With the Time to Read block, you can let your readers know how many minutes it will take to read your content. This guide will show you how to display the reading time on your site.
To add the Time to Read block, click on the + block inserter icon and search for “time to read”. Click to add the block to the post or page.
When you add the block, it will automatically display the minutes it will take to read the content on that page. The time shown is an estimate of how long it would take an average reader to get through the text. If you add more text after adding the Time to Read block, the reading time will automatically update to account for the additional text.
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Using your keyboard, you can also type /time to read on a new line and press enter to quickly add a new Time to Read block.
For more information, visit our detailed instructions on adding blocks.
When you click on the block, a toolbar of options will appear above it:
The Time to Read block has the following options in its toolbar:
- Change block type.
- Drag the block.
- Move the block up or down.
- Align the block to the left, right, or center.
- More options.
When you select a block, you will find additional block settings in the right sidebar. If you do not see the sidebar, you may need to click the Settings icon in the top-right corner to bring up the settings. This icon looks like a square with two uneven columns:
Click the word count icon (it looks like a rectangle with a # symbol and the letter ‘a’ inside) to show the number of words in the page or post, instead of the estimated reading time.
Toggle on this setting to display a range of time (for example “3-5 minutes”) rather than a fixed average reading time (for example “4 minutes”) to account for different reading speeds for different people.
More details for these standard block styles can be found in the following guides:
For more information, visit our detailed instructions on advanced settings.
