Title: Simplify Admin Menus
Author: Adam Alexandersson
Published: <strong>Көкек 24, 2025</strong>
Last modified: Шілде 29, 2026

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# Simplify Admin Menus

 By [Adam Alexandersson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamalexandersson/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/simplify-admin-menus.2.0.0.zip)

 * [Details](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/#installation)
 * [Development](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/)

## Description

Simplify Admin Menus allows you to customize and streamline your WordPress admin
interface by controlling which menu items and admin bar elements are visible to 
different user roles and individual users. This helps create a cleaner, more focused
admin experience.

Key Features:

 * Role-based menu item visibility control
 * Per-user overrides (Inherit, Hide, or Show) that can bypass role settings
 * Protected administrators who always retain full menu access
 * Customizable admin bar elements per role or user
 * Simple and intuitive interface
 * Improves admin workflow efficiency

### Build Tools

This plugin uses modern build tools to compile and optimize assets. To set up the
development environment:

 1. Clone the repository:
     git clone https://github.com/adamalexandersson/simplify-
    admin-menus.git
 2. Install dependencies:
     npm install
 3. Available build commands:
 4.  * `npm run build` — Build production assets
     * `npm run dev` — Start development server with hot reloading
     * `composer install` — Install PHP dependencies

The plugin uses:
 * Vite for asset bundling and development server * SCSS for styling*
Composer for PHP dependency management and PSR-4 autoloading

## Installation

 1. Upload the plugin files to the `/wp-content/plugins/simplify-admin-menus` directory,
    or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress
 3. Use the Settings->Simplify Admin Menus screen to configure the plugin
 4. Configure visibility settings for each user role as needed
 5. Optionally set per-user overrides or protected administrators

#### Development

The source code for this plugin is available on GitHub: https://github.com/adamalexandersson/
simplify-admin-menus

## FAQ

### Can I control menu items for specific user roles?

Yes, you can customize which menu items are visible for each user role independently.

### Can I unhide a menu item for one user when it is hidden for their role?

Yes. Select the user and set that item to Show. User Show overrides role hiding.
Inherit follows the role; Hide forces the item hidden.

Important: Show only unhides items WordPress already allows for that user. It cannot
grant capabilities. For example, Appearance, Plugins, and Users normally require
Administrator capabilities, so showing them for an Editor will have no effect.

### What are protected administrators?

Protected administrators always see the full admin menu and admin bar, even if the
Administrator role has items hidden. Only users in that list are exempt — network/
super admin status alone does not bypass restrictions. The first administrator is
protected by default. You can manage the list under Protected administrators on 
the settings page.

### Does this plugin block access to admin pages by URL?

No. This plugin only hides menu and admin bar items in the interface. It does not
change capabilities or block direct URL access.

### Will this affect the front-end of my site?

No, this plugin only modifies the admin interface and admin bar. It does not affect
your website’s front-end appearance.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c69d299519624ccb3584ef9a4c17c093e3596ec1355d2544b67c68517b29e8ee?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Exactly what I needed — and free!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/exactly-what-i-needed-and-free/)󠁿

 [alingsaskommun](https://profiles.wordpress.org/alingsaskommun/) Көкек 9, 2026

This plugin does exactly what it promises: clean, role-based control over the WordPress
admin menu and admin bar. The interface is intuitive and it took only a few minutes
to configure visibility settings per user role. No bloat, no upsells, no “premium
version” paywalls — just a straightforward tool that works. I particularly appreciate
that this is fully open source and completely free. In a world where basic admin
customization often costs money, it’s refreshing to find a plugin built with the
WordPress spirit in mind. A big thank you to Adam Alexandersson for sharing this
with the community. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to simplify the admin
experience for editors and contributors without paying for an enterprise plugin.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8c0ced2ad5a0c50ec3a0903b1d1946b4309a9b5e4ed01ff7f8d40bc710f49e3e?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Perfection !](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/perfection-116/)󠁿

 [nick6352683](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nick6352683/) Көкек 25, 2025

So far this works like a charm. I only used it a few minutes, and I tested pretty
much all that could be tested, and everything works as advertised. Thank you.

 [ Read all 2 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Simplify Admin Menus” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Adam Alexandersson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamalexandersson/)

[Translate “Simplify Admin Menus” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/simplify-admin-menus)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/simplify-admin-menus/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/simplify-admin-menus/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/simplify-admin-menus/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/simplify-admin-menus/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 2.0.0

 * Added protected administrators who always retain full menu and admin bar access
 * Added per-user Inherit / Hide / Show overrides that can bypass role settings
 * Migrated legacy user hide maps to the new override format automatically
 * Protected access is controlled only by the protected administrators list (not
   network/super admin status alone)
 * Improved menu removal using WordPress core menu APIs
 * Restructured plugin code into clearer namespaced app folders
 * Hardened settings save/load sanitization and redirects
 * Tested with WordPress 7.0

#### 1.3.2

 * Tested with WordPress 6.9

#### 1.3.1

 * General improvements

#### 1.3.0

 * Added support for user specific settings
 * Improved security and code quality for WordPress plugin repository
 * Renamed plugin to Simplify Admin Menus

#### 1.2.2

 * Improved security and code quality for WordPress plugin repository

#### 1.2.1

 * Minor changes and improvements
 * Translations updates

#### 1.2.0

 * Renamed the plugin to Simplify Admin
 * Added support for wordpress color schemes

#### 1.1.0

 * Added support for all admin bar items
 * Added composer and rewrite of the code with PSR-12 and PSR-4 autoloading
 * Added translations support
 * Rewrited the javascript from jQuery to Vanilla javacript and updated the CSS 
   to SCSS
 * Added Vite build system for asset management

#### 1.0.0

 * Initial release
 * Basic functionality for hiding admin menu items
 * Role-based access control
 * Admin interface for managing settings

## Meta

 *  Version **2.0.0**
 *  Last updated **1 неделя ago**
 *  Active installations **50+**
 *  WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0.2**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/)
 * Tags
 * [admin](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/admin/)[adminbar](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/adminbar/)
   [clean](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/clean/)[hide](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/hide/)
   [simplify](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/simplify/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://kk.wordpress.org/plugins/simplify-admin-menus/advanced/)

## Ratings

 5 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  2 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  0 1-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/?filter=1)

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Adam Alexandersson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamalexandersson/)

## Support

Issues resolved in last two months:

     0 out of 1

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/simplify-admin-menus/)