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WordPress Dashboard Walkthrough, Part 2

Ready to finish our walkthrough of the WordPress Dashboard? In Part 1, we covered the content-focused areas of WordPress — Posts, Pages, Media, Comments, and Updates.

In this post, we’ll walk through the administrative and structural tools that live in the backend. These areas are powerful, useful, and — if used incorrectly — sometimes risky. Understanding what they do (even if you don’t use them often) will help you manage your site more confidently.

As a reminder, your Dashboard may look slightly different depending on:

  • Your theme
  • Installed plugins
  • Hosting provider

Plugins often add their own menu items, so don’t worry if you see more than what’s listed here.

Appearance

The Appearance section controls how your website looks and, in some cases, how it behaves.

Appearance → Themes

This is where you can:

  • View your currently active theme
  • Switch themes
  • Install new themes
  • Upload premium or custom themes

Themes control layout, typography, colors, and design patterns. Changing a theme can dramatically affect how your site looks — and sometimes how content is displayed — so this is not something to experiment with casually on a live site.

Best practice: Always back up your site before changing themes.

Appearance → Customize

The Customizer lets you adjust theme-specific settings in a live preview environment.

Depending on your theme, you may be able to:

  • Change colors and fonts
  • Edit headers and footers
  • Upload logos
  • Adjust layout settings
  • Configure menus

Not all themes support the same customization options, so what you see here will vary. Some modern block-based themes use full-site editing instead, which may reduce or remove the Customizer altogether.

Appearance → Widgets

Widgets allow you to manage content in specific theme-defined areas, often called sidebars.

Common widget areas include:

  • Blog sidebars
  • Footer columns
  • Homepage sections

Widgets might include:

  • Search bars
  • Recent posts
  • Menus
  • Call-to-action blocks

Many modern WordPress sites now use blocks instead of widgets, but this area may still be active depending on your theme.

Appearance → Header

If your theme supports it, this menu item jumps directly to header-related settings inside the Customizer.

Here you may be able to:

  • Upload or change a logo
  • Adjust header layout
  • Modify navigation display

Appearance → Editor (Advanced)

This area allows direct editing of theme files (PHP, CSS, HTML).

⚠️ Proceed with caution.

Editing files here can:

  • Break your website
  • Cause white screens or errors
  • Create security risks

If you’re not comfortable writing code, this is a section you should generally avoid. Most modern WordPress customizations can be done safely without touching this area.

Plugins

Plugins extend WordPress functionality — forms, SEO tools, security, backups, accessibility features, and more.

Plugins → Installed Plugins

Here you can:

  • See all installed plugins
  • Activate or deactivate plugins
  • Delete unused plugins
  • Update plugins

Keeping plugins updated is critical for security and performance. Outdated plugins are one of the most common ways WordPress sites get compromised.

Plugins → Add New

From here, you can:

  • Search the official WordPress Plugin Directory
  • Upload premium plugins
  • Install new functionality

Tip: More plugins isn’t better. Fewer, well-maintained plugins are safer and faster than a long list of overlapping tools.

Plugin File Editor (Advanced)

Like the Theme Editor, this allows direct editing of plugin files.

Unless you’re a developer and fully understand what you’re doing, it’s best to leave this alone.

Users

The Users section controls who has access to your website and what they’re allowed to do.

Users → All Users

This is where you can:

  • See everyone with site access
  • Edit user roles
  • Remove users
  • Update profiles

You can also adjust:

  • Dashboard color schemes
  • Personal profile details
  • Biographies (some themes display these publicly)

Regularly reviewing users is an important part of site security — especially after staff changes or completed projects.

Users → Add New

This is where administrators create new user accounts and assign roles like:

  • Administrator
  • Editor
  • Author
  • Contributor
  • Subscriber

Always give users the lowest level of access necessary.

Tools

The Tools section contains utility features that don’t get used daily, but can be helpful in specific situations.

Available Tools

This may include:

  • “Press This” bookmarklet (for capturing web content)
  • Site health checks
  • Other utility tools added by plugins

Import / Export

These tools allow you to:

  • Import content from other platforms
  • Export your WordPress content

Import/export tools are commonly used when:

  • Migrating to a new website
  • Creating backups of content
  • Moving between hosting providers

Results can vary depending on site complexity, so professional help is often useful here.

Settings

The Settings section controls core WordPress behavior. This is one of the most powerful — and potentially risky — areas of the Dashboard.

Common Settings You’ll Find Here

Depending on the submenu, you can:

  • Change your site title and tagline
  • Update the admin email address
  • Set your timezone
  • Choose whether your homepage shows posts or a static page
  • Control comment behavior
  • Adjust default image sizes
  • Configure reading and writing options
  • Set permalink structure (URLs)

Some of these settings overlap with options in Appearance → Customize.

A Word of Caution About Settings

Changing the wrong setting here can:

  • Break links
  • Affect SEO
  • Change site behavior unexpectedly

A good rule of thumb:

If you’re not sure what a setting does, pause and ask.

Why This Part of the Dashboard Matters

You may not use these menu items every day — and that’s perfectly fine. But knowing what they control helps you:

  • Avoid accidental changes
  • Communicate better with your developer
  • Understand where issues may originate
  • Feel more confident owning your website

WordPress doesn’t require you to be technical — but it does reward awareness.

Want Help Managing the Backend of Your WordPress Site?

If the Dashboard still feels overwhelming, or you’d rather not manage updates, plugins, users, and settings yourself, that’s exactly what we’re here for.

Reach out here to learn more about our WordPress management and support services — so you can focus on your work, not your website backend.