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Custom excerpt is ignored

The main page of my site is currently an archive page showing recent blog posts. In most cases, it shows the featured image and excerpt from each blog post. Occasionally, we have an image in the beginning of the blog post that I do not want to appear on the archive page(s). I have been able to get around this with other themes by using a custom excerpt but it seems that the Unwind theme is ignoring my custom excerpt… I realized this when I reduced the number of words in my custom excerpt to 30 and it still displays a 57 word excerpt.

Is there a workaround or am I missing an existing setting?

You can see what’s happening on: https://www.peachythemagazine.com/
The most recent example: The 6/28/2025 post shows both the featured image and the first image in the blog post on the archive page.

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  1. 20 days, 3 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    Hi Lisa

    Thanks for posting your question.

    Unwind will display the custom excerpt if Post Content is set to Excerpt at AppearanceCustomizeTheme SettingsBlog. If Post Content is set to Full Post, the content prior to the more quicktag will be displayed. You can view of demo of the custom excerpt here https://demo.siteorigin.com/unwind/page/2/. The last post has “Andrew’s custom excerpt” added at the end to indicate my excerpt. If your Theme Settings are setup as described above you can try briefly testing with all non-SiteOrigin plugins activated to confirm the issue persists.

  2. 19 days, 11 hours ago lisawn

    I think I have the settings correct per your instructions. Screen captures below to show both settings and what is being displayed.

    As a side note, I *do not *see "Andrew's custom excerpt" on the example you sent… is it supposed to be on the "Forests of Sweden" post?

  3. 19 days, 10 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    Hi Lisa

    The forum doesn’t support media attachments but images can be uploaded to any online location and the link shared here in the forum replies.

    My custom excerpt is visible now, I had the word count set too low: https://demo.siteorigin.com/unwind/page/2/.

    Thanks

  4. 19 days, 10 hours ago lisawn

    Sorry about that. Here are the screen captures…

    My settings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XVe34rkZjErUtj8O8B849M1ICv6HWr7_/view?usp=sharing

    My custom excerpt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LCv9ljXHr3ayjvgx-avpySJiu7O_B5Nr/view?usp=sharing

    What is displayed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XJfT8jan5kpHMPRg1w3tFZOSwusFoSiF/view?usp=sharing
    (the last post on this page: https://www.peachythemagazine.com/page/2/)

  5. 19 days, 10 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    Thanks. The Post ContentFull Post configuration seen in your screenshot is best used with the more quicktag to decide what should come before and after the Continue Reading button. If you’d like to use an automatic excerpt with manual excerpt support, it’s best to switch over to the Post ContentPost Excerpt.

  6. 19 days, 10 hours ago lisawn

    I am using the more quicktag but in certain posts, we have an image that falls before the quicktag which I don’t want to display on the archive pages.

    I have switched to Post Excerpt instead of Full Post and that works BUT it just shows an ellipse at the end of the excerpt instead of “Continue Reading” which is preferable. Is there a way to include “Continue Reading” when Post Excerpt is configured?

  7. 19 days, 9 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    Once Post Excerpt is selected the Post excerpt read more link setting will be available.

    Ref: Page: Blog

  8. 19 days, 8 hours ago lisawn

    I have toggled that on and off but nothing appears. It is currently on and I can see in the page source that there is no coding appearing for “read more” after the excerpt.

  9. 19 days, 4 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    I’ve setup the demo to use:

    Post Excerpt
    50 word excerpt
    Excerpt read more

    https://demo.siteorigin.com/unwind/

    Ensure that your excerpt length is longer than Excerpt Length setting value. The Read More isn’t hard enforced. If your manual excerpt is less than your Excerpt Length, an assumption is made that there is no further content and the Read More isn’t displayed.

  10. 19 days, 1 hour ago lisawn

    Ok, I got that to work. Thank you.

    However, in order to ensure that the read more appears on all excerpts, I made the generated excerpt length 30. So now it is shortening all the excerpts, including the manual excerpt, to 30 words… should the manual excerpt not override that setting?

  11. 18 days, 13 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    The excerpt word count can be shortened or you can lengthen shorter excerpts. The latter is the approach I recommend.

    > should the manual excerpt not override that setting
    Sure, I can see the case for that. Unfortunately, the function hasn’t been setup in that manner.

  12. 18 days, 6 hours ago lisawn

    Got it. Thanks for your help!

  13. 18 days, 5 hours ago Andrew Misplon
    Hi, I Work Here

    My pleasure. I’ll mark this resolved for now but if you have any follow-up queries, please let us know. Cheers.

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