WordPress Users Can’t Use Gutenberg Block Embeds

We seen a few PublishPress users report problems with embeds in Gutenberg. If they restrict permissions for users, they sometimes find that those users can not add embeds from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and other sites.

This images shows a typical error. The user can add an embed block, but they get this error message: “Sorry, this content could not be embedded.”

The problem is that successfully adding embeds in WordPress requires the edit_posts permission, even when the embed is going into a page or other post type. This inconsistency goes unnoticed on most WordPress sites, because all the roles with any editing capabilities include the edit_posts capability by default. 

However, the edit_posts permission is sometimes deliberately removed for users who have limited roles on a WordPress site.

This edit_posts limitation applies to all content types and all the embed blocks in Gutenberg:

To allow PublishPress users to work around this problem, the next PublishPress Permissions release will extend Page editing permissions to implicitly satisfy this particular edit_posts requirement. 

Until then, you can restore the edit_posts capability to your role manually. To give users the ability to use embeds in Gutenberg, follow these steps:

• Install the PublishPress Capabilities plugin.
• Go to “Capabilities” in your WordPress admin menu.
• In the top-left corner, choose the role you want to edit.
• Check the box in the “Posts” row and “Edit” column:

Please note that edit_posts is connected to many areas of WordPress, so give this permission carefully.

For more on Gutenberg block permissions, read our guide to controlling who can see which blocks thanks to the PublishPress Blocks plugin.

For more troubleshooting guides like this, check out why users can't add iframes, why they can't insert GIFs, why they can't show code, or rearrange metaboxes. Finally, don't forget that if you really don't enjoy using blocks, there are many ways you can disable the Gutenberg editor.