Repeater Groups

A repeater group lets a member fill in the same set of fields more than once. The classic example is work history: each job has an employer, a position, start and end years, and a description. With a repeater group, the member clicks “Add More” to add each new job as a separate entry rather than having to cram all their experience into one field.

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How Repeater Groups Work

A group becomes a repeater when you check the Repeater option on the group. This makes two things happen:

1. On the member’s profile edit form, an Add More link appears below the group’s fields. Each click adds a new copy of the entire set of fields for that group.
2. Each set of entries is stored separately in user meta. The first entry uses the base key (wbbpp_<group_key>_<field_key>); additional entries add a counter suffix (_1, _2, and so on).

Members can also remove an entry they no longer want using the remove button that appears on each repeated set.

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Default Repeater Groups

When the plugin is first activated, it creates two repeater groups:

Education — with fields: Institute, Place (Google Place Autocomplete), Degree/Program, From Year, To Year, I currently attend this school (checkbox).

Professional Experience — with fields: Employer, Place, Work Description, Position, From Year, To Year, I currently work here (checkbox).

These groups can be edited, reordered, or deleted. You can also create your own repeater groups for certifications, publications, conference talks, or any other information that a member might have more than one instance of.

The third default group, Contact Details, is not a repeater — it is a standard single-entry group in the sidebar area.

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Creating a Repeater Group

1. Go to WB Plugins > Profile Pro > Group Settings.
2. Scroll to the Add New Group form at the bottom.
3. Enter a Group Title and a Group Description.
4. Set the Group Display Area to Content Area (sidebar groups cannot be repeaters in the UI, though the option exists).
5. Check Display Group at BuddyPress Profile.
6. Check Repeater.
7. Optionally restrict the group to specific User Roles or Member Types using the Group Availability setting.
8. Click Add.
9. Click Save Settings on the groups form.

The new group now appears in Field Settings where you can add fields to it.

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Adding Fields to a Repeater Group

You add fields to a repeater group the same way as any group — from Field Settings > Add New Field. When you select a repeater group in the Field Group dropdown, the Show on register page option is automatically hidden (repeated fields cannot appear on the registration form).

Individual fields within a repeater group also have their own Repeater checkbox. In most cases you leave this unchecked on the field level — the group-level repeater is what creates the “Add More” behaviour. The field-level repeater is for edge cases where a single field within a non-repeater group needs to repeat on its own (for example, a list of phone numbers in the Contact Details sidebar group).

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Group Availability

Each group can be restricted so only certain users see it on their profile form. The Group Availability setting has two modes:

• User Roles — only members whose WordPress role matches one of the selected roles see the group. Select “All” to show it to every role.
• Member Type — only members assigned one of the selected BuddyPress member types see the group. Select “All” for no restriction.

If neither User Roles nor Member Type is selected in the new-group form, the group is visible to everyone.

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Display Area

Each group has a Group Display Area that controls where its data appears on the profile view:

• Content Area — the main profile content area. This is the right option for most groups including repeater groups.
• Sidebar — a narrower column alongside the main content. The Contact Details default group uses this position.

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Data Storage

Each repeater entry writes multiple user meta keys:

• wbbpp_<group_key>_count — total number of entries for this group.
• wbbpp_<group_key>_<field_key> — first entry’s value for a given field.
• wbbpp_<group_key>__1_<field_key> — second entry (counter starts at _1).
• wbbpp_<field_key>_count — per-field entry count (also written).

For developers who need to read this data programmatically, use get_user_meta() with the keys above, or look at the meta key pattern in Field Settings by expanding a field’s details (the three-dot menu) and copying the Meta Key value.

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Empty State

If a repeater group has no entries yet, the profile display simply shows nothing for that group — there is no placeholder text for empty repeater groups. The edit form always shows at least one empty set of fields so the member can fill it in.