The Shortcode Builder lets you visually configure and generate a BoardScribe shortcode to display meetings on your website. As you change the settings, BoardScribe automatically updates the shortcode and the preview so you can see how your meeting table will appear before adding it to a page or post.

BoardScribe Shortcode Builder screen showing display settings for filtering and formatting meetings, a generated shortcode with a Copy button, and a preview table of meetings with dates, agenda links, and minutes links.

To access the shortcode builder, go to BoardScribe > Settings in the WordPress admin and click “Shortcode Builder” in the settings navigation.

Using the Shortcode Builder

The Shortcode Builder has three main areas:

Display settings — Configure which meetings are shown and how they are displayed.
Your Shortcode — Shows the shortcode generated from your current settings with a button to easily copy the shortcode to your clipboard.
Preview — Displays a preview of the meeting table using the current settings.

After configuring the display, copy the generated shortcode and paste it into a shortcode block or widget on any page or post where you want the meetings to appear. The shortcode lets you display BoardScribe on pages built with page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, etc.

Shortcode Options

Display Settings

The display options allow you to limit with meetings are shown in the table and how the table appears.

Included Years

Enter one or more years to limit the meeting list to meetings from those years. This field references the meeting date field, not the publish date of the meeting post.

For multiple years, separate each year with a comma. Leave this field blank to include meetings from all years.

For example, entering 2025 displays only meetings from 2025. 2024, 2025, 2026 will include meetings from those three years.

Start Date

Select a date to show only meetings that occur on or after that date.

When a start date is set, it overrides the Included Years setting.

End Date

Select a date to show only meetings that occur on or before that date.

When an end date is set, it overrides the Included Years setting.

You can use Start Date and End Date together to display meetings within a specific date range. This is especially helpful if your organization follows a fiscal year that is different from a calendar year, and you want to display meetings from July-June, for example.

Posts Per Page

Enter the maximum number of meetings to display on each page of results. If there are more meetings than the specified number, pagination is displayed.

Enable Show all to display all matching meetings without pagination.

Held Date Format

Controls how meeting dates are displayed. This field accepts any valid PHP date format.

For example, the default date l, F j, Y displays a date as Wednesday, December 17, 2025.

See the PHP manual for available formats.

Not Held Date Format

Controls how dates are displayed for meetings that have been marked as “not held.” This allows you to have a different format for these canceled meetings.

For example, the default format (F Y) outputs a month and year only without the weekday or day of the month: June 2025.

This also uses PHP date format characters.

Display Template

This dropdown allows you to select a layout used to display the meeting information. Currently, there is only one option: to display meetings in a table. In future versions of BoardScribe, other views will be available.

Force All Columns to the Same Width

Enable this option to make all columns in the table the same width. This can help keep columns aligned consistently and create a more even visual layout.

Custom CSS Class

Enter a custom CSS class to add to the meeting display. This can be used by developers or site administrators to apply site-specific styling.

Enter only the class name, without a period (.).

Column Labels

Expand the Column Labels accordion to customize the headings used for the meeting information.

You can customize the labels for:

Title
Date
Agenda
Minutes

Leave a field blank to use BoardScribe’s default label.

Changing a column label only changes the text visitors see; it does not change the meeting data associated with that column.

Link Labels

Expand the Link Labels accordion to customize the text used for links to meeting documents. If you edit these, make sure what you set accurately reflects what you’re linking to.

Leave either field blank to use the default BoardScribe link text.

Agenda Link Label

Changes the text used for links to available agendas. For example, you could replace the default “View Agenda” with the shorter “Agenda” or “Download Agenda PDF.”

Minutes Link Label

Changes the text used for links to available meeting minutes. For example, you could replace the default “View Minutes” with “Read Meeting Summary”.

Hide Columns

Expand the Hide Columns accordion to remove information you do not want displayed in the meeting list.

You can hide the:

Title column
Date column
Agenda column
Minutes column

Hiding a column removes it from the public-facing meeting display. It does not remove or change the information stored with the meeting.

Copying the Shortcode

The “Your Shortcode” section automatically updates whenever you change a setting. This is especially helpful because you don’t need to manually construct or edit the shortcode when using the Shortcode Builder.

Your shortcode section in the shortcode builder showing a text input with the shortcode and a blue copy button next to it.

For example, limiting the display to meetings from 2025, setting posts per page to 30, and changing the Title column label to “Meeting Type” generates this shortcode:

[edbs_boardscribe included_years="2025" posts_per_page="30" title_label="Meeting Type"]

All you have to do is click the Copy button in this section to copy the shortcode to your clipboard. You can then paste it into a WordPress Shortcode block or another location that supports WordPress shortcodes.

Previewing Your Meeting List

The Preview section shows how the current shortcode configuration will display meetings. It updates based on the options selected in the builder.

Use the preview to confirm:

The correct meetings are included.
Dates use the desired format.
Column and link labels are correct.
Unwanted columns are hidden.
Pagination and the number of meetings per page work as expected.

The preview is intended to help configure the shortcode. The final appearance on the front end may vary based on your WordPress theme and any custom CSS applied to the site.