# Access for editors

Decide whether editors can use Link Manager Pro, and know what administrators, editors, Authors and Contributors can each do.
Page: https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/access
Use when someone asks: let editors manage links wordpress; editor access short links; user roles link plugin
Intent: How-to

Administrators can always use Link Manager Pro. To let editors manage links in WordPress too, an administrator sets **Who can use Link Manager Pro** to **Editors and above** under Link Manager › Settings › Advanced. Settings stay with administrators either way. And anyone who can edit posts, Authors and Contributors included, gets the editor tools without any access to the **Link Manager** menu.

## Who can use Link Manager Pro?

Link Manager Pro has three levels of access. Administrators get everything. Editors get the **Link Manager** menu without **Settings**, but only when an administrator allows it. Everyone who can edit posts gets the editor tools in the posts they can edit.

| Role on a standard WordPress site | **Link Manager** menu: links, reports, **Link Intelligence** | **Settings** and setup | Editor tools in posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Always | Yes | Yes |
| Editor | Only with **Editors and above** | No | Yes |
| Author | No, unless you give the role access ([below](#give-access-to-another-role-or-one-user)) | No | Yes |
| Contributor | No, unless you give the role access | No | Yes, to search and insert. Not to create |
| Subscriber | No | No | No |

The editor tools are the **Short link** button in the block editor (**Insert short link** in the classic editor), the **AI Link Assistant** and the **Internal link optimization** box. [Editor tools](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/editor-tools) explains how to use them.

## Let editors manage links in WordPress

**Who can use Link Manager Pro** starts at **Administrators only**. Switch it to **Editors and above** and every user with the Editor role can work in Link Manager Pro. You need an administrator account to change it.

::: warning
With **Editors and above**, every editor can delete short links, redirects and affiliates, and nothing goes to a trash. Deleting a short link also deletes its clicks, routing rules and other addresses. Deleting a redirect deletes its hit history. Editors can also run **Scan posts**, which edits posts. Choose it only if you trust each editor with that.
:::

1. Go to Link Manager › Settings › Advanced.
2. In **Who can use Link Manager Pro**, choose **Editors and above**.
3. Select **Save changes**.

From their next page load, editors see the **Link Manager** menu with **Dashboard**, **Short Links**, **Campaigns**, **Affiliates** and **Link Intelligence**. **Settings** isn't there. To check it worked, ask an editor to reload any WordPress admin screen and look for **Link Manager** in the menu.

To take access away again, choose **Administrators only** and select **Save changes**. Editors lose the menu on their next page load, and Link Manager Pro refuses their requests from then on. The editor tools stay, because they never depended on this setting.

## What editors can do in Link Manager Pro

With **Editors and above**, editors work in every part of Link Manager Pro except **Settings**. They have the same buttons as an administrator on these screens, apart from the few listed under [What stays with administrators](#what-stays-with-administrators):

- **Short Links**: create, edit and delete short links, open their reports, manage [other addresses](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/other-addresses), categories and tags.
- **Campaigns** and **Affiliates**: create, edit and delete them, and see their reports.
- **Link Intelligence**: scan and fix in **Link Health**, scan in **Link Audit** and **Link Equity**, and create, pause or delete **Redirects**.
- **Dashboard**: every report, and **Scan my site**, which opens **Scan posts**. Posts their account can't edit are left as they were.
- The WordPress Dashboard: the plugin's Overview and Quick Add widgets. People without access to Link Manager Pro don't get them.

