Everything you need to install WP Admin Focus and tailor the WordPress admin menu for each role — start to finish.
In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Choose the wp-admin-focus.zip file, click Install Now, then Activate.
Prefer FTP? Upload the unzipped wp-admin-focus folder to /wp-content/plugins/ and activate it from the Plugins screen.
Navigate to Settings → WP Admin Focus. You'll land on the General tab, with a tab for each role across the top and a Preview tab on the right.
WP Admin Focus v1.0.1
Give every client role a calm, focused, tailor-made WordPress admin.
On the General tab, tick Plugin enabled. This is the master switch — with it off, no effects apply to anyone, which is handy for temporarily reverting everything at once.
Tip: Nothing changes for your clients until you also enable simplified admin on a specific role (next step), so it's safe to turn the master switch on first.
Click the tab for the role you want to simplify — for example Editor. Turn on Enable simplified admin to reveal that role's rules. Every role is independent: what you set for Editor never touches Author or Subscriber.
Custom roles from other plugins (WooCommerce, MemberPress, LearnDash, and more) appear here as their own tabs automatically.
In the Admin Bar section, tick the toolbar nodes to hide — the WordPress logo, comments bubble, “+ New,” updates, and more. This tidies the black bar that sits across the top of every admin (and front-end) page for that role.
In the Client Dashboard section, switch on Hide default widgets to clear the noisy WordPress News / Activity / Quick Draft boxes, then compose your own welcome panel:
Open the Preview tab and enter Preview Mode for the role you configured. Your own admin temporarily transforms into exactly what that role sees — hidden menus, cleaned toolbar, custom dashboard and all.
A bright “Exit Preview Mode” button stays pinned in the toolbar so you can drop back to your full admin at any moment. Preview only ever affects you, never live users.
Happy with the result? Click Save Changes. From now on, every user with that role sees the focused admin the moment they log in — while you and other administrators keep the complete, unrestricted experience.
Repeat steps 4–9 for any other roles you want to tailor.
Add ?waf_safe=1 to any admin URL — for example /wp-admin/index.php?waf_safe=1. Safe mode instantly disables all effects for administrators and exits Preview Mode. You can never permanently lock yourself out.
This is almost always browser or WordPress caching serving an old stylesheet. Do a hard refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R), clear any caching plugin, and make sure you're on the latest version — the plugin's version number is used to bust the CSS cache automatically.
Most menus are detected automatically. If one only appears in certain contexts, add its slug by hand in the custom slugs field — one per line. Use the registered slug (e.g. elementor), not the full URL. Core custom-post-type menus use their full slug, e.g. edit.php?post_type=product.
Confirm the master Plugin enabled switch is on, that Enable simplified admin is on for that specific role, and that you clicked Save Changes. Remember effects never apply to administrators outside Preview Mode.
No. When you delete the plugin it cleans up after itself — removing its single settings option and any preview-mode user meta. Nothing is left in your database.
Each role now sees an admin menu with exactly the links it needs. Explore the features overview to see everything WP Admin Focus can do.
Explore all features →