Data blocks show content from Ghost instead of text you type, such as a post's title, its date, its authors, a tag's description or a tier's price. Each one reads the page it is on, or, inside a Collection, the post, tag, author or tier of that item. A Title on a post page shows the post's title, on a tag page the tag's name, and in a list of authors each author's name. You find them in the Data group of the block picker, which lists only the data blocks that work where you are adding.
The top of a post, as above, is made of data blocks: Primary Tag, Title, Excerpt, and a byline with Avatar, Author, Date and Reading Time. The words and pictures come from Ghost Admin, where you change them. The preview shows Fantasma's demo content until you connect your Ghost site. Show the post title and other page data explains how to use them, and Page data variables lists the same data for typing into text.
Where each one works
"Item" means an item of a Collection that lists posts, tags, authors or tiers. The inserter offers a data block only where it works. A data block you move or paste onto a page it cannot read shows nothing there, and so does one whose data is empty, such as a Featured Image on a post with no feature image.
Block
Shows
Works on
Its own options
Title
The post's or page's title, the tag's or author's name, the tier's name
Posts, pages, tag pages, author pages, and their items; tier items
Level and Alignment on the canvas toolbar, Heading 2 by default. Make title a link, in an item, links to the item's page
Excerpt
The post's or page's excerpt, the tag's description, the author's bio, the tier's description
Posts, pages, tag pages, author pages, and their items; tier items
Make excerpt a link, in an item. On a post's own page it shows only a custom excerpt set in Ghost Admin. In a post item, a post without one shows the start of its text
Featured Image
The post's or page's feature image, the tag's image, the author's cover image
Posts, pages, tag pages, author pages, and their items
Aspect Ratio, Make image a link in an item, and Caption (off by default), which shows the image's caption from Ghost on posts and pages
Avatar
The author's profile picture, or the first author's on a post
Posts, author pages, and their items
Aspect Ratio, and Link to the author's page (off by default)
Date
The date the post was published
Posts and post items
Format, in the next table
Author
The names of all the post's authors, each linked to the author's page
Posts and post items
None
Primary Tag
The post's first tag, linked to the tag's page
Posts and post items
None
Reading Time
How long the post takes to read, such as "6 min read"
Posts and post items
None
Post Navigation Link
A button to the previous or the next post
Post pages only, not in a Collection
Direction: Previous (the older post, the default) or Next (the newer one). Show title shows that post's title instead of the label. Label is empty by default, which shows "Previous" or "Next"
Read More
A button to the page of the item it stands in
Post, tag and author items only, not in a No Results
Label, "Read more" by default
Post Count
How many posts the tag or author has, such as "12 posts"
Tag pages, author pages, and their items
Number only shows "12" alone
Location
The author's location
Author pages and author items
None
Price
The tier's price per month or per year
Tier items only
Period: Monthly (the default) or Yearly. Show period (on) adds "/ month" or "/ year". Free tier text shows in place of a price for the free tier, such as $0. Left empty, the free tier shows no price
Period
The tier's "/ month" or "/ year" on its own, so you can style it apart from the price; nothing for a free tier
Tier items only
Period: Monthly (the default) or Yearly
Tier Sign-up
A button that opens Ghost's sign-up window for the tier
Tier items only, not in a No Results
Period: Monthly or Yearly, the price the sign-up window offers. Label, "Subscribe" by default
Benefits
The tier's benefits as a list
Tier items only
Marker: Check (the default), Dot or None before each benefit
The buttons (Post Navigation Link, Read More and Tier Sign-up) also have Uppercase, an Icon with its Position before or after the label, and an Accessible Label for an icon with no label, as a Button has.
Date formats
Format
A date shows as
Theme default
The Date format in Project settings › Features. A new Date block starts here.
Jan 15, 2026
Short month, day and year
January 15, 2026
Full month, day and year
15 January 2026
Day, full month and year
2026-01-15
Year, month and day in numbers
01/15/2026
Month, day and year in numbers
3 days ago
How long ago the post came out
Custom
The format you type in Custom format, such as dddd, D MMMM YYYY for "Thursday, 15 January 2026". Put words you want printed as typed in square brackets, such as [Published] MMM D. Left empty, it shows Jan 15, 2026.
How they look
Title follows the heading style of its level in Styles, and Excerpt, Date, Author, Primary Tag, Reading Time, Post Count, Location, Price and Period follow the Text style in Styles. They take the same shared settings as those blocks: Typography settings, Colors and appearance settings with Link color for the linked ones, Layout settings, Display settings and Advanced settings. Featured Image and Avatar take the settings of an Image, and the three buttons those of a Button.
For the pictures of all of a post's authors in one row, use Author Avatars. To list a post's tags, use a Collection whose Source is Post tags, as Show your tags or authors explains.
Data blocks show content from Ghost instead of text you type, such as a post's title, its date, its authors, a tag's description or a tier's price. Each one reads the page it is on, or, inside a Collection, the post, tag, author or tier of that item. A Title on a post page shows the post's title, on a tag page the tag's name, and in a list of authors each author's name. You find them in the Data group of the block picker, which lists only the data blocks that work where you are adding.
The top of a post, as above, is made of data blocks: Primary Tag, Title, Excerpt, and a byline with Avatar, Author, Date and Reading Time. The words and pictures come from Ghost Admin, where you change them. The preview shows Fantasma's demo content until you connect your Ghost site. Show the post title and other page data explains how to use them, and Page data variables lists the same data for typing into text.
Where each one works
"Item" means an item of a Collection that lists posts, tags, authors or tiers. The inserter offers a data block only where it works. A data block you move or paste onto a page it cannot read shows nothing there, and so does one whose data is empty, such as a Featured Image on a post with no feature image.
$0. Left empty, the free tier shows no priceThe buttons (Post Navigation Link, Read More and Tier Sign-up) also have Uppercase, an Icon with its Position before or after the label, and an Accessible Label for an icon with no label, as a Button has.
Date formats
dddd, D MMMM YYYYfor "Thursday, 15 January 2026". Put words you want printed as typed in square brackets, such as[Published] MMM D. Left empty, it shows Jan 15, 2026.How they look
Title follows the heading style of its level in Styles, and Excerpt, Date, Author, Primary Tag, Reading Time, Post Count, Location, Price and Period follow the Text style in Styles. They take the same shared settings as those blocks: Typography settings, Colors and appearance settings with Link color for the linked ones, Layout settings, Display settings and Advanced settings. Featured Image and Avatar take the settings of an Image, and the three buttons those of a Button.
For the pictures of all of a post's authors in one row, use Author Avatars. To list a post's tags, use a Collection whose Source is Post tags, as Show your tags or authors explains.