Add-Ons

Every add-on comes with Members and is off until you turn it on. Go to Members → Add-Ons and click Activate on the ones you want. Turning an add-on off stops what it does, but capabilities it gave to roles stay until you change them.

Admin Access

Keeps chosen roles out of the WordPress dashboard. A common use is sending members or customers to the front of your site instead of wp-admin.

After activating it, go to Members → Settings → Admin Access:

  • Select Roles: tick the roles that may use the dashboard. Every role is ticked at first, so nothing changes until you untick some. Administrator always has access and can’t be unticked.
  • Redirect: where to send users without access when they try to open the dashboard. It’s your home page by default.
  • Toolbar: hide the WordPress toolbar on the front end for users without access. On by default.

Good to know:

  • Users without access can still log in. They just can’t open the dashboard, including their profile screen there, so give them a front-end account page if they need one.
  • Front-end features that use admin-ajax.php or admin-post.php (like many forms) keep working for everyone.
  • On multisite, network Super Admins always have access.
  • If WooCommerce is active, Admin Access takes over from WooCommerce’s own “keep customers out of the dashboard” behavior, so set your roles here.

Role Hierarchy

Ranks your roles so users can only manage users with lower roles. Without it, anyone who can edit users can give anyone any role, including Administrator.

  • Positions: each role gets a number. The defaults are Administrator 100, Editor 80, Author 60, Contributor 40, and Subscriber 20. Set a role’s position in the Role Position box when you edit it.
  • The rule: under Members → Settings → Roles and Capabilities → Role Hierarchy, choose whether users can manage roles lower than their own, or lower or equal.
  • What it limits: which roles a user can assign, and which users they can edit, promote, remove, or delete. The highest role (Administrator by default) can always manage everyone.
  • What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t change what anyone can see. Content Permissions still checks the exact roles you tick.

Shop managers (WooCommerce). WooCommerce also limits which roles a Shop Manager can assign, on top of Role Hierarchy. By default a Shop Manager can only assign Customer. To allow another role, add a snippet like this (with the free WPCode plugin, for example):

add_filter( 'woocommerce_shop_manager_editable_roles', function( $roles ) {
    $roles[] = 'wholesale_customer'; // Your role's slug.
    return $roles;
} );

Registration forms. Role Hierarchy only ranks logged-in users. Front-end registration forms keep working as they do without it, so new users get the role your form assigns.

Block Permissions

Shows or hides individual blocks on the front end of your site.

Select a block, open the block settings sidebar, and find the Permissions panel:

  • Condition: Show block to everyone (the default), Show block to selected, or Hide block from selected.
  • Type: User Status (logged in or logged out), User Role, or Capability.
  • Error Message: optional text shown in place of the block to people who can’t see it.

The Paid Membership and Content Protection Rule types point you to MemberPress. Once MemberPress is active, they’re replaced by a note: protect blocks by membership with MemberPress’ own Content Protection panel, which appears on every block.

Good to know:

  • It controls what visitors see, not what editors can use. It doesn’t stop anyone from adding or editing a block in the editor.
  • Before you activate it, the block sidebar shows a Permissions panel that suggests MemberPress. Activate the add-on to get the options above.
  • Only users with the assign_block_permissions capability (Administrators, by default) can change a block’s permissions.

Category and Tag Caps

Splits WordPress’ single manage_categories capability into separate ones for categories and tags: manage_categories, edit_categories, delete_categories, assign_categories, manage_post_tags, edit_post_tags, delete_post_tags, and assign_post_tags.

When you activate it, roles that could already manage categories get the new manage, edit, and delete capabilities, and roles that can edit posts get the assign capabilities, so nobody loses access. Then adjust each role as you like.

This add-on only affects the dashboard. It doesn’t control who can view posts in a category. To protect whole categories, see Members and MemberPress.

Core Create Caps

Adds create_posts and create_pages, so you can let a role edit existing posts or pages without letting it add new ones.

When you activate it, roles that can edit posts get create_posts, and roles that can edit pages get create_pages. Remove them from any role that shouldn’t add new content. If “Add New” disappears for a role you didn’t mean to change, grant it the matching create capability.

Privacy Caps

Adds capabilities for WordPress’ privacy tools, so you can let someone handle data requests without full admin access: export_others_personal_data, erase_others_personal_data, and manage_privacy_options. When you activate it, roles that can manage options get them. (On multisite, WordPress reserves these tools for Super Admins.)

Role Levels

Lets you set a role’s user “level” (0 to 10), an old WordPress permission system that some plugins and themes still check. It adds a Level column to the Roles screen and a Level box when you edit a role.

Use it if a plugin doesn’t recognize users with your custom roles, for example by leaving them out of an author dropdown. In current WordPress, the core author dropdown lists users who can edit_posts, so check that capability first.

Integrations

The ACF, Easy Digital Downloads, GiveWP, Meta Box, and WooCommerce add-ons group those plugins’ capabilities into tidy, labeled sections on the edit role screen, so they’re easy to find and grant.

They don’t add a settings screen, and they don’t restrict content or products. They only help you manage the plugin’s capabilities. See the Capabilities Guide for finding capabilities from other plugins.