Log In to WordPress

As a WordPress website owner you will want to Log in to WordPress to…

  • Keep your site updated and secure
  • Add new blog posts

But to do either of these you first need to log in to the WordPress Dashboard or “Backend”. Don’t worry, logging in to WordPress is easy.

  • Navigate to your site’s home page
  • At the end of your domain name type /wp-admin (for instance if your site was called mywebsite.com you’d type mywebsite.com/wp-admin)
  • Press the enter key on your keyboard
The WordPress wp-admin login url: log in to WordPress
The WordPress wp-admin login url

You now see the Log in to WordPress screen

  1. Type your username
  2. Type your password
  3. Click the big blue Log In button
  4. If you’ve forgotten your password, click the Lost your password link
The WordPress log in screen
The WordPress log in screen

If you have lost your password…

If ever do loose or forget your password and click the Lost your password link, you’ll see the screen below

The WP lost password screen
The WP lost password screen
  1. Just type the email address associated with your website
  2. Click the big blue Get New Password link

An email will be sent to your email address enabling you to reset your password.

Don’t worry, this will only work with your email address. Nobody else can change your password.

If you do change your password make sure you use a good, unguessable password. A strong password is vital for your site’s security. A good password is vital to make sure that only you can log in to WordPress and make changes on your website.

By the way, it’s possible for you to add other users to your website. For instance if you have a business website with several departments, you could have different people in charge of different sections of the website. However, that’s a more complicated topic for a more advanced Log in to WordPress tutorial.

After you Log in to WordPress you’ll see the Dashboard or “Backend”

The WordPress Dashboard or Backend
The WordPress Dashboard or Backend

When you’ve logged in you’ll see the WordPress Dashboard. This is sometimes called the Backend and it’s the control panel for your WordPress website.

You can toggle between the Dashboard and your live website by clicking the site name in the top left of your website.

Are you viewing the…

  1. Dashboard (Back-end)
  2. Live site (Front-end)

You can toggle between the Dashboard and live site views by clicking the house or gauge icons next to your site name in the top left corner of your screen

The House icon tells you you are viewing the Dashboard or control panel

The house icon tells you you are in the WordPress Dashboard
The house icon tells you you are in the WordPress Dashboard

The gauge icon tells you you are viewing the live website or front end

The gauge icon tells you that you are viewing the live site or front end
The gauge icon tells you that you are viewing the live site or front end

Logout of WordPress

To logout of WordPress

  • In the top right of the screen hover over your user name
  • Click Log Out from the drop down menu
Logout of WordPress top right of the screen
Logout of WordPress top right of the screen

What if you forget to logout?

What do you do if you’ve logged in to your WordPress Dashboard using a shared computer at work or a friends house, and forgotten to log out?

Login to WordPress and in the Dashboard select…

  1. Users > Your profile
  2. Scroll down the Your Profile page to the Account Management section
  3. Click the button that says “Log out Everywhere Else”
The WordPress Log out Everywhere Else option
The WordPress Log out Everywhere Else option

The Log out Everywhere Else button is only clickable if you are still logged in on a different device or in a different browser window etc.