If you collaborate on the development of a website with a team, you should familiarize yourself with WordPress user roles and permissions. This article explains why role management is crucial for your WordPress website and covers a comprehensive guide to help you maximize this feature.
What do you need?
- Access to the WordPress administration panel
Add a new user
Follow these steps to create a new WordPress user and assign the desired role:
1- Log in to the WordPress dashboard and select Users> Add New in the menu on the left.
2- Fill in the form and add your personal data, such as username, first name, last name and email address.
3- Create a new password by clicking Show password (optional: the new user can change it later).
4- Choose the user role you want in the WordPress dropdown menu.
5- Click on Add new user.
Description of WordPress User Roles
The role is a key field when adding a new user – it is crucial that you set it correctly to prevent the new user from accessing and changing vital settings on our website. You can choose from 6 WordPress user roles:
1- Administrator
2- Publisher
3- Author
4- Collaborator
5- Subscriber
6- No role for this site
IMPORTANT: Choose carefully the role of your new user. If you select an important role for him, such as Administrator, keep in mind that you are giving him complete control of your website or its publications. They could potentially edit your account and assign you a less privileged role, or ban you.
Before choosing the right role for your user, it is important to ask yourself a few questions:
- Do you completely trust your new user?
- Are you going to maintain your WordPress website? Example: Installing security updates, modifying the theme, installing or removing plugins?
- Do you want them to write articles on your blog?
- Do you want to review your posts before publishing them or do you want them to publish your posts?
- What about letting them edit or post messages written by other users?
When you have these answers in mind, proceed by selecting the appropriate function:
- Administrator
- Editor
- Author
- Taxpayer
- Subscriber
WordPress User Permissions Chart
Administrator
This is the most powerful WordPress user role, it is assigned when you first install WordPress. It allows complete control over every aspect and configuration of your website.
Administrator powers:
- Entries: Full control – add, edit, publish, delete.
- Pages: Full control – add, edit, publish, delete.
- Comment moderation: Full control.
- Plugins: Full control – add, edit, delete any.
- Themes: Full control – add, edit, delete any.
- Users: Full control – add, edit, delete anyone.
- WordPress Settings: Full Control.
Editor
This user role can manage and publish any post, even those created by other users.
Publishers access:
- Entries: Full control – add, edit, publish, delete any.
- Pages: Full control – add, edit, publish, delete any.
- Comment moderation: Full control.
- Plugins: No control.
- Subjects: Without control.
- Users: Partial control – edit your own profile.
- WordPress settings: No control.
Author
This user role can only manage and publish their own posts.
Author Access:
- Posts: Full control on own posts only: add, edit, publish, delete.
- Pages: No control.
- Comment moderation: No control.
- Plugins: No control.
- Subjects: Without control.
- Users: Partial control – edit your own profile.
- WordPress settings: No control.
Collaborator
This user role can only manage their own posts (no posting).
Contributor Access:
- Posts: Partial control on posts themselves only – add, edit, delete.
- Pages: No control.
- Comment moderation: No control.
- Plugins: No control.
- Subjects: Without control.
- Users: Partial control – edit your own profile.
- WordPress settings: No control.
Subscriber
This user role can only edit your own personal profile.
Subscriber Access:
- Tickets: No control.
- Pages: No control.
- Comment moderation: No control.
- Plugins: No control.
- Subjects: Without control.
- Users: Partial control – edit your own profile.
- WordPress settings: No control.
super admin
This is an administrator role within a . It allows you to perform any administrative task within a multi-site WordPress installation.
Deleting a user in WordPress
If you need to delete an account, follow these steps:
1- Login to the WordPress dashboard and select Users> All users in the menu on the left.
2- Select a user and then click Erase.
Please note – once a user is deleted, WordPress will ask what to do with their posts. You can choose between the following options:
- Delete your posts.
- Keep your messages and assign them to a different user.
If you want to keep their posts on your website, but don’t want to assign them to another user, just don’t delete the user; you can assign them the role. No function for this website. This way, your posts will remain visible, but they won’t be able to operate within your WordPress admin area.
What you should know about user roles in WordPress
- Once you have selected the WordPress user role for the new user and submitted the form, you should know that the new user will receive an email with their username and password so that they can immediately log in to your website.
- Normally, the most used roles for people who would only write on your blog are Author and Contributor. You simply choose between allowing them to post your content, or if you prefer to review it and then post it.
- Roles can be changed at any time by an administrator, simply by editing a user profile.
- No role is used for this site when you don’t want a user to be able to do anything at all, but at the same time want to keep their account.
- If you are running a Multisite (a network of WordPress sites), you will also have a Super Admin role. This user is able to manage the entire network of your websites and replaces the Administrator in tasks such as updating WordPress, managing themes, users and plugins.
Bonus: Customizing WordPress User Roles
In case you need more custom functions or roles, you can try the plugin
Capability Manager Enhanced is a really useful and simple plugin. It has a clean interface, and allows you to select or deselect the WordPress user permissions of each role. You can even create your own custom WordPress role, tailored to your specific purposes.
conclusion
The instructions we have shared with you in this tutorial show you everything you need to know to create and manage WordPress user roles on your WordPress website.
In this way, you can create an account for each person, with individual permissions and settings. They will be able to log in, edit their articles and, depending on their role, publish their posts.
Gustavo is passionate about creating websites. He focuses on the application of SEO strategies at for Spain and Latin America, as well as the creation of high-level content. When he is not applying new WordPress tricks you can find him playing the guitar, traveling or taking an online course.
Facebook Comments
Disqus