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Members area in WordPress with WP-Members™

Would you like to make some pages or articles of a WordPress installation accessible only to certain users, i.e. offer a member area? This is possible with the WordPress on-board tools, but the built-in user management is not the best. At least we think so, and have been looking for something better.

This article deals with the plugin WP-Members Membership Plugin by Chad Butler. The plugin makes it easy to create a member area in the WordPress installation.

We show you how to set up and use the plugin quickly.

This article was revised on 16.08.2022.

By the way: an alternative that is also used very often is the plugin "Members". But this article is a WP-Members Tutorial.

Table of Contents

Overview

The complete Documentation in English can be found here.

What does the WP-Members™ plugin do?

It provides a registration and a login form and offers registered users (subscriber role) the possibility to make changes to their profile.

The plugin creates the members as WordPress users and provides additional fields for the users. You can also define your own fields as required.

  • Pages and posts can only be shown to registered users on request (this is the main purpose, of course).
  • The plugin is free of charge.
  • The functionality can be extended with additional add-ons.
  • Extract teasers from blog posts can be are generated automatically.
  • The profile fields and forms can be customized.

Premium add-ons for WP members cost between around $30 and $150. These add-ons offer advanced options, download protection and invitation codes. Integrations with MailChimp, WooCommerce, SalesForce and PayPal are also available.

What doesn't the plugin do?

The free version does not offer a registration process in which the new (paying) member has to transfer money, e.g. via PayPal etc., before becoming a member. For this you can use an add-on called WP-Members Subscription Module with PayPal Integration use.

Installation

The plugin is installed as usual, so it is best to search for "WP-Members" in the plugin directory. The author is Chad Butler.

WP-Members in the WordPress repository

After activation, this information can be seen in the list of installed plug-ins:

Complete Plugin Setup

Here you can simply click on the blue "Complete plugin setup" button and that's it for now.

Plugin Installation Completed

Furnishings

Settings

In the administration area you will find Settings a new menu item WP-Members.

First of all, follow the warnings shown and deactivate

  • the possibility for everyone to comment without registration,
  • and - if not already set up this way - the display of the news feed in the short version ("text excerpt"). The protected content should not inadvertently be accessible via RSS feed without logging in.
Warnings after installation

In the tab WP-Members options to carry out the rest of the basic configuration:

  • Is the entire website reserved for members or just part of it?
  • Should the short version of blocked articles in article lists be shown to all visitors?
  • Should the administrator be informed of new registrations?
  • Should new registrations only become active after confirmation?
  • etc.
WP-Members settings
WP-Members settings

Under the tab Fields you will find all possible fields for user administration. Not only is it very easy to make existing fields mandatory or optional, but you can also create additional fields.

WP-Members fields
WP-Members user fields

However, you can also deselect fields that you do not need. To do this, remove the checkmark in the "Display?" and "Required" columns for the relevant field. Then select at the top of the drop-down box Multiple actions the option Save setting and click on Take over. Only now have you saved the new field configuration.

In German-language websites, you can (and should) edit the field names, e.g. change "First Name" to "Vorname". To do this, click on "Edit" in the list of fields on the right.

You cannot change the associated meta key for the fields in standard fields and must therefore leave it in English (first_name). No one will see this, and your WordPress installation knows its way around.

The First name field

The riders Dialogs and Emails are self-explanatory. Here you revise the texts that users are confronted with during the registration and login process.

Member list

All Members are displayed in the usual WordPress user list. In the detailed view of the users, the member's details for the additionally created fields can be found at the bottom.

Forms

All protected content displays a login form and a registration form below it for people who are not logged in. The forms for the three functions

  • Registration
  • Registration
  • Edit profile

can also be integrated into your own pages using shortcodes:

  • Registration - Shortcode: [wpmem_form register]
  • Login - Shortcode: [wpmem_form login]
  • Edit profile - Shortcode: [wpmem_profile]

If you want to offer your members their own pages for registering, logging in and editing their profile, it is best to create three new pages for this purpose.

Place the appropriate shortcode in each of the pages (Gutenberg blocks are not - yet - available for this). WordPress generates the complete forms from the shortcodes. In this example, a new page My profile and the shortcode for Edit profile shortcode block is used.

New page My profile
Insert shortcode for "My profile" page

This page first shows registered members two links which then lead to editing their own user profile and to a simple password change.

Links to edit profile

People who are not registered, on the other hand, will see a login form and a registration form below it.

The registration form can also be made accessible on a separate page using a shortcode. Here in the example the new page "Registration".

New page Registration
The registration form can look like this with fewer fields

Unfortunately, only CAPTCHAs are available for the forms as spam protection (WP-Members settings: "Activate CAPTCHA for registration"). A more GDPR-compliant spam protection is only available with Premium functions.

The use of separate pages for the WP-Members forms has the advantage that the forms can be embedded in a separate layout (columns). However, these separate pages are not absolutely necessary, as the protected content automatically displays these forms anyway.

