How to Edit WordPress User Roles?
If you are running a WordPress website, it is most likely contributed by multiple people and managing these users is important. With WordPress user roles, you can manage what each user can or can not do within the website.
Table of Contents
- What are WordPress User Roles?
- Types of WordPress User Roles
- Editing User Roles in WordPress
- Advanced User Role Management
- Why edit user roles in WordPress?
What are WordPress User Roles?
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WordPress user roles are predefined sets of permissions and capabilities assigned to different users. This helps in defining what each user can access and perform on the website based on their capabilities and needs.
No matter if you’re running a multi-author blog, an e-commerce, or a membership site, understanding and managing user roles is crucial. Managing these roles can help you to tailor the website access to fit the user specific needs and permissions.
Types of WordPress User Roles
Now that we know what WordPress user role is, we will move forward to what roles you can use or assign in WordPress websites.
By default, WordPress comes with five different user roles, each with a predefined set of capabilities and capabilities. I’ve covered the basic overview of each of these roles below and go through their details later in the article.
- Administrator: Has access to edit or change all the features within the website.
- Editor: Editors can publish and manage posts, including those of other users.
- Author: Just like the name, Authors can publish and manage their own posts.
- Contributor: Contributors are those who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them.
- Subscriber: This is mostly for someone who only consumes website content and they can only manage their profile.
Administrator
The Administrator role is the most powerful role and has complete control over the WordPress website. Users with this role can perform all tasks, including the below.
- Adding and managing plugins and themes
- Editing code and customising the site’s appearance
- Managing all user accounts
- Publishing and editing posts
- Accessing all settings and tools
Editor
Editors can publish and manage posts, including those created by other users. That is why this is known as the content manager role. While editors have significant control over content, they do not have access to settings, plugins, or themes. This role is perfect for content managers and those who need to work on content aspects but do not have significant WordPress technical expertise. Here are few of the changes Editors can perform.
- Publish and manage posts, including those of other users
- Moderate comments
- Manage categories and tags
Author
Authors have access to their content only. They can only manage their own posts and do not have access to posts created by other users. Author role is suitable for regular website contributors who need to publish their posts. This role allows users to perform the following.
- Write, edit, and publish their own posts
- Upload media files
Contributor
Contributors can write and manage their posts but cannot publish them. An Editor or Administrator must approve their work before it goes live. This role is ideal for guest writers or less experienced contributors.
- Write and edit their own posts
- Submit posts for review
Subscriber
Subscribers have the most limited access and they are able to manage their profiles and read content. If you are running a blog or magazine website, it might be best to provide this access to your readers.
- Manage their own profiles
- Leave comments
Super Admin (Multisite Website)
If you are using WordPress multisite network, you might want to assign someone the highest level of control over all of your sites. In this case, you will need Super admin. As the name says, this role has the highest level of authority and control over the website. They are basically the administrators for multiple websites on WordPress multisite setups.
Just to give you an idea, Super Admins can do the following.
- Manage the entire network of sites
- Add and delete sites
- Manage themes and plugins for the network
- Manage user accounts across all sites
Editing User Roles in WordPress
There are a number of ways you can edit and manage user roles in WordPress. Let’s go through these in detail below.
Using the Default WordPress Dashboard
Follow the steps below to edit user roles.
Step 1: Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
Step 2: Go to Users > All Users and select the user you want to edit.
Step 3: Click Edit next to their name.
Step 4: Scroll down to the Role dropdown.
Step 5: Select the desired role for the user and click Update User.
Utilising Plugins
You can also use a plugin to change WordPress user roles. You can use the plugin – User Role Editor for this.
Step 1: Install and activate the User Role Editor plugin.
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Step 2: Go to Settings > User Role Editor.
Step 3: Select a role to edit, modify the capabilities as needed and click update to save changes.
Advanced User Role Management
If you are skilled in custom coding you can modify user roles by editing custom files. Before proceeding with this method, make sure to update To create a custom user role, you can use the add_role function in your theme’s functions.php file. Here’s an example:
function add_custom_user_role() {
add_role(
‘custom_role’,
__( ‘Custom Role’ ),
array(
‘read’ => true,
‘edit_posts’ => true,
‘delete_posts’ => false,
)
);
}
add_action( ‘init’, ‘add_custom_user_role’ );
Why edit user roles in WordPress?
Editing user roles and managing access is crucial. You do not want to give unnecessary access to all of your users. It might confuse them and also pose a security risk in some cases. This ensures that each user has access to only what they need. Here are some of the reasons why you should edit and manage WordPress user roles.
Customising Access Levels
If you are running a blog site on your website, you do not want your subscribers to have the same website access as the person writing and publishing the posts. Similarly, your content writers may not require access to managing plugins and themes. So, using user roles will allow you to grant specific permissions to different users, ensuring they only have access to what they need. On the other hand, this will avoid confusion and streamline workflow.
Enhancing Security
Security is one big challenge for all website platforms and it’s no different for WordPress. You should limit access to sensitive areas of your website. You can prevent unauthorised users from making critical changes or accessing sensitive information. Only users with authority and skills should be able to change critical or technical information.
Streamlining Workflow
Editing user roles can help streamline your workflow by allowing users to focus on their specific tasks without the distraction of unnecessary options and features. This can improve productivity and reduce the chances of errors. Even when you are not running a blog site, you might have different people managing your website and it’s best to assign roles based on their needs.
Managing Multiple Contributors
For sites with multiple contributors, managing user roles effectively ensures that each contributor has the appropriate level of access and responsibility. You might want to separate out your authors, contributors and subscribers because of their needs and requirements.
I hope this helped you navigate the basics of WordPress user roles. If you need help with managing your WordPress website, we offer WordPress care plans to ensure your site operates smoothly and securely.
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