Getting Started
Install it, connect a template to your content, and ThumbnailWP takes it from there.
From Install to Your First Automatic Image
ThumbnailWP needs five minutes of setup, then runs on its own: once a template is connected to your content, every new post gets a matching featured and social image automatically, with nothing left to do by hand.
🟦 Activate your license
Go to ThumbnailWP → Settings and paste the license key from your RemotelyLicense.com account. This unlocks updates and support — the plugin renders images either way, license or not.
🟩 Start from a bundled template, or create your own
ThumbnailWP ships with two ready-made templates — Default Featured/OG (1200×630, for blog posts and Open Graph) and Default Social Square (1080×1080, for square social formats). Open either one under ThumbnailWP → Templates and adjust it, or click New template to start from a blank canvas.
🟧 Build the template
Set the canvas size and background (a flat color, or a dynamic image like your post’s featured image), then add layers — text, image, or rectangle — and position them directly on the live preview. Each layer can pull in real content: post title, author, category, a custom field, and more.
🟥 Decide which posts get it
Every template needs to know where it applies. Add Assignment rules (by category, tag, or a custom field), or mark it as the fallback template used when nothing else matches.
🟫 Let it work automatically
From here, ThumbnailWP generates a featured image the moment a post is published — never overriding one you’ve already set yourself. You can also regenerate one manually from the post edit screen, or run Bulk generation to fill in images for all your existing content at once.