⏳ 🔗 ACF / ACF Pro Field Editing Directly in the Elementor Editor

[anton-dealmeida]

Describe the Problem

When building dynamic websites with Elementor and ACF/ACF Pro, I often need to view or update the values of custom fields as I’m designing pages. However, right now:

• I cannot see or edit ACF/ACF Pro field values directly within the Elementor editor.
• If I need to change a field (e.g., a headline, photo, gallery, or repeater item), I must:
  1. Save my changes in Elementor.
  2. Exit the editor.
  3. Navigate to the WordPress backend, find the page/post/CPT, and update the ACF fields.
  4. Return to Elementor and refresh to see how the new content looks in the layout.

This process is repetitive and time-consuming, especially when making lots of small adjustments or collaborating with clients and editors who are less technical.

Specific Pain Points:

• Slows Down Workflow: Constantly switching between the Elementor editor and the WordPress backend interrupts my creative flow and adds friction to content editing
• Harder Client Handover: Clients and non-technical users find it confusing to edit content that appears on the page but isn’t directly editable in the builder, increasing support needs.
• No Real-Time Preview: I can’t see changes to ACF/ACF Pro field values reflected live in the design, which makes it harder to iterate quickly or fine-tune layouts for different types of dynamic content.
• Inefficient for Advanced Fields: Managing complex field types (repeaters, galleries, flexible content) is especially cumbersome since every change requires several extra clicks and reloads.

Why This Matters:

For dynamic, content-rich websites, especially those built for clients, this limitation reduces productivity, increases support requests, and makes Elementor feel less “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” when working with custom fields.

Propose a Solution

I propose that Elementor introduces a way to view, edit, and update ACF/ACF Pro field values directly from within the Elementor editor when editing a page, post, or custom post type.

How this could work:

• When editing any page that uses ACF/ACF Pro fields, Elementor should show a dedicated panel, sidebar, or pop-up for those fields inside the editor.

• Fields should be grouped and displayed with their correct types and labels (text fields, galleries, repeaters, selects, etc.), reflecting the field group structure from ACF.

• Any changes made to these fields in the Elementor editor should:

  • Instantly update the design preview so users can see how their changes look in real time.
  • Save field values back to the post/CPT meta, just as if they were edited in the WordPress backend.

• For advanced fields (repeaters, galleries, flexible content), allow adding, removing, or reordering items inline, mirroring what’s possible in the native ACF interface.

Additional suggestions:

• Respect ACF field validation and conditional logic.
• If possible, also support other popular custom field plugins (like Meta Box or JetEngine) with a similar interface for maximum flexibility.
• Provide permissions or role-based access so site owners can limit which users can edit fields via Elementor.

The result:
Users can manage all dynamic field content directly while designing in Elementor, making the editor truly WYSIWYG for sites built with ACF/ACF Pro as Custom Posts with Field Groups make it easier managing things like services, and make the dynamic loop grid and dynamic carousel or just the new loops in Elementor extremely powerful for creating rich and easy to manage sites as changing a price tag for a service updates everywhere it's used reducing maintenance for users.

Heck, I'd pay extra for this as a separate plugin even, but I'd prefer it natively supported in Elementor, even if it's a Pro feature.

Additional Context

No response

Agreement

• I confirm I have read and followed all the guidelines and instructions outlined in the Feature Request form.
• I agree that my discussion may be closed without further action if it doesn't meet all the requirements outlined in the Feature Request form.

[bendarmultimedia]

Yeah it's really annoying, aby przełączyć edytory. On the other hand Elementor Pro could create own solution for custom fields.

[AmibeWebsites]

I've not tried this yet, but it looks like here's a start: https://wordpress.org/plugins/dynamic-fields-for-elementor-scf-acf/