## What stays with administrators

Some parts of Link Manager Pro need an administrator, whatever **Who can use Link Manager Pro** says. In WordPress terms, that's anyone with the `manage_options` capability, which the Administrator role has. These include:

- **Settings** and every tab in it, such as **Migration** (imports from other plugins and old shortcodes), **Webhooks**, **AI Link Assistant** with the AI key, and **Backup & restore**. Editors don't see **Settings** in the menu or in the plugin's top bar. A settings address takes them to the Dashboard, and Link Manager Pro refuses to send or save settings for them.
- Setup (**Set up Link Manager Pro**). It opens only for an administrator, both after activation and when a setup left part-way picks up again.
- **System information** in **Help & Support**.
- **Adopt address** in the Redirects review panel.
- **Link Intelligence settings** in Link Health's **More actions** menu (⋯).
- The import suggestion in the Dashboard's **Needs attention** card, and the WordPress notices about another plugin's links to import and about an unfinished restore.

Where an editor meets one of these, the screen points to an administrator instead of a settings link. For example, with click tracking off, the Dashboard says **An administrator can turn it on in Settings.** The Redirects review panel shows **An administrator can adopt an address.** And the **Scan posts** warning suggests asking an administrator for a backup first.

## Editor access for Authors and Contributors

Anyone who can edit posts can use the editor tools in the posts they can edit. That's the `edit_posts` capability, which every role from Contributor up has on a standard WordPress site. **Who can use Link Manager Pro** doesn't change this, and writers don't need the **Link Manager** menu for it.

Without the menu, a writer can:

- Search your short links and affiliates and insert them, with **Short link** in the block editor or **Insert short link** in the classic editor. Your short links and affiliates also show up in WordPress's own link search.
- Create a short link with **New short link** and **Create & insert**, if they can publish posts (Authors and up): a **Destination URL** and an optional slug, nothing more. Everything else gets safe defaults ([what a new short link gets](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/editor-tools#what-a-new-short-link-gets)). Contributors can't create.
- Use the **AI Link Assistant**. **Links to shorten** works from the start; **Suggestions** need an administrator to turn them on and connect an AI provider ([AI Link Assistant](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/ai-link-assistant)).
- See the **Internal link optimization** box, which counts the post's internal links.

A writer without the menu can't change, delete or open the report of a short link after creating it. Someone with access does that under Link Manager › Short Links.

### Authors' short links work straight away
A short link an Author creates from the editor works the moment they select **Create & insert**, before anyone reviews their post. It can send visitors to any web page, on any site (an address starting with `http://` or `https://`). The same goes for **Create & insert** under **Links to shorten** in the **AI Link Assistant**. The link stays in **Short Links** even if the post is never published, and only someone with access to the menu can change or delete it.

Contributors can search and insert existing short links, but they can't create any. The editor doesn't offer them the create option. A request to create one answers "Your role can insert existing short links but can’t create new ones. Ask an editor or administrator."

## Give access to another role or one user

**Editors and above** means any user with the `manage_link_manager_pro` capability, not only the Editor role. To let an Author, a custom role or one person in, give them that capability and set **Who can use Link Manager Pro** to **Editors and above**. With **Administrators only**, the capability does nothing.

- With a role editor plugin: find `manage_link_manager_pro` in the role's capabilities, tick it and save.
- With WP-CLI: `wp cap add author manage_link_manager_pro` gives it to a role, and `wp user add-cap <user> manage_link_manager_pro` to one user. To take it back, use `wp cap remove` or `wp user remove-cap` the same way.

Link Manager Pro manages the capability on two roles itself:

| When | What happens to `manage_link_manager_pro` |
|---|---|
| The plugin is activated | Added to the Administrator and Editor roles, every time |
| The plugin is deactivated | Removed from the Administrator and Editor roles. Other roles and single users keep it |
| The plugin is deleted with **Delete all data when the plugin is deleted** on | Removed from every role. A capability given to one user stays. `wp link-manager-pro uninstall --delete-data` does the same removal, whatever the setting ([WP-CLI commands](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/wp-cli)) |

::: info Note
If you take the capability away from the Editor role, it comes back the next time the plugin is activated. Check the Editor role after you deactivate and activate Link Manager Pro.
:::

Administrators never need the capability. Link Manager Pro lets in anyone with `manage_options`, even if you remove `manage_link_manager_pro` from their role.

