Custom blocks, ACF and the block editor

A rich-text editor understands paragraphs, headings, lists, links and images. It does not understand an ACF block, a columns layout or a third-party block that renders a pricing table from a plugin’s data. Workover keeps those intact instead of converting them, and offers two other ways to work on them: the WordPress block editor surface for block-heavy posts, and the Custom fields section for ACF field values. This page explains all three.

How Workover reads a post’s blocks

WordPress stores a post as block markup. When Workover imports or pulls a post, it reads that markup and sorts each block into one of three kinds:

Ordinary blocks, such as paragraphs, headings and lists, become normal editable text.
Some richer blocks get their own editable form in Workover, and anything you did not edit is written back exactly as it was: images, embeds, shortcode blocks, spacers, buttons, separators, quotes, tables, and the Yoast and Rank Math FAQ blocks.
Everything else, including ACF blocks, columns, groups, covers, galleries and blocks from other plugins, becomes a locked placeholder in the document. The placeholder carries the block’s exact source, and Workover writes it back unchanged when you push.

Content written in the classic editor, rather than as blocks, comes through as ordinary HTML.

Warning: Workover can only keep blocks intact when WordPress shares the post’s block markup with the account the site is connected with, which some older WordPress versions and restricted roles do not. If it cannot, Workover imports the rendered page instead: blocks become plain HTML, and pushing replaces them on the live post with that HTML. A sign that this is happening on a linked post is that the WP tab doesn’t offer Edit in the WordPress block editor. Check the role of the WordPress account the site is connected with.

Editing a block-heavy post in the WordPress block editor

For a post built mostly from blocks, such as a landing page, editing the prose around the placeholders is not much use. The WP tab of a linked post offers a checkbox, Edit in the WordPress block editor, which switches the document to the post’s own block markup: “Keeps columns, ACF and custom blocks exactly as WordPress stores them. No live collaboration on this surface.”

When at least 40% of a post’s top-level blocks can’t be edited as text, Workover switches to this surface on its own, once per session. After that, the checkbox is yours to change.
Only one person can edit on this surface at a time. Anyone else sees it read-only, with the message “name has this open, so you’ll see it read-only.”
When you push, the block markup goes to WordPress exactly as it is, with no conversion. The check for embedded media that would be lost is skipped, because nothing was converted. The check for changes made in WordPress since your last sync still applies.

ACF blocks and ACF fields are different things

An ACF block is a block inside the post body. It becomes a locked placeholder, as described above, and you edit its contents in WordPress or on the block editor surface.
An ACF field holds a value stored alongside the post, such as a subtitle or a hero image. Workover shows these in the Custom fields section at the bottom of the WP tab, together with other custom fields your site exposes through the REST API. For ACF, that means field groups set to show in the REST API.

In the Custom fields section you can edit text, text area, URL, number, toggle and image fields. More complex fields, such as repeaters and relationships, are shown read-only with Edit this field in WordPress. Your edits are staged and sent with your next push, like the other fields in the tab.

What the push check covers

When you push, Workover compares the embedded videos and media on the live post with those in the document. If the push would remove some, it stops and asks first. That check counts embedded videos and media only. It does not look for other blocks, so review the document before you push if you have rearranged or removed placeholders. See Sync status and conflicts.

Which way to edit

Post	Best way to edit
Mostly prose, with a few blocks	The Workover editor. Placeholders travel with the text.
Mostly blocks, such as a landing page	Edit in the WordPress block editor, or edit in WordPress and pull.
ACF field values	The Custom fields section of the WP tab, or WordPress for complex fields.