# Post Excerpt Smart Action not behaving as expected **URL:** \ **Category:** Pinegrow WP\ **Created:** [November 1, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162 "2022-11-01T18:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chipriggs](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/chipriggs/32/5076_2.png) [@chipriggs](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/chipriggs)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/1 "2022-11-01T18:23:09Z")
Sorry if this is obvious but I’m coming up without an answer after searching quite a bit. Is there a way to have the “Post Excerpt Smart Action” create an excerpt using the first 55 words of the post if the excerpt field is left empty? After not having that feature behave as I thought it should (and double-checking it on the [WordPress.org documentation](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/the_excerpt/)), I think I’m probably missing something obvious in Pinegrow. Any help to point me in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![adamslowe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/adamslowe/32/4590_2.png) [@adamslowe](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/adamslowe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/2 "2022-11-02T14:22:25Z")
Hey @chipriggs: Can you give us a little more detail here? I use that post excerpt smart action all the time, and it works as expected, using the first 55 words of the post when the excerpt is empty. You don’t happen to have the “only display if excerpt is set” checkbox checked, do you? It also might be worth checking the PHP file that Pinegrow generated. It should have something like this inside it: ```auto

require_once "inc/wp_pg_helpers.php"; ``` Also, the function you are looking for is probably [get\_the\_excerpt()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_excerpt/) unless you are trying to grab the excerpt from the current post. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/pinegrow/original/2X/2/20d489e0dff372d113ebffe07c909cb06cc66ae1.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/pinegrow/original/2X/e/e6c4d09074692b9bb34d14cb5bff7fcf8b069e7f.png) ---
**Author:** ![chipriggs](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/chipriggs/32/5076_2.png) [@chipriggs](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/chipriggs)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/3 "2022-11-02T19:00:21Z")
Hi @adamslowe 👋, Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I thought it was weird myself which is why I posted something up here about it but I figured it out earlier this morning and just didn’t have a chance to update my original post with my findings. Just for context, I didn’t have “_Only display if excerpt is set_” checked and the “ **get\_the\_excerpt** ” was showing up in the generated code so my next step was to start deactivating plug-ins to see if something I was running was causing the issue. Turns out that just like in Ghost Busters lore you’re not supposed to cross the streams! I was running Cwicly on this install and when I deactivated it I started seeing generated excerpts. 🤦 For a bit of context on why I was using Pinegrow & using Cwicly (excuses), I had Cwicly running as I prefer its reworking of the Gutenburg editor to the core one, for $50 its a steal as you get ACF Pro bundled in with it and it covers 3 sites, and I wanted to hopefully use a few of its pre-made blocks and features rather than trying to figuring how to do the same things with Pinegrow as the current project I’m working on is dragging out far, far too long and I just need to get it done ASAP. Soooooooo, yeah… Now I need to decide which direction I’m going to go with this. Anyway, Thanks again for the reply, and for all the videos you’re putting out as they’re AWESOME and super helpful. 🙌 🙌 ---
**Author:** ![adamslowe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/adamslowe/32/4590_2.png) [@adamslowe](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/adamslowe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/4 "2022-11-02T19:13:21Z")
That sounds like an issue that should be raised with Cwicly since it could impact plenty of other things. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/pinegrow/original/2X/d/d40fbe087e344d69803f7783db59c27bc790a612.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![chipriggs](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/chipriggs/32/5076_2.png) [@chipriggs](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/chipriggs)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/5 "2022-11-02T19:15:40Z")
Yep, for sure. I’ll reach out to Louis in their forums and let him know what I’m experiencing. ---
**Author:** ![Pinegrow\_Learner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pinegrow\_Learner](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/Pinegrow_Learner)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/6 "2022-11-03T11:13:20Z")
Cwicly fixed the issue. [1.2.5.2 - Changelog - Cwicly](https://discourse.cwicly.com/t/1-2-5-2/1427) ---
**Author:** ![chipriggs](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/forum.pinegrow.com/chipriggs/32/5076_2.png) [@chipriggs](https://forum.pinegrow.com/u/chipriggs)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://forum.pinegrow.com/t/post-excerpt-smart-action-not-behaving-as-expected/7162/7 "2022-11-03T12:49:57Z")
Yes! I just installed the update and now the generated excerpt text shows as expected.