Tips for Managing WordPress Users and Roles

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While your website may have started off as a solo project, you may now want to share your WordPress Dashboard with your coworkers, or even provide your visitors with the choice to create their own accounts.

Thankfully, WordPress already has a User Role Management System built into their platform! By using this system’s features, you can safely grant website access to others. So, let’s take a deeper look at some essential tips for managing your WordPress users and roles!

Allowing User Registration

Since the user registration feature is disabled by default, you will first need to activate it via your WordPress administrator account. Here is a play-by-play of how you will be directed to do so on your computer screen:

  • First, navigate to Settings > General in your WordPress dashboard.
  • Then, in the Membership section, select “Anyone” can register.
  • Now, you can select the default user role. The default user role is the role and the abilities that WordPress will automatically assign to anyone who registers on your website.
  • Lastly, click Save Changes, and your WordPress website will now be open for registrations!

Manually Creating New User Accounts

In case you would prefer to create user accounts manually, instead of leaving open registration to anyone, you can do so via your dashboard. This is the most popular option for those who only want to add a smaller number of approved users, or need to apply individual settings to each person’s account.

Individual settings may include assigning a different role to each person. If you are the site administrator, you can create accounts by navigating to Users > Add New, followed by adding any needed information for that particular user. Last but not least, you will want to assign a role to the new user under the Role dropdown.

Edit Existing User Accounts

If you need to edit an existing user’s account, such as resetting their user password or assign them a new role, your WordPress dashboard makes it easy to do so! Navigate over to Users > All Users to see a list of every registered user on your website.

Hover your mouse over the account’s name in question, and when the Edit link appears, click it. Go ahead and make the desired changes to the account, as most of the options are self-explanatory.

On the other hand, if you need to reset a user’s password, you will need to hop over to the Account Management section, and will be given the option to reset the password automatically, or give permission to the user to change their password via email. After updating the profile, click Update User to complete the editing process.

Accepting Profile Pictures

Having a profile picture makes online users seem more approachable, and encourages new visitors to interact with your website. WordPress calls these profile pictures Avatars. In order to enable the Avatar feature, you will need to navigate to Setting > Discussion on your WordPress dashboard.

Then, go ahead and scroll to the Avatars section and click Show Avatars. Here, you can select the Maximum Rating for avatars permitted on your website, X being adult-only content. You can also choose to select a default Avatar for new users as well. Make sure that you click Save Changes when you are finished!

Now that you are more prepared to take advantage of the WordPress user management system, you can go ahead and start editing your users!