Here we explain the Access Restrictions of WP Frontend Admin for Multisite networks.
Preliminary notes:
- You can read our notes on WP Frontend Admin’s general settings for multisite.
- You can visit our full list of shortcodes to learn which shortcodes you can use to build your multi-site platform.
Understanding the Access Restrictions settings
Go to Network Admin > Frontend Admin > Settings > Access Restrictions
Enable the wp-admin access restrictions
If you enable this option, all the access restrictions you select in this section will be enabled for the rest of the network.
These access restrictions allow you to make sure users can view specific admin pages in the frontend and restrict other admin pages.
Access restriction: What wp-admin pages can be viewed on the frontend
To keep your multi-site network secure and prevent users from making changes to important pages, you can select and insert in this field a specific list of wp-admin pages that will be accessible from the frontend. You have to enter one URL per line.
If the pages are not found here, users will be redirected to the frontend dashboard home page of your multi-site network.
Dynamic tags for the URL restrictions
If you want to allow URLs that contain dynamic information, for example, URLs that contain user IDs or post IDs or taxonomy keys. You can use these dynamic tags:
{any_parameter_value} = this will work with any URL parameter value, for example, any taxonomy key (any value containing letters, numbers, hyphens, and/or underscores together)
{any_single_number} = one number
{any_numbers} = one or more numbers
{any_letter} = one letter in uppercase or lowercase
{any_letters} = one or more letters
You can use those dynamic tags anywhere in the URL parameter values. For example, this dynamic URL is used by WooCommerce to display the list of terms for a specific attribute, so the taxonomy part will change depending on the attribute that we are seeing.
Original URL:
http://site.com/wp-admin/edit-tags.php?taxonomy=pa_color&post_type=product
URL with dynamic tags:
http://site.com/wp-admin/edit-tags.php?taxonomy=pa_{any_parameter_value}&post_type=product
Notice that I use pa_{any_parameter_value} because I want to whitelist only product attributes which start with pa_ . If I use taxonomy={any_parameter_value}, it will whitelist the page for any taxonomy.
Access restriction: Who can access the wp-admin dashboard
When you create a frontend dashboard for the subsite administrators in your network to manage their websites from it, you can select who will be able to access the wp-admin dashboard.
By default, we select the capability manage_network to access the wp-admin dashboard bypassing the access restrictions. The other users will be redirected to the frontend dashboard.
Access restriction: Frontend dashboard URL
A frontend dashboard is a normal site within your network that contains all the frontend admin pages that users will need to manage their subsites. Once you have created the site with all the frontend admin pages, you can select the site in this field.
When users in your network try to access the wp-admin dashboard of their sites, they will be sent to the site that is functioning as the frontend dashboard.
Wrong Permissions Page URL (optional)
If users try to access an admin page that they are not allowed, you can redirect them to a specific page. For example, you can redirect them to a membership plan page or the like where they can request the right permissions they need to open the page.
You can also redirect them to their own profile or to the start page of the frontend dashboard if you’re not planning to give them more permissions.
Wrong Permissions Message (optional)
When users don’t have the right permissions to open a page, we will display a message indicating that they do not have the necessary permissions to do so. If you want, you can customize the message in this field.
These user roles will use the frontend dashboard
Here you can enter the user role keys that you want to restrict completely from the wp-admin dashboard; enter them separated by commas. We will redirect those users to the frontend dashboard anytime they log in or try to access the wp-admin dashboard.