Three of the four display types place themselves. One of them does not: Manual, which is the type for when you want to decide exactly where the card sits. This page covers all six ways to get a card in front of somebody, and which cards each one will offer you.
The rule that catches people #
Only cards set to Manual appear in the shortcode’s picker, the block’s dropdown and the Elementor widget. The other three display types place themselves, so they are deliberately not listed — offering them in a placement picker would produce a card pasted into a page that then also appears as a popup or on its own bio address, which is never what anyone wanted.
If a card you have just built is missing from all three pickers, go to its Display tab. It is almost certainly not set to Manual.
1. The shortcode #
The most flexible option, and the one that works everywhere WordPress renders shortcodes.
Open the card for editing and the shortcode is next to the title, with a Copy button:
[spcad_card id="548"]
Paste it into:
- Any page or post, in the block editor, as a Shortcode block.
- Any classic editor post.
- A text widget, or a Custom HTML block in a widget area or a footer.
- A page template.
- Another plugin’s field that accepts shortcodes.
The number is the card’s own ID. It is the same number in the editor’s address bar, so if you ever need to find it, it is the card_id in the URL of the card editor.
TipAnything you write above or below the shortcode stays exactly where you put it. A card inside a post about you, with a sentence under it, is often better than a bare card on a page of its own.
If the shortcode does not work #
Four things to check, in order:
- The card is set to Manual. Automatic and link in bio cards deliberately ignore the shortcode.
- The card is published, not a draft.
- You pasted it into something that actually renders shortcodes. A heading, a table cell or a plain-text block will show you the tag rather than the card.
- You saved the page after pasting. The card only appears once the page is saved.
2. The Profile Card block #
For the block editor. Drag Profile Card from the inserter — it is in the Widgets category — and pick the card from the dropdown.
The block has exactly one control, Profile card, listing every manual card by its internal title. Pick one and the card is rendered in place, with a live preview in the editor as you work.
The block supports wide and full alignment, so on a page with a wide layout you can make the card span the wider area without touching the card’s own width setting.
Until you choose a card the block says Select a manual profile card to display it here, or No manual profile cards found if the site has none yet.
3. The Elementor widget #
If Elementor is active, there is a Profile Card widget in the general category. It has one control, Select Card, and behaves exactly like the block.
The widget registers itself only when Elementor is loaded, so if you cannot see it, check that Elementor is active and that you are editing with Elementor rather than the block editor.
There are no styling controls on the widget itself. Everything about how the card looks is on the card, in the editor — which is deliberate, so a card looks the same wherever it is placed.
4. A link in bio page #
The card gets its own address and sits alone on it. This is the display type for a card you are going to share as a link: in an Instagram bio, in an email signature, in a QR code.
Set Display to Link in bio page, give it a Page slug, and save. The full guide, including the SEO fields and the share button, is in Walkthrough: create a link in bio page.
The page has its own title and description, so search engines and social networks see something sensible rather than the site name, and it can be given a share button that hands the visitor their own share sheet already carrying that address, title and description.
5. An automatic popup #
The card appears over the page on its own. Set Display to Automatic, Display type to Display as popup, and choose where and when.
On the free version the popup can appear across the whole site, open immediately, and be hidden from URLs you list. PRO adds posts-only, products-only and specific-URL targeting, the timeout and scroll triggers, and the appearance cap. All of it is in The Display tab.
CarefulA popup is the display type most likely to annoy people, and the reason is almost never the plugin — it is showing on the wrong pages. Set Don’t show on these URLs before you set it live, and start with Maximum appearances rather than 0.
6. Inside the content #
The card becomes part of the article. Set Display to Automatic, Display type to Display inside the content, and choose where it lands.
At the top of the post content or At the bottom of the post content, and for WooCommerce, Below price in WooCommerce products. There is also a URL blocklist, the same as the popup’s.
This is the quietest option, and the one that suits a site that already has enough popups from other plugins.
Choosing between them #
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A card in a specific place you choose | Manual, with the shortcode, the block or the widget |
| Something to put in your Instagram bio | Link in bio page |
| To catch readers on an article without interrupting it | Inside the content |
| To introduce yourself once, to people arriving cold | Popup, whole site, appearing immediately |
| The same person in two places | Two cards. Clone the first and change the display type. |
Placing the same card twice #
You can paste the same shortcode into as many pages as you like, and the card renders on all of them. Its CSS and JavaScript are only loaded on the pages that actually have it, so a card on one page costs nothing on the other hundred.
NoteA card is one of the four display types, so one card is one thing in one place. If you want the same person as a bio page and inside a post, that is two cards. Use Clone on the All Cards screen to avoid the typing.