However, if you have your own pages for Registration, Registrationand Edit profile then be sure to enter these pages in the WP-Members settings.

WP-Members settings - Pages
WP-Members settings - Pages

Especially when you first register a Confirmation mail If you would like to send us an e-mail, you own page for the user profile (WP-Members settings: "Send link to confirm e-mail address after registration").

Create member area

Let's assume that not the entire website, but only a part of it (i.e. individual pages or articles) is to be blocked for the general public. In this case, it is sufficient to select the value "Restricted" for this page or article under "Page restriction" in the page properties and click "Update".

Create protected page
Locking a single page

Persons who are not logged in will see the login and registration form instead of the content.

See protected page
Protected page without login

If, on the other hand, the plugin settings Content Restriction If the "Restrict" options have also been set by default for pages, then generally accessible pages such as the registration and login page, but also the imprint, privacy policy or the start page can be activated separately with the "Unrestricted" setting.

Supplement

The black admin bar for the members (role subscriber/subscriber and authors) can be removed by the following function (in the file functions.php or via plugin Code Snippets):

// show admin bar only for admins and editors (only for administrators and editors)
if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
	add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');
}

If a subscriber uses the WordPress login page and is redirected to a specific page after successfully logging in, enter this here in functions.php or via plugin Code Snippet in:

add_filter( 'wpmem_login_redirect','my_login_redirect' );
function my_login_redirect() {
      return 'https://ihredomain.com/die-eintrittsseite';
}

And similarly for a landing page after deregistration:

add_filter( 'wpmem_logout_redirect', 'my_logout_redirect' );
function my_logout_redirect() {
      return 'https://ihredomain.com/die-verabschiedungsseite';
}

Import & Export

We have also found simple and functional plugins to quickly import user data from a CSV file or export user data to a CSV file:

And without registration?

Perhaps you would like to use the plugin for member management, but do not want to allow independent registration. You would prefer to create the users yourself in WordPress or import them from another system.

In this case, deactivate the registration by selecting Show registration form deactivate for posts and pages in the WP-Members settings. 

No registration

And simply enter nothing as the registration page. You therefore select "Select page" for the registration page or leave the URL field "Use individual URL below" empty to specify the registration page. This will switch off the line with "New member? Click here to register".

No registration page

Conclusion

If you need a free, quick and easy to set up member area, you should definitely take a look at this plugin. The plugin "rumbles" a little during setup, but it does what it should. If you want to set up a paid website whose content is only activated for a fee, you are probably better off with other plugins.

For the recommendation:

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Then we recommend that you subscribe to our newsletter "Online Marketing News from E-Werkstatt".

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Heinz Duschanek
Heinz Duschanek

Heinz Duschanek founded the online marketing agency E-Werkstatt in 2003. Having previously worked in radio (Radio CD International, Ö1, Ö3), he is now particularly pleased with the direction that online marketing is taking. This gives him an excuse to buy lots of electrical devices and gadgets for audio and video.

Heinz is also interested in Tango Argentino (since 2009), Lindy Hop, Wing-Tsun, boxing and (jazz/blues) guitar.

129 Comments

  1. I read somewhere that you can also enter something in the user-defined field to block a blog page. It said something like "block" and Wet = ???.
    Does anyone know exactly how to do this?

    • Yes sure, with the plugin described here you can protect the page with the custom field "block" and value = "1" or "true". Please read the description above again. Or have I made something unclear?

  3. I would like certain users to be able to see all pages, but only be able to edit selected pages via the dashboard. Is this possible with WP-Members™????

    • From my point of view: yes.
      What you can try: these users should have the role "Author", then they can edit their own pages by clicking on "Edit" in the frontend. But you can only edit other people's pages from the "Editor" role upwards, and then they can do too much. You will probably need a different plugin, namely one that offers more roles, among other things.

  5. Hmm?

    It doesn't work for me. Users cannot register because there is no link, and

    "block" and value = "1" or "true"

    I can't find anywhere where you can set this and

    @ which are simply integrated into the pages using shortcodes:
    Where should they be integrated?

    all this is nowhere to be found??? no description?
    hope for help
    lg

    • Hello,

      the easiest way to get a login form is to drag the "WP-Members Login" widget into the sidebar (see the updated description at the top of the article).

      Alternatively, you can create a page (e.g. call it "Login") and write the following shortcode as content on this page:

      [wp-members page="login"]

      Users will then automatically be shown the form for logging in (see also http://butlerblog.com/wp-members/wp-members-quick-start-guide/4/).

      If you want to make a page for new registrations, then create a new page, call it "Registration" (which must of course be accessible to everyone) and write there:

      [wp-members page="register"]

      And if you want to make a page on which the registered user can change his data, then call the page "My profile" and write there:

      [wp-members page="members-area"]

      This page must of course be protected ("block = true").

      Block pages

      To protect a page, first display the so-called user-defined fields in the backend of a page (if you are editing it). To do this, click on "Show options" at the top right and then check the "Custom fields" box.

