---
title: Setting up widget zones on pages
related:
- https://docs.kentico.com/k10/managing-website-content/adding-page-content-through-widgets.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k10/configuring-kentico/working-with-widget-dashboards/managing-widget-dashboard-content.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k10/community-features/groups/customizing-group-pages-using-widgets.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k10/custom-development/miscellaneous-custom-development-tasks/widget-internals-and-api.md
---
> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).
To allow users to work with [widgets](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/preparing-widgets-for-users.md), you need to create widget zones on your website's pages. You can set up widget zones on:
- [Portal engine page templates](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-the-portal-engine.md)
- [Portal engine sections of ASPX templates](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-aspx-templates/adding-portal-engine-functionality-to-aspx-page-templates.md)
By default, all zones on portal engine templates are static web part zones. Only the website's designers can modify the content of web part zones by [adding web parts](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-the-portal-engine/using-and-configuring-web-parts.md). Widget zones represent sections of the page that other types of users can customize.
To change a web part zone into a widget zone:
> **Note:** **Warning**: Changing the widget type of a zone removes all instances of web parts or widgets placed in the given zone.
1. Open the **Pages** application.
2. Select the page in the content tree.
3. Switch to the **Design** tab.
4. Open the properties dialog of the given web part zone:
- Expand the zone's menu () and click **Configure**.\
or
- Double click the zone header.
5. Set the zone's **Widget zone type** property:
| Zone type | Description |
| ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| None | Standard [web part](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-the-portal-engine/using-and-configuring-web-parts.md) zones. |
| User personalization | Allows registered users to personalize the zone's widget content on the _live site_.
Each user has their own unique version of the zone. The personalized content cannot be seen by other users. |
| Customization by page editor | Allows website editors to [work with widgets](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/managing-website-content/adding-page-content-through-widgets.md):
on the **Page** tab of the **Pages** application
when editing pages in [on-site editing](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/managing-website-content/configuring-the-environment-for-content-editors/enabling-on-site-editing.md) mode |
| Customization by group administrator | Allows administrators of the [group](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/community-features/groups.md) that owns the page to work with widgets on the _live site_. |
6. Click **OK**.
The zone now provides an area on the page that users can customize (according to the selected zone type). You can add default widget content into the zone.
> **Note:** **Specifying widget zone types in code**
>
> Changing the _WidgetZoneType_ property directly in layout code does not save the changes in the database. You need to set the _Widget zone type_ property by configuring the zone properties.
## Creating default widget content for zones
You can set default content for widget zones by editing pages in the **Pages** application on the **Design** tab:
1. Right-click the header of the widget zone and click **Add new widget** in the menu.
2. Select a widget from the catalog. You can only choose the widgets that are [allowed](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/preparing-widgets-for-users/configuring-permissions-for-widgets.md) for the given type of widget zone.
3. Click **Select**.
4. Set the values of the widget's [properties](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/preparing-widgets-for-users/creating-widgets.md) (some widgets may be configured to skip the property configuration dialog).
> **Info:** **Macros and widget properties**
>
> For security reasons, the system does not resolve [macro expressions](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/macro-expressions.md) added into values in the widget properties dialog.
>
> You can pre-set macros into the default values of widget properties when editing widgets in the **Widgets** application on the **Properties** tab.
>
> See: [Creating widgets](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/preparing-widgets-for-users/creating-widgets.md)
5. Click **OK**.
The system adds the widget into the zone. Repeat the process to define any default widget content for the zone. The zone displays the default widgets on the page until users edit the content (depending on the type of the zone).
> **Note:** **Important**: The widgets that you add on the **Design** tab only represent the _default_ content of the zone. Changes that you make to the default widgets do NOT affect pages where users have already modified the widget content.
## Adding widget actions to pages
You can place the **Widget actions** [web part](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/developing-websites/developing-websites-using-the-portal-engine/using-and-configuring-web-parts.md) onto pages that contain widget zones. The web part allows users to:
- Add widgets
- Reset all widget zones to their default content
The web part only works with the type of widget zone specified in its **Widget zone type** property. When a user clicks the **Add new widget** button, the web part places the widget into the zone specified by the **Widget zone ID** property. Users can drag the widget into another zone if the default placement is not suitable.
> **Tip:** **Tip**: When creating pages with _editor_ widget zones, you can enable the **Use main menu** property of the _Widget actions_ web part. This causes the web part to display the action buttons in the header of the main edit menu on the **Page** tab in the **Pages** application, instead of inside the page content.