This Allow WP Admin Dashboard setting lets you control who can access /wp-admin/ based on WordPress permissions.
By default, this is set to “Manage Options” meaning only WP Administrators can access the admin dashboard.
Allowing Access Based on WordPress Permissions
The input box will allow you to select (single or multiple) WordPress permissions and grant access to the dashboard based on those. If, for instance, you wanted to allow the Author role to access the dashboard you’d add a permission that their role has but not one that they share with roles below them.
Here is an article from WordPress that lists their default roles and the associated permissions.
Based on that list, the permission “Publish Posts” would allow the Author access to the dashboard but not anyone below them.
Showing/Hiding the Admin Bar
This setting works the same way the as allowing access based on permissions. You can allow the admin bar to be shown based on WordPress permissions.
ProPanel Setup
We found that a lot of our customers use LearnDash and their ProPanel addon which allows group leaders to see the progress of their students/other members of the group. The information is all displayed through the WP Admin Dashboard and we often get asked how to allow the group leaders access to the dashboard while keeping others out.
Since LearnDash creates WordPress permissions for the Group Leader role we can use those to allow only that role access to the dashboard.
One permission that only the Group Leaders will have is “Delete Others Essays” so by adding that to the Allow WP Admin Dashboard settings they will have…access.
