Posted in: WordPress Tutorials

WordPress User Roles: Know the Rights & Permissions

WordPress is a content management system for blogs and websites. One can have multiple users for any website and blog created using WordPress.

If you just created a WordPress website or need to add new users, it is a good idea to understand the rights and permissions of various pre-defined roles in WordPress.

Understanding User Roles in WordPress

WordPress, by default, supports the following user roles: subscribers, contributors, authors, editors and administrators.

Subscriber: A subscriber cannot create or edit content. She cannot manage the website settings either. This role only allows reading access to the website.

Contributor: A contributor can create, edit and submit posts. However, this role does not allow user to publish the content on the site. A user with the contributor role in a WordPress site can edit and delete their own posts, but they can not edit or delete published posts. When you need to grant access to other people to contribute to the website, this is the role you should choose.

Author: An author can create, edit and publish posts and pages on the website. They can edit and delete their own posts and pages. This role is ideal when granting access to an employee or associate who will be responsible for her own content.

Editor: An editor can create, edit, delete and publish posts and pages on the website. They can do so for their own content as well as posts and pages created by others. Editors have full rights as far as editorial content on the website is concerned.

Administrator: An administrator has absolute rights and ownership of the website. When you create a WordPress website, the username that you select at that time is granted the administrator user role. If you need more than one administrators for your WordPress siste, you create a new user with the role set as “Administrator”. However, make sure to only pick the right individuals for this role as they get all the rights for the site.