### Multisite networks

Link Manager Pro is activated site by site on a multisite network. Network activation stops with a page titled Network activation not supported, which asks you to activate it from each site's **Plugins** screen. Each site has its own **Who can use Link Manager Pro** setting and its own roles. With WP-CLI, add `--url=<site address>` to the `wp cap` or `wp user` command to pick the site. A super admin passes every capability check in WordPress, so they have full access, **Settings** included, on every site where the plugin is active.

## Details

Every check below runs on the server. A request without the right capability gets the answer **Sorry, you are not allowed to access this resource.** (HTTP 403).

| Part | Who passes |
|---|---|
| **Link Manager** menu and its screens, the WordPress Dashboard widgets | `manage_options`, or `manage_link_manager_pro` while **Who can use Link Manager Pro** is **Editors and above** |
| **Settings**, setup, **System information**, **Adopt address** | `manage_options` only |
| Short link search, the **Internal link optimization** box | `edit_posts` |
| **AI Link Assistant** | `edit_posts`, or access to the **Link Manager** menu |
| **Create & insert** | `publish_posts`, or access to the **Link Manager** menu |
| **AI Link Assistant** scans and suggestions, **Internal link optimization** counts, for one post | Also `edit_post` for that post. Otherwise the assistant answers **You cannot use the assistant on this post.** and the box answers **You cannot analyze this post.** |
| Inserting a link from **Link Audit** into a post | `edit_post` for that post. Otherwise: **You can’t edit that post.** |
| WP-CLI commands (`wp link-manager-pro ...`) | No WordPress role check. Anyone who can run WP-CLI on the server can run them ([WP-CLI commands](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/wp-cli)) |

Access is worked out on each request, so a change to the setting or to a role applies from the next page load. If the saved setting is missing or holds an unknown value, Link Manager Pro treats it as **Administrators only**.

## Get more out of it

- Keep **Administrators only** if only you manage links. Your writers still get the editor tools: they can search and insert short links in their posts, and Authors can create them, without seeing your reports.
- Let one trusted Author manage links without opening it to every editor. Give that user `manage_link_manager_pro`, remove it from the Editor role, then choose **Editors and above**. Recheck the Editor role after you reactivate the plugin.
- Look over new short links now and then if Authors write for you. **Short Links** lists the newest first, so links writers made recently sit at the top.
- Set up the AI provider before you tell writers about suggestions. Once **Link suggestions** is on and until a provider is connected, writers see **Ask an administrator to set up an AI provider to get suggestions.** ([AI Link Assistant settings](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/settings/ai)).
- Before an editor runs **Scan posts** on published posts, make a backup with **Posts and pages** ticked. Only an administrator can make one ([Back up and restore](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/backup-restore)).

## If something goes wrong

- If an editor doesn't see the **Link Manager** menu, then check that **Who can use Link Manager Pro** is set to **Editors and above**, and that the Editor role still has `manage_link_manager_pro`.
- If an editor or Author can't see **Settings**, or a settings address opens the Dashboard, then that's by design: only administrators can open **Settings**. Ask an administrator to make the change.
- If an Author or Contributor can't find the **Link Manager** menu, then they don't have access to it. They can still use the editor tools in their posts, or an administrator can give them access ([Give access to another role or one user](#give-access-to-another-role-or-one-user)).
- If a writer sees **Ask an administrator to set up an AI provider to get suggestions.**, then an administrator needs to connect a provider under Link Manager › Settings › AI Link Assistant.
- If editors you'd kept out have access again after the plugin was reactivated, then activation added `manage_link_manager_pro` back to the Editor role. Remove it again, or choose **Administrators only**.

More fixes are on [Troubleshooting](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/troubleshooting).

## Related

- [Advanced settings](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/settings/advanced)
- [Editor tools](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/editor-tools)
- [AI Link Assistant](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/ai-link-assistant)
- [REST API overview](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/developers/rest-api/)
- [Troubleshooting](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/troubleshooting)