The Gutenberg plugin 24.4 shows an "Overridden by" list in the Global Styles. For headings, links, and buttons, it lists which core blocks override these styles. The developers released the version on November 12 and presented it on November 13 on the Make WordPress Core blog.
In addition, there are searchable notes, an experimental media editor with PDF preview, and a faster text field. The plugin is open-source software and, according to the plugin directory, has more than 400,000 active installations. The directory now lists 24.4.1 as the current version; what this fix changes is not stated in the source.
What changes when designing?
In the Global Styles, you define styles for elements such as headings, links, and buttons for the entire site. Individual core blocks can override these styles with their own settings. The new "Overridden by" list names these blocks, and each entry jumps directly to the block's style settings. The source does not describe where exactly the list appears in the editor.
Gutenberg 24.4 at a glance
Plugin version from November 12, 2026, information from the WordPress team
AreaNew feature
- Global Styles"Overridden by" list for headings, links, buttons
- NotesSearch and filter by open or resolved
- Media editorPDF preview, file type and file size
- Text fieldfaster startup and editing
- Theme buildingBuild tools move to a new package
According to the post, the media editor is still experimental
Sources: Make WordPress Core, WordPress.org
According to the post on Make WordPress Core, background and text colors now appear at the start of the color palette, and the dimensions tool shows icons for aspect ratios. For the button, comments pagination, and the pagination of the Query Loop blocks, there is improved content editing (content-only).
The notes in the editor can be searched by comments, replies, and author names and filtered by the statuses "open" or "resolved". According to the changelog, both are located in the "All Notes" sidebar. The emoji picker is now a compact horizontal bar, with thumbs up and plus as new additions.
The experimental media editor shows file type and file size at the top, PDFs have a preview, and "Reset" and "Restore original" are placed together under a history menu. The post does not say how you activate the media editor. The text field starts and edits faster, and the parser needs less memory and time for deeply nested blocks that are not closed. The team does not provide measurements.
What applies to theme developers?
The plugin directory lists WordPress 7.0 or higher and PHP 7.4 or higher as requirements for Gutenberg; it is tested up to WordPress 7.1.4. The post lists several changes that affect existing code:
- Removed icons: lockOutline, lockSmall, insertBefore, insertAfter, and offline
- Accent color of checkboxes: The deprecated CSS variables no longer take effect; customization now works only via ThemeProvider
- Theme build tools: They now reside in @wordpress/theme-build-tools; you have to adjust the imports
- wp-env: An experimental runtime uses locally installed PHP and SQLite; PHP 7.4 or higher is required for this
Whether and when individual new features will land in a WordPress release, the post does not say. Whether the interface of the new features is available in German is likewise not apparent from the sources, and they do not mention country restrictions.
What this means for you
Check in your site's plugin list whether Gutenberg is installed and which version is running. It is best to install the update on a test environment first, because the media editor and a canvas variant of the Group block are experimental, according to the post.
If a button or heading style in your theme does not take effect as expected, open the Global Styles and look at the "Overridden by" list before writing additional CSS. If you work on the editor as a team, try out the search and the filter in "All Notes" on a post with several open notes. If you build themes, read the entries on removed icons and relocated build tools before updating.
The WordPress team published the post on Gutenberg 24.4 on November 13, 2026.
Sources
