sidebar - Can't see widget areas in my customizer

I've registered 7 Sidebars in my template, I can see them correctly in the Apparence > Widget panel and my front-end, but I can't see them in the Theme Customize, when I click on my Widget section I have the following message instead:

Your theme has 7 widget areas, but this particular page doesn’t display them. You can navigate to other pages on your site while using the Customizer to view and edit the widgets displayed on those pages.

I'm working with the front-page.php file, and I'm in the front-page of my website. If I work with the index.php I can see my sidebar correctly in the Theme Customizer, also if the code is the same for both the php pages. Where I'm wrong? Any help will be really appreciated!

I've registered 7 Sidebars in my template, I can see them correctly in the Apparence > Widget panel and my front-end, but I can't see them in the Theme Customize, when I click on my Widget section I have the following message instead:

Your theme has 7 widget areas, but this particular page doesn’t display them. You can navigate to other pages on your site while using the Customizer to view and edit the widgets displayed on those pages.

I'm working with the front-page.php file, and I'm in the front-page of my website. If I work with the index.php I can see my sidebar correctly in the Theme Customizer, also if the code is the same for both the php pages. Where I'm wrong? Any help will be really appreciated!

• widgets
• sidebar
• theme-customizer
• frontpage
• register-sidebar

Share Improve this question edited Feb 23, 2018 at 14:42 valentina.a87 asked Feb 23, 2018 at 14:25 valentina.a87valentina.a87 1511 gold badge11 silver badge44 bronze badges 4

• The message you posted says: ... this particular page doesn’t display them. So, in the customizer select/load another page, which displays widgets, and see you see them now. Since 4.0 the customizer can use Contextual Controls. Customizer controls can now be displayed or hidden based on the Customizer’s preview context. For example, options that are only relevant to the front page can be shown only when the user is previewing their front page in the Customizer . See here. Maybe its this. – LWS-Mo Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 15:18
• I'm in the front-page of my Customizer, I added my sidebars in the front-page php file, and although I can't see my sidebars in the customizer. Thank you! – valentina.a87 Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 15:51
• @valentina.a87 did you ever find a solution for this? I am running into the same issue and can't seem to get it to work. – betweenbrain Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 19:13
• Hello, yes I've solved the problem at that time, but honestly I can't remember I did I do, also my bad knowledge about php doesn't help you to remember. I'm sorry! – valentina.a87 Commented Jul 4, 2019 at 12:36

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 1

WordPress widgets are context dependent, that means if any templates use the dynamic_sidebar() function or in other words has any sidebar or widget area in that template then you'll see widgets in the customizer. For instance, if page.php has sidebar then when you're in a page you'll see widgets in the customizer.

I am also facing same problem. Here is the solution:

1. Go to the WordPress dashboard.
2. Under pages, select your current home page.
3. Click on edit.
4. Scroll down and check there is option for footer.
5. Select footer / or click theme default.
6. Enjoy.