      At the end of all page fields (you are still editing a page) you will now see this meta box. Now enter the word "block" under "Name" (without quotation marks), and write "true" (again without quotation marks) in the large text field "Value".

      Done.

      The quick user guide http://butlerblog.com/wp-members/wp-members-quick-start-guide/ explains this very clearly anyway, but unfortunately it is in English.

  6. Hello e-tool,
    great for the help, so slowly it works, for some reason unknown to me I could not see one or the other picture on my first visit here....therefore for me also a bit incomplete to understand. so far all good. I could also adjust the CSS. Many thanks until then and especially for the quick answers.
    BUT 2 things I just can't find, I have already opened and read all the files in Adope GoLive, but

    [wp-members page="members-area"]

    This page must of course be protected ("block = true").
    Where do I put the block and true? I just don't get it?
    -so not in the GoLive Editor but in the WP-Admin, I realize that-

    And how can I replace the registration form in German, so that it does not read *first name* but first name etc., I could not find this file anywhere?

    Thank you in advance
    and have a great weekend

    • In my last comment I described in detail how to set the "block" to "true" anyway, I can't make it any clearer 🙂
      When editing a page, please make the "user-defined fields" visible (if necessary, google how to do this, but I have described it anyway). If you then see them, the further procedure will be self-explanatory.

      Translations are a separate topic. Unfortunately there is a bug in the plugin, the fields "First name" etc. are not translated. But otherwise almost everything.

      You can find the complete instructions for translations from the developer of the plugin: http://butlerblog.com/wp-members/wp-members-translations/ (I am not the developer!)

      Maybe there's a WordPress expert in your area? Because together with him/her, this could all be solved relatively quickly.

      All the best!

  7. Hello again,
    You can do the translation yourself if you know in which file it (the form) is stored, and I couldn't find it. I don't need any instructions

    This dateui does not help me:
    German

    WP-Members™ 2.5 by Christian
    wp-members-en_EN.po
    wp-members-en_EN.mo

    that is already in use.

    Thank you again, because now at least it works. Really great.
    Kind regards

  8. Hello,
    First of all, thank you very much for your explanations.
    What I haven't found yet is the possibility to display all addresses on one page for the other members. I just want to give all former classmates the possibility to see the addresses other than their own.
    Is that possible?
    Thank you already!
    Michael

    • Not with this plugin. You would have to find another one that only lists the subscribers and does not list the administrators. Alternatively, you can make a CSV export and simply enter the data manually as a table.

  9. Hello e-tool,

    Thank you very much for the very easy-to-understand instructions, they worked right away. Nevertheless, I have one question, perhaps you can find time to answer it: can I influence the text output of the shortcodes, and if so, where? For example: after logging in, it says 'start using page'. I would like to reformulate this. In the registration form I would like to remove the 'canton' after 'state'.

    Thanks again for your efforts and best regards,
    JTB

    • Hello Jacky,

      You mean the text output of the plugin? I use the plugin Codestyling Localizationwith which you can edit the .po language files (for themes and plugins) directly on the server. This allows you to customize many issues with WP-Members (e.g. I need a you-version instead of the you-issue), but unfortunately, as I said, not all of them. However, I am sure that you will also be able to get rid of the "canton".

      All the best!

  10. Hello, no standard fields are displayed in the "Rider" field. I can create additional fields that are also displayed during the required registration. Unfortunately, only these are displayed. As a result, it is not possible to log in because, for example, the e-mail field is missing. An additionally created e-mail field does not work, as the error message "You must enter a valid email address" appears when submitting the registration. Does anyone have any idea why this might be?

  13. Thank you for the helpful description.

    I have just entered the two options in the "functions.php".....
    unfortunately does not work...

    Question:
    Does this code have to be in a specific place??????

    There is already a lot in this file

    Looking forward to your message
    Thank you and best regards from Constance/Lake Constance

    • Are you talking about the supplements? It doesn't really matter where it's written. Are you using a WP 3.x?

      Can you post what you have actually entered?

  14. Great instructions, great plugin.
    Where do I remove "Powered by WP-Members"?

    Thank you very much,
    g

    • Obviously this is not intended. I wouldn't remove it from the plugin code because it will reappear with the next update.
      But you can find it in wp-members/wp-members-dialogs.php: in function wpmem_inc_attribution() set $show_attribution = false;

      Alternative therefore hide with CSS:

      #wpmem_reg div small { display: none; }

  17. Now my customer wants the user to be logged in immediately (without confirmation) to get access to the hidden content.

    The detour via the registration confirmation is too complicated for him. Do I have to start a new search?

    lgg

  18. Now my customer wants a completed login process after filling out the first form with direct entry of a self-selected password for a next visit, all without an e-mail to confirm.

    Do I need to look for another plugin?

    lggd

    The process seems hostile to visitors and too complicated

    • If there even is such a thing? Ask the customer if they know of a single platform that works without a confirmation email.

