How to Enable Jetpack Widgets in WordPress

The Jetpack plugin for WordPress has so many features and settings that you could easily use the plugin for years without realizing that it could let you do something. This versatility allows it to replace some other plugins that perform a dedicated task, thereby letting you reduce the total number of plugins that you have on your site.

One of the features that it includes is several dedicated widgets. These can do things like add a Twitter timeline to your sidebar, or add a Mailchimp subscriber popup. However, it’s likely that those widgets aren’t yet enabled on your site, meaning that you aren’t able to use them. Our guide below will show you where to find this setting so that you can gain access to Jetpack’s widgets.

How to Get the Additional Widgets in the Jetpack Plugin

The steps in this article were performed in the 5.2.1 version of WordPress. This guide assumes that you have already installed the Jetpack plugin.

Step 1: Sign into the admin section of your WordPress site at (yourdomain.com)/wp-admin.

Step 2: Hover over the Jetpack tab at the left side of the window, then choose the Settings option.

Step 3: Select the Writing tab at the top of the window.

Step 4: Scroll down to the Widgets section, then click the button to the left of Make extra widgets available for use on your site including subscription forms and Twitter streams.

Now you can hover over the Appearance tab at the left side of the window and choose the Widgets option. There you can see the additional widgets from Jetpack. They are identified with (Jetpack) after the name of the widget.

One of the more important widgets that you can add from Jetpack is the cookie and consent banner. Read this article to see how to add this to your blog and add an important element of the required compliance for GDPR.