![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/wordpress-login-min-768x375.png\")
<\/p>\n
What to do if you can\u2019t log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard?<\/h2>\n
Case 1: you forgot your password. If you still have trouble logging in to the WordPress dashboard, check how to fix WordPress login issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the main area where you can make modifications and updates to the website or blog.<\/p>\n Customize your site<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 <\/em>clicking this link, you\u2019ll be taken to the Customizer (an interface where you can adjust settings for the website appearance, and preview them in real time) Edit your front page<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 this is an option for making edits to the front page (homepage) of your website. You can add text, customize existing text (using bold, italics, bulleted list, blockquote, alignment variants), you can add links, media (images, videos) or insert a Read More tag. Manage widgets or menus<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 to better organize elements within the website, you\u2019ll have to adjust widgets and\/or menus. This command helps you access the customization sections for widgets and menus. \u00a0<\/strong> This section is for instantly putting your inspiration down, by noting a title and a few words about what\u2019s next to write. After you\u2019ve filled in the spaces, click \u201cSave draft\u201d and this piece will be stored in the posts list, waiting for development before it\u2019s published.<\/p>\n This is a record of the latest activity on the blog. It lists recently published blog articles, and recent comments (with stats about approved comments, comments pending approval, spam and comments in trash). Hovering your mouse over one comment, you can take action and approve\/delete\/mark as spam\/edit or reply to the respective comment.<\/p>\n This last section features news about WordPress\/the WordPress community and noteworthy events in this area.<\/p>\n The left-hand menu in the WordPress Admin area contains sections that take you to more in-depth customizations of your website\/blog.<\/p>\n All posts<\/strong> \u2013<\/em> by accessing this subsection, you\u2019ll see the full list of posts (both published posts and drafts). You\u2019ll also see information regarding the authors of the posts, the date when the posts were published or modified, categories where the posts belong to, and what comments correspond to posts. \u00a0<\/strong> Click Save as Draft<\/em> or hit Publish<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here, you can create categories you\u2019ll assign posts to. You\u2019ll have to give a name to the category, specify the URL version of the name (called \u201cslug\u201d) and you can also add a description for that category. In this section, you can add tags you\u2019ll attach to blog posts. Like for categories, you\u2019ll give a name to the tag, specify the URL version of the tag name (\u201cslug\u201d) and you can add a description for the respective tag.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> Check this video that shows the differences between WordPress posts and WordPress pages<\/a>. \u00a0<\/strong> Immediately after posts, the Media section is available, with 2 subsections: Here, you\u2019ll find the list of comments to your blog posts. Hovering your mouse over a comment will let you use buttons for approving\/replying to\/editing\/deleting comments or marking them as spam. \u00a0<\/strong> It\u2019s a section dedicated to your themes list. Using this interface, you\u2019ll activate one of the existing themes in the list, or you can upload a premium theme you\u2019ve bought.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> To add widgets in the website, you\u2019ll have to drag and drop the selected items from the left, to the corresponding website location from the right.<\/p>\n Resource on how to manage widgets<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> To create a new menu, you only need to give the menu a name and click the button for \u201cCreate new menu\u201d.<\/p>\n Select items from the left-side list, to add them to the menu. Then, choose where the menu should be located (primary menu, footer, top bar left or top bar right). \u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n By clicking on \u201cBackground\u201d, you\u2019ll be directed to the customizer, where you can make changes to the background of the website pages.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Check how to install plugins in WordPress<\/a>. There\u2019s also a dedicated section for plugins. Installed plugins \u2013 <\/em>here, you\u2019ll see the list of installed plugins, with details about which plugin version your website is using. You can activate\/deactivate plugins, or delete some of them, if no longer needed. <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> The \u201cTools\u201d section allows you to export data for website or import data from external sources. \u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n From the \u201cGeneral Settings\u201d subsection of the WordPress admin panel, you can:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n These settings refer to customizations for the comments. You can adjust comments settings and comments moderation from here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Permalinks are the permanent links (or URLs) of posts and pages in your website. <\/p>\n In the left-hand menu of the WordPress admin dashboard, you\u2019ll also find a section destined to users and user roles. Here are the roles:<\/p>\n Administrator<\/u><\/p>\n This is the most powerful user role. The administrator can publish, edit or delete posts\/pages, and they can also make site-wide changes, such as change the theme or manage plugins.