How to Add Featured Thumbnails to Post Columns in WordPress Admin

Managing posts in WordPress becomes much easier when you can see featured thumbnails directly in the post list. By default, WordPress doesn’t support this feature, but with a simple snippet of code, you can add a thumbnail column without needing to install a plugin.

How to implement code to display the featured image

1. Add a Thumbnail Column:

The following code adds a new column to the post management page:

add_filter('manage_posts_columns', 'add_thumbnail_column', 10, 1);
function add_thumbnail_column($columns)
{
    $new_columns = array();
    $new_columns['thumbnail'] = __('Thumbnail', 'text-domain');
    $columns = array_merge($new_columns, $columns);
    return $columns;
}

2. Display the Thumbnail:

This code displays the featured image in the new column:

add_action('manage_posts_custom_column', 'display_thumbnail_column', 10, 2);
function display_thumbnail_column($column, $post_id)
{
    if ($column === 'thumbnail' && has_post_thumbnail( $post_id )) {
        echo get_the_post_thumbnail($post_id, array(120, 9999));
    }
}

3. How to Implement:

• Open the functions.php file in your theme.
• Paste the code above at the end of the file.
• Save the file and check the results in the post management page.

Why Use Code Instead of a Plugin?

• Lightweight and Efficient: Custom code keeps your website optimized compared to using a plugin.
• Flexible: You can customize the image size or add additional display conditions.
• No Plugin Dependency: Avoid potential conflicts or performance issues caused by plugins.

With just a few lines of code, you can add featured thumbnails to the post columns in WordPress Admin, making content management more visual and efficient. If you’re not comfortable working with code, you can download the Thumbnail Post Admin plugin from GitHub and install it in just a few simple steps.

The plugin includes options to display images when managing posts on mobile and allows customization to enable or disable featured image visibility based on screen settings.

To further enhance your admin experience, check out our guide on filtering posts by date and month in the admin panel for more efficient content management.