Wordpress is not using home.php and instead index.php for posts page.

Question

So I am trying to get my blog page to use home.php as per template hierarchy, but it seems to not be using it. I am also using a front page that is properly using front-page.php.

If I got to settings->reading-> and select my blog page as the post page it seems to skipping over home.php and going to index.php.

I also went to appearance->customize and selected the blog page there and when I select the blog page there it temporarily shows up as home.php but as soon as I save and close and go back to the blog page it reverts to index.php.

I have found a temporary solution that is the wrong solution. I duplicated home.php and re-named it archive.php and it is now using archive.php instead of index. Which is weird it just seems to not be following the hierarchy at all.

I did find someone else with the same problem and he simply reverted his home.php to index.php :

WordPress posts page PREVIEW using index.php instead of home.php

I used the following code(in functions.php) to display which template the page was using:

function show_template() {
   global $template;
   if ( current_user_can('administrator') ) {
      print_r("<div class='template-name' style='padding: 5px; border: 3px solid red; background-color: #FFFFFF; position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0;'>$template</div>");
   }
}   

Answer 1

Instead of home.php you should use front-page.php. Unfortunately, the Template Hierarchy description is outdated and doesn't mention that home.php doesn't work (although it does state that if front-page.php is present it will be used before index.php).

Answer 2

Another work around is to create a page template (page-blog.php). In that file make sure you add this at the top so that you can select this file on the template dropdown:

<?php /* Template Name: Blog Page */ ?>

Set your blog page to that template. Then in the reading section, if you haven't already or it gets reset, set the blog page to the blog page you created.

Answer 3

You can create file called page-home.php in the theme root

Then inside that include

<?php /* Template Name: Home Page */ ?>

Then create a page called Home and select the template Home Page

Then goto settings -> reading -> a static page -> front page = Home

Answer 4

I know this is a year old, but I just ran into the same problem and managed to fix it by deleting every single file within the theme and then re-uploading all the files.

I have no idea why this worked, but it did.