How to add, remove and manage users in WordPress

What are users and roles?

A user is a person who has a login to your site. Each user has a role. A role is a set of rules about what that person may do. It is like the different keys in a school: a teacher's key opens more doors than a student's.

• Administrator can do everything on the site.
• Editor can write and manage all posts and pages.
• Author can write and publish their own posts.
• Contributor can write posts but cannot publish them.
• Subscriber can only read and manage their own profile.

Give people the lowest role that lets them do their job.

Add a user

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Users, then Add New User.
3. Type a Username. This cannot be changed later.
4. Type the person's Email.
5. Fill in the name fields if you like.
6. Click Generate password, or type a strong one. A strong password is long and mixes letters, numbers and symbols.
7. Keep Send the new user an email about their account ticked, so they get a message.

   

8. Pick a Role from the drop-down.

   

9. Click Add New User.

   

Change a user's role or details

1. Go to Users, then All Users.
2. Point at the user and click Edit.
3. Change the Role, name or email as needed.
4. Click Update User at the bottom.

To change many users at once, tick their boxes. Use the Change role to drop-down at the top and click Change.

Remove a user

Warning: deleting a user may also delete their posts. Take a backup first.

1. Go to Users, then All Users.
2. Point at the user and click Delete.
3. A screen asks what to do with the user's content. Choose Attribute all content to and pick another user, such as yourself. This keeps the posts.
4. Click Confirm Deletion.

You cannot delete your own account while you are logged in with it.

Reset a lost password

1. Open the Edit page for the user.

   

2. Click Set New Password, or click Send Reset Link.
3. Click Update User.

Quick recap

• A user is a login. A role decides what that login can do.
• Add users in Users then Add New User.
• Edit roles from All Users.
• When deleting, give the content to another user so it is not lost.