      Alternative: the customer creates the members manually (request via contact form), then there is no confirmation email. And switch off registration in the plugin (there is a setting for this).

  19. - Click on "Show options" in the top right-hand corner and then check the "Custom fields" box. < -

    In WP 3.4, the option "Custom fields" is missing under "Show options"??? Is this function no longer available in 3.4? Any ideas?

    • I can't confirm this, I see it under 3.4 and 3.4.1. Do you have an English WP? Then maybe it's called "Custom fields"?

  20. I use a theme from themeforest and apparently the function is needed there for something else or is not intended and therefore not available. I first tried all the plugins to see if one of them affects the function, but it was the theme.

    Thank you and best regards

  21. Now I have understood what my customer wants, you can see it after clicking on Download on this page: http://www.nivea.de/ext/de-de/nivea-presselounge and pressing the actual download button. A window appears asking you to enter an e-mail address to start the download. Although the visitor can write in what he likes, this is only a very small barrier and that is what matters to him. Is there an idea for me to realize this wish? Thank you very much!

  22. 1000%ig has a plugin for this. However, I haven't used one yet, but I'm sure that a quick search will turn up some.

    The poor man's version would be to use a very simple contact form, where the URL for the download is then on the confirmation page.

  23. First of all, thank you for your German description.
    My goal is to make only a part of the website available to a selected but larger circle (read only).
    With the plugin and after switching off the Admin Bar and setting all to Registered Reader status, it looks good.
    But now I would like to insert approx. 200 user data records.
    I also want to use the additional fields of the plugin and use them later.
    This raises two questions
    1) Where in the SQL database can I find the additional WP member fields?
    2) Do you have any tips on how I can transfer all the data from Excel into these fields?
    Many thanks in advance

    • Unfortunately I can't say anything about 1), but I assume it is an array in TEdeQ_options.

      to 2): Use one of the import plugins, there are two listed in the article.

  25. Hello there,

    I have installed the plugin and use the Anguar theme, the registration works but unfortunately no e-mail is sent to the admin.
    I have activated the fields and also entered the email in the "Specify a custom email address" field. I installed the plugin in another blog as a test and it works great there.
    Does anyone here have any experience with the theme or any idea what the problem might be?

    Many thanks in advance,
    Greetings Vluse.

  26. Hello, the code snipped to hide the admin bar does not work for me either.
    Error code:
    Fatal error: Call to undefined function current_user_can() in ////wp-includes/functions.php on line 46

    Does anyone have any ideas?
    Thanks for the detailed article about this plugin... works perfectly.

    Thank you very much.

  28. And what about the S2Member plugin? Can you not use it or do you have to integrate the payment button there? I don't understand this because the plugin is also supposed to be for a closed member area. Confusing the whole thing man.
    lg.

    • Sure, you can take that, but that wasn't the subject of this article. The S2Member is just a huge thing that you have to get to grips with. You can't completely remove it if you don't want to. That's why I've been working with the more lightweight WP-Members, because it's sufficient for many cases.

  29. hi,
    i read your instructions with interest and installed the plug-inb. so far everything is working. there is just one problem:

    after registering, you remain on the "registration" page, only the text changes:
    "You have logged in as loginname
    Click here to unsubscribe "

    how do i access the content of the site?

    thx

  30. "get rid of":
    Yes, externally (i.e. in the frontend) - but in the backend the admin bar (called toolbar in WP) is still visible!
    It bothers me quite a bit, though, in a WPMU (WP 3.5.1) environment where the community "members" (users) of this particular sub-site are supposed to be kept largely (also visually) away from any administration.

    does anyone have any ideas?
    Thank you 🙂

  31. oops, my comment just broke off at the beginning!
    I was referring to the tip and code regarding disabling the "toolbar" for nonadmins.
    (// show admin bar only for admins and editors)

  32. First of all, thank you for your description. Everything works quite well, only when displaying blocked posts or pages I do not get an excerpt as described.
    -Show short version of the content above the login/registration form on pages and in articles
    I have activated!!!
    Auto Excerpt: Number of words in excerpt: 20 is also activated!!!

    In principle, I would find it better to display the excerpt defined as a short version

  33. Hello everyone
    I just stumbled across this article in my search for a members area.
    To begin with, I have to say that I'm still relatively new to using wordpress. But I'm finding my way around more and more.
    Here is my request for a little help.
    I would like to create a homepage for a club. .
    This should run on wordpress. I have selected a page (www.ziemlich-zackig.de) as an example.
    That's the kind of structure I had in mind. I already have an idea for most of the menu items. The only thing I'm stumbling over is the "Members" menu and the "Login" at the top right.
    I would like to create the members in the so-called member area, who can then also log in to the internal area. The internal area should then contain other things that are not visible to the "normalos" (e.g. appointments, telephone operators, etc.).
    Unfortunately, that's not quite it 😉.
    The so-called "Normalos" should see the members who are registered in the "internal area" on the Users page under the menu item Members.
    If possible with name, photo, position. (Like on the example page. Maybe a link?)
    My question now is...could this be implemented? If so, how? Are there any plugins for this?
    For the internal area and for the member list. Maybe there is also a plugin that can do both 😉.

