The WordPress dashboard is the first screen that appears when you log in to the admin page, known as wp-admin. It serves as the site’s control panel, with menus for Posts, Media, Pages, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools, and Settings grouped on the left. WordPress version 7.1.3This simulator is an exact replica of the admin interface, so you can click through the menus to see which screens open for each one.
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Ⅰ. Accessing the WordPress Admin Page
You reach the WordPress admin page by adding /wp-admin/ after the site address; if you are not logged in, you are taken to the [wp-login.php] login screen. The three addresses /admin, /login and /dashboard lead to the same place, so use whichever is easiest to remember.
You log in with your username or email address and password; checking [Remember Me] keeps you logged in for 14 days.
If you forget your password, reset it by email from [Lost your password?]. The steps are covered in Resetting a Lost WordPress Admin Password in detail. On sites where a security plugin has changed the login address, you log in at the address set in that plugin.
Ⅱ. WordPress Dashboard
The admin screen consists of ten menus on the left, a toolbar at the top and a work area in the middle. Click a menu in the simulator below to open the real WordPress 7.1.3 admin screen with a description; detailed settings continue in the post links under each screen.
The Dashboard is the first screen after logging in and shows five boxes by default: Site Health Status, At a Glance, Activity, Quick Draft, and WordPress Events and News. You can turn boxes on or off in [Screen Options] at the top right, and the black bar at the top (the toolbar) appears on every admin screen, taking you straight to View Site, updates, comments and New.
Check and apply new versions of WordPress core, plugins, themes and translations on one screen, and choose how core updates itself automatically.
Posts › All PostsPosts
The Posts menu is where you write and manage blog posts, with four submenus: All Posts, Add Post, Categories and Tags. The list shows the title, author, categories, tags, comments and date, and bulk actions handle several posts at once.
Posts › Add PostPosts
The block editor opens: add a title, type / to pick a block, and set the status, visibility, slug and categories in the right panel.
Posts › CategoriesPosts
Add a category on the left with its name, slug and parent category, and edit existing ones in the table on the right. The default category, [Uncategorized], cannot be deleted.
Unlike categories, tags are labels without a hierarchy; add one with a name, slug and description.
Media › LibraryMedia
The Media Library collects the images, documents and video files you insert into posts and pages, with two submenus: Library and Add Media File. You can switch between list and grid view and filter by file type and date to find files.
Media › Add Media FileMedia
Drag and drop files or upload them with [Select Files]; the maximum upload file size follows the server settings (2 GB on the server in the screenshot).
Pages › All PagesPages
Pages is the menu for fixed documents that stay regardless of date, such as an About page or a privacy policy, with two submenus: All Pages and Add Page. A new installation includes one Sample Page and one draft Privacy Policy.
Pages › Add PagePages
It is the same block editor as Add Post, but the right panel has Parent page and Template instead of categories.
CommentsComments
The Comments menu is where you approve, reply to, spam or trash visitor comments, and the number of pending comments appears on the left menu and the toolbar. Above the list, filter by Mine, Pending, Approved, Spam and Trash.
Appearance › ThemesAppearance
The Appearance menu is where you install themes and change the active theme; with a block theme, its submenus are Themes, Editor and Fonts. A default installation includes four themes, Twenty Twenty-Two through Twenty Twenty-Five, and the active theme has a [Customize] button.
The block theme's site editor opens; edit Styles, Pages, Navigation, Patterns and Templates from the Design menu on the left to change the look of the whole site.
Appearance › FontsAppearance
View the fonts that come with your theme and turn them on or off; add new fonts from the Upload and Install Fonts tabs.
Plugins › Installed PluginsPlugins
The Plugins menu is where you install, activate, deactivate and delete plugins, with two submenus: Installed Plugins and Add Plugin. Filters above the list separate Active, Update Available, Must-Use and Drop-ins, and you turn automatic updates on or off for each plugin.
Plugins › Add PluginPlugins
Search the WordPress plugin directory and install directly, or upload a zip file with [Upload Plugin] at the top.
Users › All UsersUsers
The Users menu is where you add and manage accounts with the Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor and Subscriber roles, with three submenus: All Users, Add User and Profile. You can change roles in bulk from the list, and in Profile you change your own password and admin screen language.
Users › Add UserUsers
Create an account with a username, email and role; the Generate password button gives a strong password, and you can send the new user an email about their account.
Users › ProfileUsers
This screen changes your own account's admin color scheme, toolbar, language, name, contact info and password, and it is also where each account chooses its own admin language.
The Tools menu holds Import, Export, Site Health, Export Personal Data, Erase Personal Data, Theme File Editor and Plugin File Editor, and its main screen shows only a note about the category and tag converter. You use it when moving posts from another site and when checking the site's health.
Tools › ImportTools
Import posts and comments from other systems such as Blogger, Tumblr, RSS and WordPress export files; install each importer first with [Install Now].
Tools › ExportTools
Download posts, pages, media or all content as a WXR (XML) file to use with Import on another WordPress site.
Tools › Site HealthTools
The Status tab checks and lists critical issues and recommended improvements, and the Info tab holds server, PHP and database information.
Tools › Export Personal DataTools
Create a request by username or email to export that user's known data as a zip file, after an email confirmation.
Tools › Erase Personal DataTools
Create a request the same way to erase or anonymize that user's data.
Tools › Theme File EditorTools
This is where you edit theme files directly in the admin screen; opening it shows a [Heads up!] notice recommending a child theme and a copy. Changes made directly are lost when the theme updates.
Tools › Plugin File EditorTools
This is where you edit plugin files directly, with the same [Heads up!] notice. Changes are lost when the plugin updates.
Settings › GeneralSettings
The Settings menu changes site-wide settings such as the site title, address, admin email, membership, language and time zone, with seven submenus: General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Media, Permalinks and Privacy. Many plugins add their own menu under Settings when installed.
Set the default post category and post format, Post via email, and the Update Services (ping) addresses.
Settings › ReadingSettings
Choose whether the homepage shows your latest posts or a static page, how many posts appear in lists and RSS, and whether to discourage search engines from indexing.
Settings › DiscussionSettings
Set pingback and trackback permissions, conditions for posting comments, threaded comments, and comment approval and notification rules.
Settings › MediaSettings
Set the maximum pixel sizes for the thumbnail, medium and large images created automatically from uploads.
Settings › PermalinksSettings
Choose the post URL structure (Plain, Day and name, Month and name, Numeric, Post name); Post name is the usual choice.
Settings › PrivacySettings
Create or select the privacy policy page; the Policy Guide tab collects suggested text from plugins and themes.
Hover the screenshot for the other language · click to enlarge
Clicking a top-level menu on the left expands its submenu and opens the first screen; clicking it again collapses it. Type a menu name in the search box above and the matching screens appear as chips. Screenshots show the English admin screens, and in the real admin screen, [Collapse Menu] shrinks the left menu down to icons.
Ⅲ. wp-admin Security
The mere fact that the admin URL is known can be a vulnerability. Since all WordPress sites use the same /wp-admin/ and [wp-login.php], attacks do not begin with locating the URL but rather with brute-force attempts—repeatedly entering usernames and passwords into that URL.
[xmlrpc.php] is a secondary entry point that accepts usernames and passwords without going through the login screen. If you do not use the WordPress app or external publishing tools, you should disable it.
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