After activating AdminEase, the dashboard appears as a new top-level item in your WordPress admin menu. This guide walks you through the dashboard layout, what each tab covers, and the safest way to start enabling features without surprising your visitors.

Opening the dashboard

From your WordPress admin menu, click AdminEase. You can also reach it from the Plugins screen by clicking the Settings link in the AdminEase row.

The first time you open it, the Dashboard tab is selected. You’ll see three intro panels: a welcome message, a heads-up about core settings, and a support card.

All settings on one page

AdminEase keeps every option on a single screen, organised into category tabs. Switching tabs does not save your work; you save everything at once at the bottom.

The dashboard layout at a glance

Header

The top bar shows the AdminEase logo and version, the tab navigation, and two layout controls on the right side:

  • Toggle to sidebar: flips the tab navigation from a horizontal bar at the top into a vertical sidebar on the left. The choice is saved to your user profile.
  • Minimise / maximise sidebar: collapses the sidebar to icon-only mode for more horizontal space. Also remembered per user.

Tabs

The category tabs split features into logical groups. The categories that ship with the free plugin are:

DashboardWelcome panel, Pro feature comparison, support links.
Updates and NotificationsControl core/plugin/theme update behaviour and admin notice noise.
SecurityHardening tools: file edits, XML-RPC, REST API, headers, sensitive files.
PerformanceMemory limit, max execution time, revisions, autosave, cron, emojis.
PostsTrash retention, comments, drag-and-drop ordering, bulk delete, metadata.
TaxonomiesDrag-and-drop ordering, term metadata, taxonomy switcher, meta box.
UsersStrong passwords, auto-logout, login redirects, hide admin bar, last-login tracking.
DebugWP_DEBUG controls, maintenance mode, network/email/cron viewers.
MediaUpload size limits, SVG uploads, custom MIME types, infinite scroll.
PluginsActive-first listing, plugin downloader.

If you also have AdminEase Pro active, you’ll see one extra tab on the right named License, where you enter and manage your license key.

Field layout

Each tab uses the same two-column layout: the toggle or input on the left, and a description with help text or links on the right. Some toggles reveal additional sub-fields when enabled (for example, Force strong passwords reveals minimum/maximum length fields).

Recommended first-run workflow

AdminEase ships with every feature switched off. That’s deliberate. Some options modify wp-config.php or .htaccess, so it’s up to you to opt into the changes you want. We recommend the following order:

  1. Take a fresh backup Before turning on anything, take a full-site backup with your usual backup plugin or host. AdminEase makes its own copies of wp-config.php and .htaccess on activation, but a complete backup is always safer.
  2. Test on staging if you can Some features (like Disable XML-RPC, Disable REST API, or Maintenance Mode) can break integrations or hide your site. If you have a staging copy, try changes there first.
  3. Start with low-risk wins Good first toggles for almost any site: Hide WordPress version, Block access to sensitive files, Disable file edit, Hide PHP version, Block author scans, and Disable emojis. These tighten your site without changing how visitors or editors interact with it.
  4. Tune memory and execution On the Performance tab, set the WordPress memory limit and max execution time to values your host supports. If you don’t know, leave them on the default suggestions.
  5. Save your settings Scroll to the bottom and click Save settings. The settings save over AJAX, so the page won’t reload, and you’ll see a green success notice when it’s done.
  6. Verify the front-end Open your site in a private window. Confirm visitors still see the home page, the WordPress version is no longer in the page source, and key forms still submit.
A few features force a page reload

Toggling certain options (for example Bulk Delete Posts, Taxonomy Switcher, Network Viewer, Email Log, Cron Viewer Log, or Plugin Download) changes which admin screens AdminEase needs to mount. After saving, AdminEase will reload the dashboard automatically so the new screens appear.

Saving and reverting changes

How saving works

AdminEase uses a single Save settings button at the bottom of the dashboard for the whole plugin. All tabs are part of one form, so flipping toggles on multiple tabs and saving once is fully supported.

If something looks wrong

Toggle the offending option back off, click Save settings again, and reload the front-end. Because the values are stored in a single WordPress option, there’s no “orphan” state to clean up.

If your site becomes unreachable

If a setting locks you out of wp-admin, deactivate AdminEase via SFTP by renaming its folder under wp-content/plugins/adminease/. AdminEase’s deactivation hook will, on the next visit, restore the original wp-config.php and .htaccess from the backups it created during activation.

Where to go next

Once your site looks healthy, work tab-by-tab through the modules you actually need. Each module has its own documentation article in the Modules section, with details on every option, what it changes, and any gotchas.