How To Add A New User & Author To Your WordPress Dashboard

Looking to add a new user to your WordPress account? It’s a relatively easy process that takes less than 5 minutes to do. Read our guide below to learn how to add new users and authors to your WordPress website. 

Adding Users For WordPress.org Site

Below we’ll cover how to add users for your self-hosted wordpress.org website (if you have a WordPress.com site, skip to the next section outlined further in this guide).

Log Into WordPress Website

First, you’ll need to log into your WordPress dashboard. 

Select Users In Sidebar

After logging into your dashboard, you’ll click on the “users” tab in the left panel. 

Click “Add New User”

In the Users dropdown, click on “Add new”, which will take you to the next screen. 

Fill Out Information And Assign User Role

Click on “Add New” in your users dashboard. You’ll then be prompted to fill out the information of your user, which includes their username, email, first and last name, as well as password to log in. 

You’ll also be asked to assign a role for your user access: 

User Roles

• Administrator - this permission level grants full administrative access for a single website
• Editor - editors can publish or edit posts of all users on the website
• Author - this permission level allows someone to publish or edit their own posts, but not the posts of others
• Contributor - this permission level allows users to write and manage their own posts, but they can’t publish their changes to the live site
• Subscriber - subscribers are only allowed to manage their profiles, and have no permission levels to publish or create content for the site. 

Adding User For WordPress.com Website

If you have a WordPress.com website, the process to add a user is similar to the method outlined above, with a few small differences. 

Log Into WordPress.com Website

First, you’ll want to log into your WordPress dashboard. 

Click On Settings

On the left-side panel in your dashboard, you’ll want to click on settings. 

Select “Security”

At the top of the screen, click “security”. 

Turn Off “Allow Sign In Using WordPress.com Accounts”

In your WordPress.com sign in section, scroll down to turn off the above setting. 

Click On WP Admin

Clicking here will send you back to your WordPress dashboard.  

Click On Users

After clicking on WP Admin, you’ll want to click on users, and “add new”. 

Fill Out Information And Assign User Role

You’ll then be prompted to fill out the information of your user, which includes their username, email, first and last name, as well as password to log in. 

You’ll also be asked to assign a role for your user access: 

User Roles

• Administrator - this permission level grants full administrative access for a single website
• Editor - editors can publish or edit posts of all users on the website
• Author - this permission level allows someone to publish or edit their own posts, but not the posts of others
• Contributor - this permission level allows users to write and manage their own posts, but they can’t publish their changes to the live site
• Subscriber - subscribers are only allowed to manage their profiles, and have no permission levels to publish or create content for the site.