The Network Admin Screen is the central access point to the various options necessary to administer the Multisite (or Network)capabilities of WordPress. The information below is directed specifically for Network Administrators. Other users should see Administration Screens for information on using WordPress.
The Network Admin link is only visible after you Create A Network. The menu will appear in the upper right of the menu bar, and is only visible to super admins. It has been moved to a separate location with the admin area, and is available from the admin area of any site, as long as you are logged in as the super admin user.
When visiting Network Admin you will see the Dashboard screen. This looks similar to a site dashboard, with one additional widget, and the site specific widgets removed. The Right Now widget has quick links to the Create a Site and Create a User screens, as well as search boxes to quickly find sites and users.
Each screen is accessed via the main navigation menu, presented in the boxes below. The links in those boxes will lead you to sections of this article describing those screens. From those sections, you can navigate to articles detailing more information about each screen.
| Dashboard | Sites | Users | Themes | Plugins | Settings | Updates |
Dashboard
The Dashboard is information central and tells you about your network sites, provides news from the WordPress community, gives access to your plugins, and shows other WordPress news.
Sites
Use the Network Admin Sites Screen to review and manage the various sites that are part of your network. These sites will be either subdirectory or subdomain sites as determined by how the network was configured. From this screen you can access Info, Users, Themes, and Settings for each site in your Network.
Use the Add New Sites Screen to add new sites to your network.
Users
The Network Admin Users Screen is where Network Admin personnel manages users and Add New Users Screen is used to add new users.
Themes
The Network Admin Themes Screen allows you to control which themes site administrators can use for each site. It does not activate or deactivate which theme a site is currently using. If the network admin disables a theme that is in use, it can still remain selected on that site. If another theme is chosen, the disabled theme will not appear in the site’s Appearance > Themes screen. Themes can be enabled on a site by site basis by the network admin on the Edit Site screen you go to via the Edit action link on the Sites screen.
To add new themes, refer to the Add New Theme to understand the process of finding and installing new themes for your network.
Use the Theme Editor to edit the various files that comprise your Themes. The Theme Editor Screen allows you to designate which theme you want to edit then displays the files in that theme. Each file (Template and CSS) in the theme can be edited in the large text box.
Plugins
The Network Admin Plugins Screen allow you to add new features to your WordPress network that don’t come standard with the default installation. There are a rich variety of available Plugins for WordPress, and plugin installation and management is a snap.
Refer to the Add New Plugins to add new plugins. For information on downloading and installing plugins, see Managing Plugins.
Using the Plugin Editor, you can modify the source code of all your plugins.
Settings
The Network Admin Settings Screen is where a network admin sets and changes settings for the network as a whole. The first site is the main site in the network and network settings are pulled from that original site’s options.
Also, Network Setup information that was used when Creating the Network can be accessed.
Updates
The Network Admin Updates Screen controls update process of both network and sites. In the Available Updates Screen, you can update WordPress core, themes and plugins. After you updates to the latest version of WordPress, you can upgrade all the sites on your network from Upgrade Network Screen.