What is Editor in WordPress?

When you buy, sign up, or register through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn More ›

Within WordPress, the ‘Editor’ is a predefined role that grants users the ability to manage and publish various forms of content, including the works of other contributors. However, this role does not permit the alteration of website settings.

Understanding the different user roles in WordPress is crucial, especially as your site expands. These roles help delineate the scope of access and control each user has over your site’s content and features.

When your website features content from multiple writers, an Editor becomes indispensable. They ensure the integrity and consistency of the content by reviewing and refining articles before they go live.

This discussion centers on the Editor’s role within WordPress. For insights into WordPress’s content editing tools, consider exploring the following resources:

Defining the Editor’s Role in WordPress

A WordPress user is anyone who can log into your site with a username and password. By assigning user roles, you control their level of access. WordPress comes with five default roles to help manage your site.

Initially, you may be the sole content creator on your site. As your site’s audience grows, you might bring on additional authors to accelerate content production. Eventually, you’ll need an Editor to manage these authors, ensuring their content meets your standards before publication.

Editors wield comprehensive control over the content on your site. They have the authority to create, modify, and publish posts, including those by other authors, and they can also remove posts both before and after publication.

But their responsibilities extend beyond content management. Editors are also tasked with organizing categories, tags, and custom taxonomies, as well as managing file uploads. They have the privilege of accessing private posts and pages.

Moreover, Editors are empowered to moderate, approve, or delete comments. However, they lack the permissions to modify site settings, install themes and plugins, or manage user accounts.

Given that Editors can remove published posts, it’s advisable to entrust this role to someone reliable.

Remember, WordPress allows you to modify user roles. If you’re hesitant to grant extensive control to a user, you can tailor the Editor role to better suit your site’s requirements.

Editor Versus Author: Understanding the Distinctions

Authors in WordPress have a more limited scope of capabilities compared to Editors. While they can manage their own posts, they cannot touch the content created by others. They can see comments but lack the authority to moderate them.

Neither Authors nor Editors can tweak site settings, install themes and plugins, or add new users—those tasks are reserved for Administrators.

Managing a Collaborative WordPress Blog

When launching a WordPress blog, you might start with just a handful of contributors. As your platform grows, the need for more authors may arise to keep up with content demands.

Coordinating a team of writers on a WordPress blog can be challenging. It involves content scheduling, establishing an editorial process, monitoring activities, and ensuring optimal site performance.

An Editor can significantly ease this burden. Establishing a robust editorial process is key. For guidance on enhancing your editorial workflow in a multi-author WordPress blog, our guide is an invaluable resource.

Tailoring the Editor Role to Your WordPress Site

The default user roles in WordPress are designed to meet the needs of most sites and blogs.

For instance, in a magazine-style website, the Editor role might be assigned to senior staff, the Author role to junior staff, and the Contributor role to guest writers.

However, there may be instances where you want to customize these roles to align with your site’s specific requirements.

Often, Editors are responsible for managing content such as articles and blog posts. Your site will also have static pages like the About page, privacy policy, and contact form, which seldom change.

If you prefer that Editors have limited page editing capabilities, or only manage certain pages, you’ll need to adjust the Editor role accordingly. Our guide on modifying user roles in WordPress can show you how.

We trust this article has enhanced your understanding of the Editor role in WordPress. For further reading on WordPress tips and strategies, check out the list below.

Further Exploration