    Thank you very much in advance for reading 🙂

    Best regards
    Thomas B.

    • In short: yes, all of this can be implemented. With WP-Members or another plugin for the member pages, and the list of members can undoubtedly also be made visible. Either there's a plugin for this, or a PHP programmer can do it in 2 hours.

      If you are a beginner, however, I would tackle this together with a WP professional.

      All the best for the project.

  34. Really a very good article. Many thanks for it! Your article helped me choose the right plugin for WP-Members and thanks to your instructions I was able to get everything up and running without any problems. The last comments on the landing page for logging in and out were particularly helpful. Thank you very much!

  36. Hello,

    I am looking for a similar plugin. Does anyone know a plugin with which you can make menu items etc. only visible to admins? It should be user friendly, because I am not an expert in HTML etc. Many thanks in advance!

    Yours sincerely

    Sebastian S.

    • If you only want to make it visible to admins, you can take a look at the "Dynamic Widgets" plugin, with which you can make an "Individual menu" widget visible only to admins. In other words, you create your own menu especially for the admins, which you then place in the sidebar (with the "Individual menu" widget).

      But this does not yet hide the associated pages. You would then have to mark them all as "Private" and thus have a simple solution.

  37. Hello !
    I use wp-member, but unfortunately I only get the buddy-like "Du" address in German. I would have to change this to "Sie_Variante". Can anyone tell me if and how I can do this?
    Thank you very much!
    Lulu
    e.g. Thank you for your registration. You can log in here
    I need: Thank you for your registration etc

    • That's right, it's annoying. I also had to change this once, and there are the tabs "Fields", "Dialogs" and "Emails" in the WP-Members settings.

  38. Hello,
    Really very good instructions. I installed it as a result. But now I get a 404 error (page cannot be found) after successful registration.
    Which pages do I still have to create? Login, Register, Members-Area and? Or do I have another possible error in my thinking?
    Many thanks in advance,
    Charles

  39. Hi - and thanks for the review of the WP-Members plugin!!!
    I hope you all do not mind my comments in English. My German is not very good 😉
    Since this article was posted, I have opened a new support site for the plugin (rocketgeek.com). It is premium support, but there is also a free user guide and documentation for the plugin. One of the things you mentioned was PayPal. While the plugin does not offer PayPal in the main plugin, there is an add-on available to subscribers of rocketgeek.com.
    Also, in reviewing the comments, there was a question about the attribution link. This has been changed to an option in the plugin. We are happy if you turn it on, but it defaults to off.

  40. The plugin is great. But can it somehow be linked to a Facebook login, i.e. a new user logs in with his FB account or registers, but must be activated manually.
    Is that possible?

  41. Too bad. Is it possible to display an overview of all members in the frontend in connection with the login data, as a kind of address book, so to speak?

  42. It is certainly an interesting plugin for setting up a members area. However, since in most cases a member area is subject to a fee, it is out of the question for me. I have mostly used s2Member and more recently the German plugin DigiMember. I have had very good experiences with both. The advantage of s2Member is that it is free.

  43. Super explanation
    I did everything like this, also got the keys etc...
    Nevertheless, the message still appears in wp-members:
    "You have activated reCAPTCHA, but you have not entered any API keys. You need both a public and a private key. CAPTCHA will not be displayed until you have entered valid keys."

    What could be the reason for this?

  44. So I forgot:
    Wordpress version: 3.6.1
    WP-reCAPTCHA: Version 2.8.6
    WP-Members: Version 2.8.6
    WP Captcha Free: Version 0.9.1

    Thanks for the help

  45. I hope one of you can finally help me. At first I thought this plugin would be the solution to my problem: I want users to be able to see only their own files in the media library and not those of others. I run a video portal for music.

    Thank you very much,

    Denbu

  46. Thank you for this contribution!
    Maybe someone of you has an idea how to search the WP posts for "BLOCKED". Since many posts are simply sorted within the other posts and within the standard categories, I would like to have an overview of all posts "blocked" by WP members. Gladly in the normal "Category-List". I don't want to use a TAG or a category for this - I'd rather do a proper query.

    Is it possible to make it clear in the overview that it is the exerpt of a "protected" post? I could imagine a "locked-badge" or similar.

  47. I also use WP Members. The only problem is that after a member has created himself, he then also gets into the /wp-admin area. I can't change that much there. But can't I deactivate this somehow? Because only admins and editors should have access there.

  48. Hello everyone,

    First of all, thank you very much for the great article, it has already helped me a lot.
    Is it possible to customize this plugin, either with PHP code or an additional plugin, so that you get 2 separate areas. One for employees only and one for customers only?!

