AdBear Roles and Admin Access Manager

AdBear Roles and Admin Access Manager helps site owners and agencies control what each WordPress user role can see and do in the admin area — without writing custom code.

Use one admin menu to:

• Create, edit, clone, and delete custom roles
• Assign built-in and custom capabilities
• Hide admin menus and block direct URL access to hidden pages
• Control dashboard widgets and admin bar items by role
• Set login redirect URLs after sign-in
• Limit Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) field groups by role
• Customize the wp-login screen (logo, colors, layout)

The administrator role is always protected and cannot be edited or deleted through this plugin.

This plugin does not handle front-end membership or user registration forms. It focuses on admin access control and login branding.

Getting started

All settings are under AdBear Roles in the WordPress admin. You need the manage_options capability (typically an Administrator).

Step 1: Roles & Capabilities

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Roles & Capabilities.
2. To add a role, enter a Role key (lowercase, no spaces, e.g. shop_manager) and a Role label (display name).
3. Check the capabilities the role should have, or add custom capability names in the text field.
4. Click Save role.
5. To copy an existing role, use Clone role and provide a new key and label.
6. To change the role assigned to new registrations, pick a role under Default registration role and click Save default role.

Step 2: Admin menu visibility

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Admin Menu Visibility.
2. Select the role from the dropdown.
3. Enable Enable menu restrictions for this role.
4. Check only the menu items that role should see.
5. Click Save menu rules.

Hidden menus are removed from the sidebar. If a user visits a hidden page by URL, access is denied.

Step 3: Dashboard widgets

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Dashboard Widgets.
2. Select the role, enable restrictions, and check the widgets to keep visible.
3. Click Save dashboard rules.

Step 4: Admin bar

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Admin Bar.
2. Select the role, enable restrictions, and check the admin bar items to keep.
3. Click Save admin bar rules.

Step 5: Login redirects

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Login Redirects.
2. Enter an internal URL for each role that should redirect after login (leave blank to use WordPress default).
3. Click Save redirects.

Step 6: ACF field groups (optional)

Requires the Advanced Custom Fields plugin.

1. Go to AdBear Roles → ACF Group Visibility.
2. Select the role, enable restrictions, and check the field groups to show.
3. Click Save ACF rules.

Step 7: Login & branding

1. Go to AdBear Roles → Login & Branding.
2. Enable branding, then set logo, background, button color, layout, and optional admin footer text.
3. Click Save branding settings.

To test, log out and open your site’s wp-login.php page, or log in as a user with the role you configured.

1. Upload the adbear-roles-admin-access-manager folder to /wp-content/plugins/ or install from Plugins → Add New.
2. Activate AdBear Roles and Admin Access Manager on the Plugins screen.
3. In the WordPress admin sidebar, open AdBear Roles.
4. Follow the steps in Getting started below.

1. 

   Roles & Capabilities — create custom roles, assign capabilities, clone roles, and set the default registration role

2. 

   Admin Menu Visibility — hide admin menus and submenus by user role with direct URL access blocking

3. 

   Dashboard Widgets — control which dashboard widgets appear for each role

4. 

   Admin Bar — manage admin bar items and quick links visibility by user role

5. 

   Login Redirects — set role-based login redirect URLs after sign-in

6. 

   ACF Group Visibility — show or hide ACF field groups by role

7. 

   Login & Branding — customize wp-login logo, background, colors, split layout, and admin footer text

0.6.3

• Fixed admin bar manager showing an empty item list on the settings screen
• Fixed login page centered and split layout alignment issues
• Updated Our Plugins page with current WordPress.org links (PixelCraft with WebP, TOCCraft, Adbear Image Cleaner)

0.6.1

• WordPress.org review fixes: unique adbam_ prefix for options, nonces, and script handles
• Renamed plugin classes to Adbam_Admin_Access and Adbam_Our_Plugins
• Modern admin CSS now enqueued via wp_enqueue_style() / wp_add_inline_style() instead of inline <style> output
• Automatic migration from legacy arc_ option names
• Updated contributor username to match WordPress.org account

0.6.0

• Rebranded to AdBear Roles and Admin Access Manager
• Plugin slug and text domain updated to adbear-roles-admin-access-manager
• Removed keyword-stuffed readme content; added step-by-step getting started guide
• Updated Author URI and plugin links to https://wordpressplugin.adbear.cloud/adbear-roles-and-admin-access-manager/

0.5.0

• Security hardening: nonce verification, input sanitization, redirect validation
• Plugin Check compatibility improvements

0.4.5

• Added Our Plugins showcase page
• Added uninstall handler to remove plugin options
• Modern admin menu width and content spacing improvements

0.4.2

• Login screen split layout with optional side image
• Modern WordPress admin panel UI mode

0.4.1

• Login Screen & Branding manager
• Custom login logo, background, gradient, and button styling

0.4.0

• Dashboard widget visibility by role
• Admin bar manager
• Login redirect manager
• ACF field group visibility by role

0.3.0

• Initial release: roles, capabilities, and admin menu manager