If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, chances are you’ve probably built up a collection of galleries across your posts and pages. Maybe you started with the default WordPress gallery shortcode years ago. Maybe you’ve been using Gutenberg Gallery blocks more recently.

Either way, those built-in galleries come with serious limitations. No customizable lightbox. No advanced layouts like Mosaic or Masonry. No way to sell prints or offer client proofing. And no tools to protect your images from unauthorized downloads.

The problem? Switching to a better gallery plugin has always meant manually recreating every gallery. Finding the right images, re-adding captions and alt text, replacing blocks or shortcodes one by one. For a site with 10, 20, or 50+ galleries, that’s hours of tedious work. Who has time for that?

We heard you. Today, we’re excited to introduce a feature that makes migrating to Imagely galleries faster and easier than ever: Convert Galleries.

Convert Galleries: A Simple Feature To Save Time

Convert Galleries does exactly what it sounds like—it automatically converts your existing WordPress galleries (both classic shortcodes and Gutenberg blocks) into Imagely galleries. And it does it in a way that’s safe, efficient, and preserves all your work.

• Full format support: Works with both classic gallery shortcodes and Gutenberg Gallery blocks, so it doesn’t matter how your galleries were originally created
• All metadata preserved: Titles, captions, alt text, and image descriptions carry over automatically so nothing gets lost
• Built-in backup: Your original content is backed up before any conversion happens.
• 2 ways to convert: Convert a single gallery right from the block editor, or bulk convert every gallery on your site at once

Option 1: Convert Individual Galleries

Working on a post and want to upgrade a gallery right there in the editor? Just select your WordPress Gallery block and click the Convert to Imagely Gallery button in the sidebar.

And boom—it’s now an Imagely gallery. All your image metadata, including titles, captions, and alt text, carries over during conversion. No need to re-enter anything.

From there, you can publish it as-is or jump into the Imagely builder to customize it however you want.

This is great when you want to update specific pages as you revisit them, or when you want to preview the result before doing a bulk conversion.

Option 2: Bulk Convert Galleries

Have dozens (or hundreds) of galleries across your posts and pages?

Head to Imagely » Settings and click Convert Galleries in the left side menu. Use the dropdown to select whether you want to convert all galleries in Posts or Pages. Then click Convert All Galleries.

A dialog box will ask you to confirm. Press Start Conversion, and Imagely will handle the rest, converting everything automatically.

Imagely will work through them all, converting each one and preserving all your image data along the way. You’ll see a Conversion Progress bar showing how many WordPress galleries were successfully found and converted.

That’s it. No complicated setup, no manual work, no lost data.

Start Converting Your Galleries Today

We know your time is valuable. Whether you’re building a new photography portfolio, updating an old blog, or managing a client’s website, the last thing you want to do is spend hours manually recreating galleries.

Convert Galleries removes that friction entirely. It’s one of those features that might not sound flashy, but once you use it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.

This new feature is available for all Imagely users! Just update your plugin to the latest version to start using it. New to Imagely? There’s never been a better time to experience the most powerful gallery plugin for WordPress. Get started today!

Have questions or need a hand? Reach out to our team or drop a comment below — we’re happy to help. And if there’s a feature you’d love to see next, let us know with a feature request.

Looking for more photography tips and WordPress tutorials? Check out our blog!