<\/p>\n Editor<\/u><\/p>\n Editors have the right to manage content (theirs or other users\u2019) \u2013 edit, publish or delete articles, manage comments and categories. However, they cannot make site-wide changes, like in the case of the administrator.<\/p>\n Author<\/u><\/p>\n Authors have limited access to the WordPress admin dashboard. They can only produce content, edit their own content, publish it and upload media files to it.<\/p>\n Contributor<\/u><\/p>\n Contributors can only edit or delete their own posts and read all posts. However, they cannot publish posts.<\/p>\n Subscriber <\/u><\/p>\n The subscriber role allows users only to read posts. This option is useful for subscription-based websites, when only logged in people can access website content.<\/p>\n
\nThis is a common case, and the issue can be quickly fixed. Simply click on \u201cLost your password?\u201d<\/em>, provide the username or email address you used when installing WordPress, and you\u2019ll receive an email for the new password.
\nCase 2: password reset is not working.
\nIn this case, you have to manually edit your database, in PhpMyAdmin, after having accessed cPanel. You have to retrieve the login and password for your cPanel, go to PhpMyAdmin in the Databases section, and select the \u201cusers\u201d table. Choose MD5, then click on user_pass and change the password.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/phpmyadmin-min-768x375-1.png\")
<\/p>\nWordPress Login Successful! What to Do Next?<\/h2>\n
Options in the Work Area (Dashboard)<\/u><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/dashboard-min-768x392.png\")
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Getting Started (General Appearance)<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nChange your theme completely<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 <\/em>clicking this link, you\u2019ll go to an interface for visualizing themes, selecting and activating a different theme than the one already installed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/theme-change-min-768x233.png\")
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Next Steps (Main customizations, pages and posts)<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nAdd additional pages<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 this is a shortcut for adding new pages to the website. You only have to enter a title and start writing the text. The editing options will help you properly customize the page content.
\nAdd a blog post<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 this is a shortcut for adding a new blog post to the website\/blog. Similarly to pages, blog posts need titles, and some copy you can add in the corresponding spaces. The editing options will serve to giving the desired appearance to your blog post content.
\nView your site<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 this link takes you to the live version of the website. You can thus check what it looks like for users, assess its quality and decide on what improvements it needs.<\/p>\n\n
More Actions<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nTurn comments on or off<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 if you say content, you say comments. And this option allows you to control these, by activating\/deactivating comments.
\nLearn more about getting started<\/i><\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 this will take you to further instructions on how to get started using WordPress to manage a beautiful, useful and attractive website\/blog.<\/p>\n\n
At a Glance<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nThis section is an overview of the current website situation: number of posts and pages (the links take you to their list), number of comments (the link takes you to the comments table), WordPress version currently in use and active theme.<\/p>\n\n
Quick Draft<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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Activity <\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n
WordPress News and Events<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Options in the WordPress Admin Area, in the left-hand menu<\/h2>\n
Posts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nSee how to create posts in WordPress<\/a> in a simple way.<\/p>\nAdd new<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nFrom here, you can add a new post, save it as draft or publish it immediately.
\nFill in the title of the post.
\nAdd content for the post body.
\nCustomize the body text using the options in the toolbar:<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/add-posts-min-768x374.png\")
<\/p>\nCategories<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nCheck how to manage categories and tags in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\nTags<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Pages<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nFrom this section, you can manage the pages in your website\/blog.
