A tour of the WordPress dashboard
A friendly walkthrough of every main section of the WordPress dashboard so you know where everything lives.
- Time
- 5 minutes
- Difficulty
- Beginner
When you log in to WordPress, the first thing you see is your dashboard. It can look like a lot at first. This guide walks you through every part of it so nothing feels mysterious.
Quick summary
The WordPress dashboard is your website's control panel. It has a menu down the left side with all the main sections. The central area shows your current screen. The admin bar runs along the top. Once you know what each section does, navigating feels natural.
The three main zones
The dashboard has three main areas you'll use constantly:
| Zone | Where it is | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Admin bar | The bar at the very top | Quick links, your profile, visiting your live site |
| Sidebar menu | The column on the left | Navigation — all main sections of the dashboard |
| Content area | The large central area | Whatever screen you're currently on |
The sidebar menu — section by section
The sidebar menu is your main navigation. Here's what each item does:
Dashboard
The home screen of your dashboard. It shows a quick overview — recent posts, WordPress news, and any notices. Most clients spend very little time here; it's mainly a landing page.
Posts
This is where you write, edit, and manage blog posts. You can see all your posts, add new ones, manage categories, and manage tags here. For more, see pages vs posts.
Media
Your media library — all the images, PDFs, and other files you've ever uploaded to your site. You can browse, search, upload new files, and edit image details here. See the media library explained.
Pages
This is where you manage the main pages of your website — your homepage, About page, Services pages, and so on. Pages are for content that stays relatively fixed. See pages vs posts.
Comments
If your site has commenting enabled on blog posts, this is where you review, approve, and delete comments. See comments & discussion settings.
Appearance
This section controls how your site looks. The items you see depend on your theme:
- Themes — the design template your site uses
- Editor — the Site Editor, for templates, styles and navigation. It only appears with a block theme. Classic themes show Design or Patterns in its place, plus Customize.
- Menus — your navigation menus, if your theme supports them
- Widgets — content areas like your footer, if your theme supports them
For everyday editing, you'll mainly use Menus here (or the navigation settings in Editor on a block theme).
Plugins
Plugins are add-ons that extend what WordPress can do. This section lets you see which plugins are installed, activate or deactivate them, and add new ones. See what are plugins?
Easy to miss
Don't install, update, or delete plugins without knowing what you're doing — a plugin change can affect your whole site. When in doubt, ask Chykalophia first.
Users
Manage everyone who has access to your WordPress dashboard. You can add new users, change their roles, or remove access. See WordPress user roles explained.
Tools
A utility section with tools for importing and exporting content, and occasionally used by your developer for diagnostics. Most clients rarely need this.
Settings
The core configuration of your WordPress site. Key sub-sections:
- General — site title, tagline, timezone, date format
- Reading — what appears on your homepage
- Discussion — comment settings
- Permalinks — how URLs are structured
See WordPress general settings explained.
Plugin-added sections
Plugins often add their own sections to the sidebar. For example, WooCommerce adds a WooCommerce section, and Yoast adds a Yoast SEO section. These vary depending on what's installed on your site.
The admin bar (the bar at the top)
The admin bar appears at the top of every page — both in your dashboard and, by default, when you're browsing your live site while logged in. See the WordPress admin bar explained for a full walkthrough.
Quick highlights:
- Your site's name (top left) — click to visit your live site
- + New — a quick shortcut to add a new post, page, or media
- Your name (top right) — click to edit your profile or log out
The top area of the dashboard home
When you first log in, the central area shows several boxes called "widgets." These might include:
- At a Glance — a count of your posts, pages, and comments
- Quick Draft — a fast way to jot down a draft post
- Activity — recent published posts and comments
- WordPress Events and News — updates from the WordPress project (safe to ignore)
You can hide or show these by clicking Screen Options in the top-right corner of the screen. To rearrange them, drag a widget by its title bar.
Common questions
My sidebar looks different from what's described here.
The sidebar changes depending on which plugins are installed. Plugins add their own menu items, so your sidebar may have additional sections. The core sections (Posts, Pages, Media, etc.) should still be present.
I can see some sections but not others.
This depends on your user role. Administrators see everything. Editors and Authors see fewer options. If you need access to a section you can't see, contact an Administrator or ask Chykalophia. See WordPress user roles explained.
What is the 'Screen Options' button at the top right?
Most dashboard screens have a Screen Options tab in the top-right corner. Clicking it reveals options to show or hide columns and boxes on that screen. It's useful for decluttering your view.
Can I get back to my live website from the dashboard?
Yes. Click your site's name in the top-left of the admin bar, or hover over it and click Visit Site. This opens your live website in the same tab.
Related guides
- The WordPress admin bar explained
- Getting started with the block editor
- Pages vs posts: what's the difference?
- WordPress user roles explained
- WordPress general settings explained
- How to log in to WordPress
- Help, I can't log in
Need a hand?
Learn more
Last updated