After activation, work in this order. There is no Magic Post Thumbnail → Posts → Relevant post type page anymore — that screen is gone.

1. Activate the plugin.
2. Open Magic Post Thumbnail → Dashboard. Confirm Your configuration is Ready to generate (or fix Needs attention). Optionally click Generate a test image. Details: Dashboard.
3. Open Source. Build the Automatic generation chain (drag to set priority) and enter API keys. This chain is used by the editor button, bulk, cron and imports — not by Gutenberg search. See Settings : Source.
4. Open Settings (page title Settings [Automatic]). Under Image Placement, choose Featured Image and/or Inline content. Brand overlay is Disabled by default. Style applies to AI banks only. See Settings : Automatic.
5. Generate from the editor, the posts list, bulk actions, taxonomies, or the MPT Images block.

If you leave Source or Settings with unsaved edits, the plugin shows Unsaved changes: “You have unsaved settings. Save them before leaving this page?” Choose Save changes, Leave without saving, or Cancel.

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Editor: Generate Automatically / Generate Manually #

On a post, page or custom post type, the featured image box shows Generate Automatically. Click it to run the saved Source chain.

If Display manual search for featured image is on (Gutenberg Block settings), Gutenberg also shows Generate Manually, which opens photo search (same as the MPT Images block).

While a job runs, the button label becomes Generation. If the first bank is AI, you may see: “AI image generation may take 10 to 60 seconds. Please be patient.”

Posts list: MPT column #

On Posts → All Posts (and other supported types), the MPT column shows the featured image.

• Generate — no featured image yet.
• Regenerate — replace it. Regeneration picks a different result.

Click the thumbnail to Open in Media Library.

 

Bulk: Generate Images (MPT) #

1. Open the list of posts (or another supported type).
2. Select the rows.
3. Bulk actions → Generate Images (MPT) → Apply.

You land on Bulk Generation with a progress list (Successful, Failed, Error, Image Already Exists).

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Taxonomies: Generate featured images #

On Posts → Categories (and other public taxonomies), each term has a Generate featured images row action. That opens bulk generation for posts in that term.

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Gutenberg: MPT Images (photos only) #

Add an MPT Images block, or click Generate Manually. Search photo banks (Search for Images). This is not the Source chain and not AI.

Choose which photo tabs appear under the Gutenberg Block page (Gutenberg block (manual search)). API keys stay on Source.

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Pro: cron and imports #

Pro can generate on a schedule (Cron) and with import plugins. See Compatibility.

Optional hooks on Automatic → Pre-Processing & Developer: “Save Post” Hook and wp_insert_post. Enable only if you understand them.

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Brand overlay #

On Automatic → Post-Processing Image, Brand overlay defaults to Disabled. Optional modes: Title bar, Title and logo. Overlay is drawn on the generated file.

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What uses which settings #

• Source chain → Generate Automatically, posts list Generate / Regenerate, bulk Generate Images (MPT), taxonomy Generate featured images, Dashboard test, Pro cron/imports.
• Style / No text on the image → AI banks only.
• Gutenberg Block / MPT Images → photo search only.

More background: What is Magic Post Thumbnail ?.