    Would be grateful for any tips.

    Greetings Marc

    • Hello Marc,

      You could create your own (new) roles (there are plugins or PHP code examples for this), and then define (possibly again with PHP) where these roles may or may not read. Of course, this will be more complex ...

  49. Hello,

    Thank you for the quick reply.

    This means, for example, that I could also install the WordPress Members plugin and use the functions available there to create roles. Furthermore, I can then control the individual access rights for pages and posts with the integrated "Content Permissions" function.
    Won't the "Content Permissions" function of Members and the "Block this Page" function of Wp-Members then get in each other's way?

    I have one more question...
    Is there any way to set the admin to receive an e-mail as soon as a user changes their profile information?
    Or has someone perhaps already created a code snippet?

    Greetings Marc

  50. Hello!

    This is really a very helpful article on WP Members. Great work!

    I have a similar question to Michael. I would like to set up WP Members so that the registered user
    a) no admin bar and
    b) cannot access the WordPress dashboard, i.e. not even the profile page.

    WP Members always creates a new user as a "subscriber". How do I make sure that a subscriber does not have access to the WordPress admin bar and dashboard?

    I would be very grateful for a tip or a sensible solution 🙂

    Greetings, Martin

  51. First of all, many, many thanks. Sometimes you can't see the trees for the forest 🙂

    Greetings, Martin

  52. Hello and first of all, thank you for the instructions. It's really not that difficult. However, I have a small but ugly problem.

    When a guest accesses a protected member site, an additional area (apparently generated by WordPress) is displayed above the message generated by WP-Members and the login:

    Protected [page name]
    This content is password protected. To view it, please enter your password below:
    [input field]

    I actually only know this when I set the visibility of the page to "Password protected". However, my member pages are all "Public".

    How can I get rid of this nonsense? Members usually try to enter their login password there and naturally receive an error message.

    And maybe you can help me with this too: I have managed to prevent access to the dashboard using the "Remove Dashboard Access" plugin you recommended. However, the dashboard bar is still displayed. This is annoying and confuses users. Is there any way I can get rid of it completely?

    Many thanks in advance!

  54. Hello, I have a small problem:
    My members = subscribers in WP-Members also have access to the FORMS. Can't you set it so that they only have access to their PROFILE? Nothing else.

    Thank you very much.
    Silvia Kaufer

  55. Hello @ewerkzeug,

    I have a small problem with the plugin. I actually wanted to make a completely protected member area. The blocking works everywhere, except on the "post page".
    Is it also possible to block them? Otherwise anyone could read the posts on the site...

    I discovered a lot of functions while searching for the problem. That was quite good 🙂
    But unfortunately I haven't found the solution to my problem...
    Thank you!

    • Hi,

      the complete blocking of categories does not seem to be built in. The developer recommends using the "Read more" tag for posts. This means that only the part before the "Read more" is visible on the category page, but the entire post is protected.

      Quote from http://www.butlerblog.com/wp-members/wp-members-faqs/:

      "Also, for posts, be sure you are using the `` tag. The blocking only takes place on single posts. Without this tag, a full post would display on your home page or on an archive/category page."

  56. Hello, I would also like to use the plugin, I have the following problem, after I have imported users and then activate them, the users receive an email (in English) but without a password.

    Your registration for my website has been approved.

    Your registration information is below.
    You may wish to retain a copy for your records.

    username: username
    password:

    You may login and change your password here:
    http://meinewebseite/login

    You originally registered at:
    ———————————-
    This is an automated message from my website
    Please do not reply to this address

    Where can I change the text (German) and transmit the password or deactivate this function completely?

  57. Hello,

    I use the plugin for the internal area. Since only members of the Buchholz fire department have access and I maintain an e-mail address "Name@ff-buchholz.de" for each member, I came up with the idea of using this tool to find out about changes to the private e-mail address. So, I would like to be informed by e-mail every time someone changes something in their data.

    I was able to find the following links on this topic:

    However, the first link sends an e-mail to the user and not to me, and the second link somehow doesn't work. Can anyone help me?

    Thank you very much, Matthias

    • Then enter the admin e-mail address in the code of the first example and change the text of the e-mail a little:

      function user_profile_update( $user_id ) {
        $site_url = get_bloginfo('wpurl');
        $user_info = get_userdata( $user_id );
        $to = 'xxxxxx@xxxxxx.de';
        $subject = "Profile update: ".$site_url."";
        $message = "Hello Admin,\n\nder User" .$user_info->display_name . "\nhas updated his profile";
        wp_mail( $to, $subject, $message);
}
add_action( 'profile_update', 'user_profile_update', 10, 2);

      That could work.

  58. Thanks for the great description. Everything is working great so far.
    But on the pages that are only accessible to members, there are links to PDF files that I have created. Unfortunately, I cannot protect these with the plugin. Is there a way to exclude non-members from accessing them anyway?

