by editing only the text content and leaving the HTML tags alone.

Will my footer changes disappear if I update WordPress?

No. Changes made in the Customizer are stored in your WordPress database and survive updates. Changes made to footer.php will be overwritten if you update your theme — unless you're using a child theme, in which case your edits stay safe in the child theme folder.

Can I have different footers on different pages?

Most standard WordPress themes use the same footer on every page. To have different footers, you'd need a page builder plugin like Elementor or a theme that supports per-page footer settings. Check your theme's documentation to see if this feature is built in.