Hiding & Showing Items

The visibility toggle feature lets administrators control which menu items non-admin users can see in the sidebar. This is useful for simplifying the WordPress admin interface for editors, authors, and other roles who don’t need access to every menu item.

How to Hide an Item

1. Enter edit mode by clicking “Edit Menu” at the top of the sidebar.
2. Hover over the menu item you want to hide.
3. Click the eye icon that appears on the right side of the item.
4. The item becomes grayed out (low opacity), indicating it is now hidden from non-admin users.
5. Click Save to apply the change.

How to Unhide an Item

1. Enter edit mode.
2. Find the grayed-out item in the sidebar — hidden items are still visible to administrators in edit mode.
3. Hover over the item and click the eye icon again to restore its visibility.
4. The item returns to full opacity, indicating it will now be visible to all users.
5. Click Save to apply the change.

What Users See

For administrators: Hidden items appear grayed out while in edit mode, but are fully visible and functional when edit mode is off. Administrators always have access to every menu item.

For non-administrator users: Hidden items are completely removed from the sidebar. They won’t see them at all — no grayed-out entries, no placeholders, nothing.

Important Security Note

Hiding a menu item only removes it from the sidebar navigation. It does not restrict access to the underlying page. If a user knows the direct URL and has the required WordPress capability for that page, they can still access it. For true access restriction, use a dedicated role and capability management plugin.

How Hidden Items Are Stored

Hidden items are stored as an array of menu slugs within the hidden key of the idamc_menu_order option in the wp_options table. For example, if you hide the Tools and Comments menus, the hidden array would contain their respective slugs: tools.php and edit-comments.php.