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The WordPress Dashboard is the administration home screen you see after signing in. It gives you a quick overview of site activity and links to the tools for managing posts, pages, media, design, users, and settings. This walkthrough explains how to find your way around; the exact menus and widgets can vary with your user role, WordPress version, theme, plugins, and hosting setup.
Open the Dashboard
Sign in to your WordPress administration area. The first administration screen is the Dashboard, with Dashboard > Home as its main landing view. WordPress describes it as a place to reach site content and get a glimpse of the WordPress community. The menu on the left leads to the site’s administration screens.
If you land on another screen, choose Dashboard in the left-hand menu, then Home.
Get oriented to the screen
Top toolbar
The toolbar across the top provides shortcuts and account or site-related controls. The items shown depend on your installation and permissions. Treat it as a shortcut area, not the full list of WordPress management tools.
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Left administration menu
The menu on the left is the main route to site-management areas. Select a menu item to open its screen; some items also reveal submenus when selected or hovered over. You may not see every area described below, because access depends on your role and site configuration.
Dashboard widgets
Widgets are information panels on Dashboard > Home. WordPress documents these five as the defaults:
- At a Glance: Summarizes posts, pages, and comments, links to manage them, and identifies the WordPress version and active theme.
- Activity: Shows scheduled and recently published posts and recent comments, with comment-moderation actions.
- Quick Draft: Lets you enter a post title and content, then save a draft or publish.
- WordPress Events and News: Displays local events and news from the official WordPress blog.
- Welcome: Offers links to common site-setup tasks.
Your screen may show fewer, more, or different widgets if panels are hidden or a theme or plugin adds its own.
Customize the Dashboard home screen
- Show or hide panels: On Dashboard > Home, open Screen Options near the top of the screen and select or clear the available widget options.
- Expand or collapse a widget: Use its title bar to open or close the panel.
- Rearrange widgets: Drag a widget by its title bar to another position on the screen.
Screen Options only controls the available panels; it does not change the underlying site content or settings.
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Use the left menu to go directly to the task you need. These are the primary areas beginners are likely to encounter:
- Posts: Create and manage blog posts, including drafts and published entries.
- Pages: Create and manage standalone pages such as an About or Contact page.
- Media: Browse and manage uploaded images and other media files.
- Appearance: Find theme and design-related controls. Available options depend on your active theme and WordPress setup.
- Plugins: Manage installed plugins, when your account has permission to do so.
- Users: View and manage site accounts and roles, subject to your permissions.
- Tools: Open utilities such as Site Health.
- Settings: Access site configuration screens. The available settings and whether you can change them depend on your role and installation.
Check for updates
Open Dashboard > Updates to see available updates for WordPress core, plugins, themes, and translations. WordPress says maintenance and security updates are often applied automatically, while other updates are managed from this screen. Read the notices shown on your own installation before taking action: update options and workflow can differ between sites.
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Use Site Health to review site diagnostics
Go to Tools > Site Health. The Status tab groups checks into critical issues, recommended improvements, and passed tests. The Info tab displays configuration details about areas such as WordPress, the active theme and plugins, the server, and the filesystem. It is informational; it is not a screen for editing those settings. Resolving a technical issue may require a site administrator or your hosting provider.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Dashboard and Site Editor are different
The Dashboard is the administration landing page and navigation hub. The Site Editor is a separate block-based workspace for designing site areas such as the header and footer. Its controls depend in part on whether the site uses a compatible block theme. You do not need to open the Site Editor just to use the Dashboard or manage ordinary site content.
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