\nPages are very easy to create, in a way that is similar to posts. However, pages are meant for static content, and they do not have a publish date. Important pages in a website\/blog are the About us page, the Contact page, the FAQ page, the Terms and Conditions page, etc. In comparison, posts represent temporal content, they have a publish date and they are the main content of a blog.<\/p>\n
\nAll pages<\/strong> \u2013 you can view the list of all pages in your website, with their titles, the author, date when the pages were published, and comments corresponding to them.<\/p>\nAdd new<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThis section (Add new page) is similar to Add new post. Therefore, the editing options are the same, allowing you to use bold text, italics, structure text in paragraphs or headings, align text, integrate links or add media to the page.<\/p>\nMedia<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nLibrary <\/strong>
\nThis is the list of all media files that were uploaded. You\u2019ll find them in a table, with the date when they were uploaded, and the page\/post they were attached to.
\nAdd new media file<\/strong>
\nHere, you can easily drop images or video files, so they are added to the media library for your blog\/website.
\nCheck the explanations about how to add media files in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/media-min-768x251.png\")
<\/p>\nComments<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nView how you can manage comments for your WordPress site\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/comments-min-768x186.png\")
<\/p>\nAppearance<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nThis is the section you\u2019ll use most for customizing the appearance of your website\/blog.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/appearance-min-768x304.png\")
\nThemes<\/strong><\/h4>\nCustomise<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nBy clicking \u201cCustomize\u201d in the sidebar menu, you\u2019ll go to the customizer corresponding to the active theme on site, where you can adjust website settings.
\nCheck this video on how to use the Customizer of a WordPress theme<\/a>.<\/p>\nWidgets <\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThis area in the WordPress Admin Dashboard allows you to add widgets – small blocks with certain functions in the website.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/widgets-min-768x369.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
Menus<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThis section is destined to adding menus in the website.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/menus-min-768x349.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
\nFurther explanations on creating a menu in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\nHeader<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nBy clicking on \u201cHeader\u201d, you\u2019ll be directed to the customizer, where you can apply changes to the website header.<\/p>\nBackground<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Install Plugins<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nIn this subsection, you\u2019ll find a list of the recommended plugins you\u2019ll have to install for the WordPress site. Install or update them, directly from the plugins table.<\/p>\n
\nIn that section, you have an overview of the plugins that are installed, plugins that need modifications, and you\u2019ll also find there new plugins you need for the site.<\/p>\nPlugins<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nAdd new<\/em> \u2013 browse through the list of available plugins or enter the name of the desired plugin in the search box and pick the plugin you\u2019ll want to install. After selection, you need to install and activate the plugin, for it to work on the website.
\nEditor<\/em> \u2013 this section is for editing the code for plugins. It\u2019s recommended that you should not make major changes to these lines of code, as they might affect the plugins functionality.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/plugins-min-768x227.png\")
<\/p>\nEditor<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nWhen you access the WordPress editor, under \u201cAppearance\u201d, you\u2019ll find the source code for different parts of the website. Here, you can make some modifications, according to how you want the website to look. However, you shouldn’t make major changes to these lines of code, as they might result in incompatibilities that break your site.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/colibriwp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/editor-min-768x388.png\")
<\/p>\nTools<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nCheck to see how to export data from WordPress<\/a>.
\nAlso, check the way you can import data to WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\nSettings in the WordPress Admin Dashboard<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nThe settings section is one that you shouldn\u2019t pass over, when making customizations for the new website or blog. These modifications apply sitewide.<\/p>\nGeneral Settings<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/extendthemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/general-settings-min-300x146.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
Reading<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nFrom here, you can set:<\/p>\n\n
Discussion<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Permalinks<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThere are different settings for the permalinks structure, as you can see in the screenshot below:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/extendthemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/permalinks-min-300x142.png\")
<\/p>\nUsers and user roles<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nUser roles are important for making teams work effectively and protect the website as well.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/extendthemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/users-min-1-300x178.png\")
<\/p>\n