WordPress categorized the user roles with some specific permissions. These user roles can be used to well maintain a group of people who are working for a website. WordPress is a well-developed and well-maintained CMS that can help us in all aspects. In website user management too, WordPress has given us the hands of help to us. The Administrator, who is the supreme power of a website, can easily manage the users and their powers by assigning specific powers to them.
Apart from the default access controls, the admin can assign additional powers or remove some powers from a user. The user role editor plugin can do the job for you. All you wanted is to tick and untick the specific capabilities of a user. So, let’s have a detailed look into the WordPress user types and their capabilities.
A Briefe Description of User Types in WordPress
- Super-Admin – Have access to the site network administration features alongside all other features.
- Administrator – Have All access to a Single website.
- Editor – Can publish, manage, Edit posts, and Upload media in Their posts alongside the posts of other users.
- Author – Can publish and manage their own posts only. Can’t upload media files.
- Contributor – Can write and manage their own posts but don’t have access to Publish them.
- Subscriber – Can only manage their profile. Don’t have any access to Posts or site features.
1. Super-Admin
The Super Admin is the power user of WordPress. It is the only user type that has multi-site access. Super admin can manage:
- Network
- Sites
- Network users
- Network plugins
- Network themes
- Network options
This user type has some additional admin powers. That’s why it is called the Super Admin.
2. Administrator
The Administrator is the supreme power of a single website and he has all the feature accesses of a single website. Upon the WordPress installation of a website, An administrator is automatically created and he will be the only user who can control all the features including managing the users and changing basic settings. The admin has the following capabilities:
- Activate Plugins
- Delete others pages
- Delete others posts
- Delete pages
- Delete posts
- Delete private pages
- Delete private posts
- Delete published pages
- Delete published posts
- Edit dashboard
- Edit others pages
- Edit others posts
- Edit pages
- Edit posts
- Edit private pages
- Edit private posts
- Edit published pages
- Edit published posts
- Edit theme options
- Export
- Import
- List users
- Manage categories
- Manage links
- Manage options
- Moderate comments
- Promote users
- Publish pages
- Publish posts
- Read private pages
- Read private posts
- Read
- Remove users
- Switch themes
- Upload files
Apart from these features, the admin has some more features that enable the extra accessibility of the core features of the website.
Additional Admin Capabilities
- Update Core
- Update plugins
- Update themes
- Install plugins
- Install themes
- Delete themes
- Delete plugins
- Edit plugins
- Edit themes
- Edit files
- Edit users
- Add users
- Create users
- Delete users
- Unfiltered HTML
3. Editor
The editor is the second most powerful user of a website. The editor can access some basic settings and can view and edit any posts on the website including posts of others. He also has the capability to publish articles and add media etc… Editors can access some plugins and others upon the permission of the Administrator. The capabilities of the Editor include:
- Delete others pages
- Delete others posts
- Delete pages
- Delete posts
- Delete private pages
- Delete private posts
- Delete published pages
- Delete published posts
- Edit others pages
- Edit others posts
- Edit pages
- Edit posts
- Edit private pages
- Edit private posts
- Edit published pages
- Edit published posts
- Manage categories
- Manage links
- Moderate comments
- Publish pages
- Publish posts
- Read
- Read private pages
- Read private posts
- Unfiltered HTML
- Upload files
4. Author
Author WordPress user type is the ones who can manage their own posts and publish their own articles. But they have only the viewing right to other’s posts and can’t add images or videos to the website. The features of the Author WordPress user type include:
- Delete posts
- Delete published posts
- Edit posts
- Edit published posts
- Publish posts
- Read posts
- Upload files
5. Contributor
As the name itself suggests, they are the contributors to the website who can’t publish any of their articles. They can only submit their posts for review and the Editor, or Administrator will look at them and they publish them. This is the lowest user level that has access to the posts section. The contributor has only very few capabilities. They are:
- Delete posts
- Edit posts
- Read posts
6. Subscriber
Subscribers are those who can subscribe to the newsletters or read the articles on the website. They will not be given any type of access to the website or its features. The only feature that the Subscribers have, is:
- Read Posts
Can you create custom user types?
Yes, you can create as many user types as you want based on your requirements. For each one of them, you will be able to set permissions and restrictions. For example, if you are running an eCommerce website, you can create additional user types such as a Member, Merchant, etc.
Conclusion
Now, you got an idea about the WordPress User Types and their roles. If you are the administrator of a website, You can manage the users and change their roles by going to the ‘Users’ section on the left panel of the WordPress dashboard. You can assign specific capabilities to each user or user type in your website by coding or using some plugins like the user role editor plugin or any of this kind which allows you to set specific permissions by simply checking or unchecking the specific capability boxes.