    Thanks in advance, Mattie

  60. I now know how to work around the problem.
    When activating a user, the automatically generated password is deleted so that the password selected by the user remains.

    The problem that the password is not sent to the user by e-mail* - so he has to remember it and cannot find it in his e-mail archive - remains.

    *An e-mail is sent at the right time, which also contains the name, but not the password.

    • That's just normal WordPress behavior, and a good thing, in my opinion. Readable passwords simply have no place in emails.

  61. Hello and first of all, thank you for the great instructions. Everything works perfectly for me.
    There's just one thing I can't get to work or this function simply doesn't exist. I have searched the whole Internet and have not found anything.

    The problem is this:
    When a new member registers, the password is sent to them in the email. If they want to change the password, they can only change the e-mail address. Because the member himself has not set a Pw. This all works if the member has to set a Pw when registering. But if he can set a Pw himself, he does not have to confirm the mail address but can log in directly.

    I would like a new member to be able to choose his own pw but still have to confirm his e-mail address. How can I implement this?

    If this is not possible, how can I give the member the possibility to change the pw if the pw was not set by myself?

    The dashboard is saved for members.

    Best regards and thank you!

    • During the registration process, you can normally also assign yourself a password. Or you can click on "Forgot password" on the login screen, which will send you an email with a confirmation link. But if you completely block the dashboard for members, this may not work. Consider at least allowing members to change their own profile.

  62. Hello,
    Can I also use WP-Members with the Groups plugin? (I searched for Groups here, but found nothing)
    The background or aim is to make certain pages only accessible to certain registered users, e.g. the integrated family calendar should only be accessible to family members.

    Greetings
    Axel

  63. Hello all, I'm in despair. I have understood everything "roughly" so far but... I can't log in. At first I thought you had to create new members via the WP_Members own registration but 1. it was not possible to log in there either (with the access data sent) and 2. I then also saw that this member has also saved himself in the WP own user area. Hiiiieeeelfe 🙂 Thanks and best regards Micha

  64. Yay, I figured it out myself with the WP_Members Troubelshooting. It was the plugin "SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam" which prevented me from logging in. After deactivating it everything worked fine!!! Thanks Micha 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • It's nice when things can be solved by yourself 🙂

      And yes, you will also see the members in the WordPress area for user profiles, but they are not administrators there, but hopefully have a different role (subscriber, employee, author).

  65. Hello, yes, the users should all be subscribers there. One more quick question: Would the following dream actually work: one login and many users with different passwords. And depending on the password entered, a different page appears? +++ Background: A service provider has many projects/customers and they should always be able to see the status of the project by logging in. But!!! one customer must not be able to see the project of another. Up's the question was not so short 🙂

  66. Works. I use the following plugin for a project:
    https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/peters-login-redirect/

    However, this does not work with the password entered, but with the user name, of course. So you have to create such a protected page beforehand and use the redirect plugin to redirect the appropriate user to it after logging in.

    The visibility of the respective customer page is set to "Private", and with the plugin "User Role Editor" it has been set that users with the role "Subscriber" can also read private pages ("read_private_pages" has a checkmark).

    And if you want to be on the safe side, you would have to find something that allows a certain page to be seen only by a certain user and you as admin. I'm sure there's a plugin for this, but you'll have to do your own research.

  67. Hello and thanks for the quick and good information. Well then I'll install it and work my way through it. Sounds pretty exciting 🙂 Let me know if you have any successes 🙂 Thanks

  70. Could it be that the two files that can be downloaded for the translation only translate the descriptions, but not the field names? I don't understand how you managed to display all fields in German in the screenshot in your description. With the editable fields it may be possible by editing the display, but how do I get First Name and Last Name as field names instead of First Name and Last Name?

  71. Hello,

    Is it possible for each user to have their own private area, which can only be edited by an admin?

    In other words, the admin creates the content for the respective user.
    Such as tasks or special info that is only for one specific user?

    Greetings
    Andreas

  72. Hello,
    I would like to add users to the wp-members plugin myself. So it should not be possible to register yourself. I have managed to get rid of the registration field, but now I don't know how to add users.
    Thank you!

  73. Sorry, I overlooked it.

    The members are simply WP users (e.g. subscribers). And you can create WP users manually in the backend, or import them with an import plugin (see our article below).

  74. Good morning,

    What about GDPR compliance for WP-Members? Do you know whether I can continue to use it or what I may have to consider (apart from the note in the privacy policy...)?

    Thanks for a tip and best regards

    • Chad Butler himself (the developer) writes about this (and I agree): https://wordpress.org/support/topic/dsgvo-and-wp-members/.

      So make sure there is sufficient mention in the privacy policy: what data is collected, for what purpose; and obtain explicit consent on the registration form or add a text (with a link to the privacy policy). In principle, the same as for newsletters.

  75. How do you do? Thanks for the good article. A simple members area I created with wp-members works perfectly. Only in the login widget of the plugin in the sidebar (bottom right) appears an English output: "Username or Email.". I would like to translate this into "Username". The text cannot be found in the plugin's po file and all attempts to localize it have failed. Where could I find it? Thank you very much for any advice.

