Once you’ve logged in, the WordPress Dashboard appears. This is your main administration homepage. At the very top of your Dashboard (and across every page) you will see the name of your site in the header area. In the example screenshot below (and throughout this documentation) the site name is Your WordPress Site. This is also hyperlinked to your site’s homepage. You will also see the name of the person who is currently logged in (e.g. Joe Blogg). Move your cursor over your name to reveal the Log Out link as well as a link to edit your Profile.

When new or updated features are introduced into WordPress, you’ll be shown a New Feature Pointer. This is simply to bring to your attention some feature within the Dashboard that’s been added or updated. In the following Dashboard image, the New Feature Pointer is highlighting the updated Toolbar. Click Dismiss to hide the pointer.

On most pages, just below your Username there are a couple of small inverted tabs. One called Screen Options and another called Help. Clicking either of these links will cause a panel to slide down from the top of the page. The Help link, not surprisingly, displays some help information. The Screen Options link will display various options that allow you to configure what is displayed on the current page. The details in this panel change depending on what page you’re currently viewing. As an example, on your main Dashboard page the Screen Options allow you to set which panels you’d like displayed on the page.

Dashboard Menu Options

Down the left-hand side of the Dashboard and on every page you will see your main navigation menu. This is where you’ll find all the options to update and configure your site.

Hovering your cursor over each of the main menu options will display a ‘fly-out’ menu with the various choices for that particular menu option. Once you click each of the main menu options, that particular menu will expand to show all the available options within that section (if there are any).

The main menu options and their usage are:

Dashboard

This will display your main Dashboard ‘homepage’. In the top left of your Dashboard you’ll see some brief stats on the number of Posts, Pages and Comments. If you have the Akismet anti-spam plugin activated, you’ll also see the number of Spam Comments or comments awaiting moderation.

Posts

This is where you can create a new Blog Post. You can also update your Categories and Post Tags.

Media

This is where all your uploaded images, documents or files are stored. You can

browse through your Media library, as well as edit and update the files.

Pages

This is where you create and maintain all your Pages.

Comments

You can manage all your Comments within this section, including replying to

comments or marking them as spam.

Appearance

This menu is where you control how your site looks. You can choose a new

Theme, manage your site Widgets or Menus and even edit your site theme files.

Plugins

Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress. You can add or delete plugins within here as well as activate or deactivate them.

Users

This screen lists all the existing users for your site. Depending on your Role, you

can also add new users as well as manage their Roles.

Tools

This section gives you access to various convenient tools. You can also import data to your WordPress site or export all your WordPress data to a file.

Settings

This is where most of your site is configured. Among other things, it allows you to

configure your site name and URL , where your Posts appear, whether people can leave Post Comments or not and numerous other settings. Most times, once your site is setup, there’s no need to change any of the settings within this section.

At the bottom of the menu you’ll see a link called Collapse menu. Clicking this will hide the menu and simply display their icons instead. Click the small arrow icon again to expand the menu.

Occasionally when you install a plugin, they will have their own configuration or setup pages. The location of these will be entirely dependent on the individual plugin but most times these pages will either appear within the Tools section, the Settings section or in a completely new menu section at the bottom of the menu.

Toolbar

The WordPress Toolbar is a way of easily accessing some of the most common WordPress features. When you are logged into your WordPress dashboard and you visit your website, you will see the Toolbar running across the top of your site. This bar only appears if you are currently logged into your WordPress site, which means that it won’t be visible to your everyday site visitors. If you are not logged in, the Toolbar won’t be displayed.

The Toolbar allows you to quickly access the following commonly used features. Visit the WordPress.org website, Codex or Support forums Display your site Dashboard and other commonly used menu options that allow you to update your site Themes, Widgets and Menus Visit the Customizer to update various site settings and depending on your theme, update your Background and Header images View or Edit your blog comments Add a new Post, Media, Page or User Perform a site Search View or Edit your Profile and logout from the WordPress Dashboard

Hiding the Toolbar

You can stop the Toolbar from displaying by modifying the preferences associated with your Profile. Simply click on the Users link in the left-hand navigation to display the list of Users. From this list of Users, click your user name or click on the Edit link that appears beneath the user name when hovering your cursor over each row. Alternatively, click on the Your Profile link underneath the Users menu option in the left-hand navigation or within the fly-out menu.

When editing your Profile there is a Toolbar option as shown in the screen above. Show Toolbar when viewing site - Checking this box will display the Toolbar at the very top of your website (only for the person who is currently logged in)