How to Hide the WordPress Dashboard (and build a better one) For Your Members

1. Redirect Members on Login

   The default login behavior for all WordPress roles is to redirect the user to the WordPress dashboard. Below are links to a few posts we have on customizations to send users to an alternate page, such as the referring URL or a page of your choice based on their level:

   • Redirecting Members on Login
     This recipe will show you how to redirect members to a specific page after logging in.
   • Redirect Members to Pages Based on Their Level
     This post covers how to redirect members to certain pages based on their membership level, allowing each level to have a unique member login destination.
   • Redirect Members to Referrer on Login
     The steps in this guide allow you to set a referrer in the Memberships > Advanced Settings for your “Message for Logged-out Users:”. This way, when a user clicks to “log in” to view the members-only content, they will be redirected back to that URL after login.

   Using these methods, the user will ONLY get into the dashboard when they would like to edit their user profile.

   Bonus tip #1: If you’re considering login redirection, you may also want to check out the Member Homepages Add On. This extension will redirect logged in members to a unique “homepage” based on their level. Any time a member attempts to access the actual site homepage, they will be sent to the appropriate page for them. I find this to be a great help when your site has to serve the dual purpose of marketing and “selling” membership along with being a well planned user experience for actual members.

   View the Add On

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2. Use the plugin Theme My Login

   This plugin handles redirection extremely well, which is why we didn’t include the functionality in Paid Memberships Pro itself. Theme My Login includes a setting to redirect users on login, as well as block dashboard access based on role. We have a longer post detailing the setup and additional features of this plugin here.

   Important: do not disable dashboard access without turning on the “Themed Profiles” module in Theme My Login. If you miss this step, users of the “subscriber” role will not be able to edit their profile.

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3. Use the plugin Hide the Admin Bar from Non-admins

   The plugins above don’t hide the admin bar, which you often want to hide as well. There are other plugins in the WP repo to hide the admin bar, but they either (a) hide it for admins as well or (b) require users to disable the bar via their settings. We whipped up our own plugin hide the admin bar for non-admins only.

   View the Plugin

Bonus Tip #2: Building a Member Dashboard

It’s great that you’re taking the time to consider the user experience and build a better login redirection process. But, what page are you going to actually redirect your users to?

I wrote a previous post on building a dashboard for your members. The post covers some recommendations to enhance your Membership Account page based on the type of site you’re running. Redirecting to the Membership Account page is a strong login experience as it provides detailed information about your member. And, if you take time to enhance this page with links to members content, the dashboard is an even more powerful landing page after login.

Let me know in the comments below if you have recommendations or requests related to login redirection—these are simply the most common ways we help users get their redirects in place.