    • Hmm, that's more likely to be a WordPress message, it's not in the code for the WP Members widget. I think that the plugin only uses the WordPress login form again and does not offer its own.

      Do you use "German (you)" or "German (Switzerland)" as the language of the website? That should not be translated.

      This string should actually be translated with the "Loco Translate" plugin (https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/loco-translate/) (in the WordPress translations). In any case, the instruction can be found for "German" in de_DE.po, and should also be in de_DE-_formal.po for "German (you)" and in de_CH.po for "German (Switzerland)".

      And read up on this topic here: https://blog.k-webs.ch/2016-05-de_ch-fur-wordpress-themes-und-plugins-in-der-schweiz.html. It is possible that no language version de_CH exists for this plugin.

  76. Thanks for the information: I use German colloquial language. Unfortunately, the English string cannot be found anywhere, not even with Loco-Translate. The string "In any case, the instruction can be found for "German" in de_DE.po" is not the one I am looking for. I think I'll have to leave it as it is for the time being. Maybe I'll come across the source by chance at some point. Kind regards. W

    • Yes, it must be in de_DE.po, and that is in wp-content/languages/ (and that is also shown by Loco Translate - if not, then there is an error in the system).

      (line 6735 in de_DE.po according to the current status for WordPress 5.0.2)

      #: wp-login.php:579 wp-login.php:1004 wp-includes/general-template.php:396
      msgid "Username or Email Address"
      msgstr "User name or e-mail address"

      The same code can also be found in de_DE_formal.po and in de_CH.po.

      These are the language files for the WordPress core.

      But we also had the phenomenon here with another website that we only saw the German text (shopping cart ads in a store) very briefly at a certain point, and then immediately saw the English text again instead. This replaced the German text shortly afterwards. Solution: Implement language files cleanly in the correct places, possibly download them again via "Update". Or delete them from /wp-content/languages/ and then reload them in the "Settings" under "Website language".

      Further general tips cannot be given without seeing the website.

  77. The problem is that my annoying English string is called "Username or Email" and not "Username or Email Address". I can also find this second string in de_DE.po. I can't find the first, shorter one anywhere. But it appears in my login widget. Thanks and regards. W

    • Solved. In my opinion, it was simply forgotten in the language template file (wp-members.pot).

      I have now tested this on a test installation (https://trainer.ewerkstatt.com/), and so it went (manual work in file .pot):

      1. Download the plugin from your website using FTP
      2. Open the date wp-members.pot with a text editor such as Notepad++ (Win) or TextWrangler (Mac). You can find this file in \wp-content\plugins\wp-members\lang\
      3. Scroll down in the file to other entries that are related to strings from the file class-wp-members.php employ. Enter it there (I have inserted it in line 1210):
        #: inc/class-wp-members.php:645
        msgid "Username or Email"
        msgstr ""
      4. Save, upload again
      5. Call up Loco Translate -> Plugins -> WP Members
      6. For "German" click on Edit/Edit
      7. Click on the "Sync" button. This will now load the strings from the pot file.
      8. Search for "Username or Email". You will now find the string because you have entered it in the pot file.
      9. Enter your translation in the field below and then click on "Save" at the top.

      I hope this works for you. If not, I will be happy to send you the po and mo files generated by Loco Translate (and the pot file too).

      Alternative only with Loco Translate (without FTP and file editing)

      1. Call up the WP Members plugin at Loco Translate
      2. Click on "Edit Template"
      3. Add new: "Username or Email"
      4. Click on Save

      This saves you having to edit the file manually wp-members.pot. Then continue:

      1. Call up the plugin in Loco Translate again
      2. Add a new language, name it "German" (yes, there will be two), and select the source: "WordPress language" -> "German" (under "Installed languages"), and (important!) under "Location" -> "Custom". This way, your translated string will not be removed when the plugin is updated in the future.
      3. Then search for your own "German" in the list of languages in Loco Translate again (this will be translated to 0%, and the "Folder" column will say "Custom").
      4. Click on "Edit"
      5. Click on "Sync", search for your string "Username or Email", enter your translation and click on "Save".

      Done. This time without FTP. But in this case you must no longer deactivate the "Loco Translate" plugin, otherwise your own string with translation will be gone again.

      PS: it seems to me that the developer also used the plugin "WP-Members Text Editor", which does cost something.

  79. Hello,
    Is there a way to "release" posts after a certain time - that is, to change them from "members only" to "public"?
    Thank you

    • I am not aware of this.

      But certainly not difficult to program for WordPress PHP developers. The keywords are "cronjob" and "change custom field value" (from block=true to block=false).

  80. Hello,
    Wp Members is doing very well except for one thing,
    My Woocommerce store is not blocked.
    I can make the menu item visible when logged in but direct link entry is accessible without login.

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