Cards, team members and listings look tidier when every description has about the same length. Instead of shortening each text by hand, you can let the widget cut it for you.
The Text Block widget from The Plus Addons for Elementor has a Description Limit option that shortens its text to a set number of characters or words and can add dots (…) at the end. Elementor’s own Text Editor widget has no such option.
To check the complete feature overview documentation of The Plus Addons for Elementor Text Block widget, click here.
Requirement – This widget is a part of The Plus Addons for Elementor, make sure it’s installed & activated to enjoy all its powers.
Before You Start
- Edition: Free — the Text Block widget and all its Content, Text Animation and Style settings are part of the free plugin and work the same with Pro.
- Widget to enable: Text Block, switched on under The Plus Addons > Widgets.
How to Limit the Text
- Drag the Text Block widget onto the page and type or paste your text into Content > Description.
- Switch on Description Limit.
- In Limit on, choose Character (the default) or Word.
- Enter the maximum number of characters or words in Count (1 to 1000). While Count is empty, nothing is cut.
- Leave Display Dots on to end shortened text with …, or switch it off to cut the text without them.
With Word and a Count of 12, the text on the page ends like this:
With Character and a Count of 40, the cut can fall in the middle of a word:
Description Limit Settings
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Description Limit | Turns the limit on or off. | Off (Hide) |
| Limit on | Character cuts after a number of characters, Word after a number of words. | Character |
| Count | The maximum number of characters or words, from 1 to 1000. One value for all devices. | Empty (no limit) |
| Display Dots | Adds … after text that was shortened. | On (Show) |
How It Behaves
- Word never cuts a word in half. Numbers count as words.
- The dots only appear when the text was longer than the limit. A 7-word text with a Count of 50 is shown in full, without dots (see the exception under Limitations).
- Formatting before the cut stays: a bold word before the cut was still bold on the page.
- The limit also works when Text Animation is switched on: only the shortened text is animated.
- It works the same in the free plugin and with Pro.
Limitations
- Character also counts the hidden HTML code of your formatting. A normal paragraph uses 3 characters of the Count for its paragraph tag, so a Count of 40 showed 37 visible characters, and bold text or links use more.
- Character counts bytes, not letters. Accented letters such as ü, é or ß and symbols such as € use 2 or 3 of the Count, and when the cut falls inside one of them a broken character appears before the dots. For text with such letters, use Word.
- With Word, dots can appear on a new line under a paragraph that was not shortened. We saw this with a 5-word paragraph and a Count of 5.
- With Word, the last word of one paragraph and the first word of the next are counted as one word.
- The Count is the same on desktop, tablet and mobile.
Troubleshooting
The text is shorter than the Count
With Character, formatting code is counted too. Raise the Count a little, or switch Limit on to Word.
A strange symbol appears before the dots
The cut fell inside an accented letter or symbol. Change the Count by one or two, or use Word.
Dots show under text that is not shortened
Raise the Count above the number of words in the text, or switch off Display Dots.
Nothing is cut
Check that Description Limit is on and that Count has a value.
