Managing the visibility of the WordPress admin bar is essential for tailoring the user experience and maintaining a clean, efficient workspace.
Whether you want to streamline the interface for certain user roles or hide it from specific users, customizing the admin bar can significantly enhance usability.
This guide will walk you through the steps to achieve that using the Admin Bar Editor plugin, providing a straightforward solution to manage admin bar visibility and improve your site's functionality.
Imagine a command center where all the tools you need are just a fingertip away; that’s the WordPress Admin Bar for you. This sleek, horizontal black bar is the pulse of your WordPress site, offering a gateway to the engine room where all the magic happens. From swiftly adding a new post to tweaking your profile, the Admin Bar is the trusty sidekick for every logged-in user.
But what if this sidekick becomes a distraction? Or what if you’re the maestro of a symphony, and not every musician needs to tune the instruments? The Admin Bar, while a marvel for site administrators, might not be necessary for every user role. It’s like having a Swiss Army knife when you only need a spoon.
The Admin Bar is your dashboard’s dashboard, a quick-access panel to the beating heart of your site’s operations. It’s there on both the front end and back end, whispering the secrets of seamless site management. Yet, sometimes, silence is golden, and minimalism is the key to efficiency.
In this post, we’ll dive into the why and how of taming this powerful toolbar, ensuring it serves its purpose without overwhelming your ensemble of users.
Why Hide the Admin Bar?
The admin bar can be a useful shortcut for users who frequently manage content or settings on a WordPress site.
However, for users with more limited roles, or aesthetic reasons, you might want to streamline the experience by hiding this feature.
Here are a few reasons why hiding the Admin Bar can be a worthwhile tweak to your WordPress dashboard
- Cluttered Interface: The admin bar can make the interface look cluttered, especially for users who prefer a clean and minimalistic workspace. This can be distracting and reduce productivity.
- Redundancy: Many of the features accessible through the admin bar are already available in the WordPress dashboard. This redundancy can make the admin bar seem unnecessary.
- Performance Impact: For some websites, especially those with a large number of plugins, the admin bar can slow down page load times. This can be frustrating for users trying to manage their sites efficiently.
- User Confusion: For beginners or less tech-savvy users, the admin bar might be confusing. They might not understand what each icon and link does, leading to a steeper learning curve.
- Limited Use for Certain Roles: For roles like editors or contributors, the admin bar might offer features that are irrelevant to their tasks, making it seem useless for their specific needs.
How to Hide WordPress Admin Bar Based On User Roles or Specific Users using a Plugin
Hiding the admin bar in WordPress can be easily achieved using plugins, which provide user-friendly interfaces and additional customization options.
One such plugin is the Admin Bar Editor, known for its modern UI and extensive features available for free. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hide the admin bar using the Admin Bar Editor plugin.
Step 1: Install the Admin Bar Editor Plugin
Download and Install: Begin by downloading and installing the free Admin Bar Editor plugin from the WordPress plugin repository. You can directly download the plugin here.
Activate the Plugin: Once installed, activate the plugin.
Step 2: Access the Admin Bar Editor
Navigate to the Plugin: Go to your WordPress dashboard and find the "Admin bar Editor" option in the menu.
Open the Panel: Click on "Admin bar Editor" to open the panel where you will find two options: Backend and Frontend.
Hide Backend Admin Bar Items
Toggle Visibility: In the Backend section, you will see a list of admin bar items with switches next to them. Flip the switch of any item you want to hide.
Save Settings: After selecting the items to hide, save your settings.
Additional Customization:
Expand Items: Click on any item to expand it. Here, you can rename the item, change its icon, and set visibility based on user roles.
User Role Customization: If you need to hide specific items for certain user roles, use the provided options to set these preferences.
Hide Frontend Admin Bar Items
Select Frontend: Click on the "Front end" tab in the Admin bar Editor panel.
Toggle Visibility: Just like the Backend section, flip the switches for any items you want to hide on the frontend.
Disable Frontend Admin Bar:
Enable Option: Enable the "Disable Front end Admin Bar" option.
Choose Visibility: Two new options will appear: "Hide Admin Bar for All Users" and "Hide Admin Bar for All Guest Users." Select the one that suits your needs.
Dynamic Hiding:
Disable For: Use the "Disabled For" option below to hide the admin bar for specific user roles dynamically.
Target Specific Users: You can also hide the admin bar for specific usernames by selecting "user name" instead of "User role" and choosing the desired usernames from your dashboard.
Hide Admin Bar Based On User Roles
To hide the admin bar for specific user roles, you can add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file:
This code checks if the current user has the role of editor, author, or subscriber, and if so, hides the admin bar.
While managing user roles and the visibility of the Admin Bar is crucial, ensuring the security of your WordPress dashboard is equally important.
In our comprehensive guide, "How WP-Admin Redirects to Homepage & Hide Login URL?," we delve into the steps you can take to protect your site’s backend by redirecting the WP-Admin page to the homepage and hiding your login URL. This not only fortifies your site’s defenses but also simplifies the login process for authorized users.
Hiding the Admin Bar for Specific Users
If you want to hide the admin bar for specific users, regardless of their role, you can use their user ID to do so:
Replace 2, 4 with the user IDs for whom you want to hide the admin bar.
In addition to customizing the Admin Bar, you might also want to declutter your WordPress dashboard by addressing persistent admin notices.
Our tutorial, "How to Permanently Hide Admin Notice in WordPress?," provides a straightforward solution to keep your dashboard clean and distraction-free. By following our guide, you can focus on what truly matters: creating and managing content without unnecessary interruptions.
How to get the User ID?
Just navigate to the Users Page in your WordPress Dashboard. Hover on the “Edit” option for that user for whom you like to hide the admin bar. Take a look at the following screenshot and you will get the ID marked by an arrow sign.
Customizing the visibility of the admin bar based on user roles or specific users can greatly enhance the user experience on your WordPress site. By implementing the above code snippets, you can ensure that each user interacts with your site in a way that’s tailored to their needs and your site’s design. Remember to always back up your site before making changes to the code, and happy customizing!
