Admin Bartender | WellPlayedWP

Overview

Admin Bartender cleans up the WordPress admin bar with the same spirit as the macOS Bartender app: keep important items visible, tuck occasional items into a three-dot menu, and hide items that do not need daily attention.

Requirements

WordPress 6.5 or newer
PHP 7.4 or newer
A logged-in user with the WordPress admin bar enabled

Setup

Install and activate Admin Bartender.
Visit the WordPress dashboard and the front end while logged in so the plugin can discover admin-bar items.
Go to Settings > Admin Bartender.
Run the Discovery Scan to collect admin-bar items from common dashboard screens, public content, singular content, archives, and taxonomy pages.
Choose the default behavior for admin-bar items.
Set item-specific rules where needed.
Save changes.

Visibility Options

Each admin-bar item can use one of these behaviors:

Use default behavior: Follow the global default selected at the top of the settings page.
Always shown: Keep the item in its normal admin-bar location.
Move under three-dot menu: Move the item into Admin Bartender’s three-dot menu.
Always hidden: Hide the item during normal use.

Child menu items follow their parent when a parent item is moved or hidden.

Global Defaults

Administrators manage global defaults under Settings > Admin Bartender.

The default behavior applies to any admin-bar item that does not have a specific rule. This makes it easy to keep a simple setup, such as moving most items under the three-dot menu while marking a few important items as Always shown.

Personal Overrides

When Personal overrides are enabled, logged-in users who can see the admin bar can customize their own layout from their WordPress profile.

Personal rules override the global defaults for that user only. If a user leaves an item set to Use default behavior, the site default still applies.

Administrators can disable all personal overrides under Settings > Admin Bartender.

Bartender Features

Quick Peek

Quick Peek reveals hidden items while the user holds the Option or Alt key with the three-dot menu open. This gives users a way to briefly access tucked-away items without changing their saved layout.

Focus Mode

Focus Mode temporarily moves default items behind the three-dot menu. Items explicitly set to Always shown stay visible.

Users can turn Focus Mode on or off from the Admin Bartender three-dot menu. Administrators can enable the feature and choose the duration under Settings > Admin Bartender.

Command Search

Command Search adds a search field inside the three-dot menu. It filters tucked-away menu items as the user types, which helps on sites with long admin bars.

Auto-Hide Bar

Auto-Hide Bar slides the admin bar mostly out of view until the pointer, keyboard focus, or Spotlight Shortcut brings it back. This is useful for editors who want the front end or dashboard to feel less crowded while keeping the bar one motion away.

Spotlight Shortcut

Spotlight Shortcut opens Admin Bartender with Command+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux. When Command Search is enabled, the search field is focused automatically.

Included Translations

Admin Bartender includes translation files for German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese.

Discovering Admin-Bar Items

Admin Bartender stores an inventory of admin-bar items it has seen. Use Discovery Scan under Settings > Admin Bartender to background-load registered admin menu pages, add/edit screens, singular public content, archives, taxonomy pages, Customizer previews, author archives, search results, date archives, and other common contexts while using your current logged-in session. The scan reads toolbar items from fetched page markup, and normal browsing captures the visible admin bar after each page loads.

Some plugins add admin-bar items only on specific screens, only after a plugin-specific condition is met, or only for certain user roles. Those items appear after Admin Bartender sees them from a user account that has permission to view those pages.

Developers can add site-specific scan URLs with the wpab_discovery_scan_urls filter.

Uninstall Cleanup

Uninstall cleanup is disabled by default. This protects saved layouts when temporarily removing the plugin.

To delete Admin Bartender options and personal layouts during uninstall:

Go to Settings > Admin Bartender.
Enable Uninstall cleanup.
Save changes.
Uninstall the plugin.

Developers

Admin Bartender includes filters for adjusting capabilities, excluding items, changing item behavior, and modifying the stored item inventory.

`wpab_admin_bar_settings_capability`

Change the capability required to manage sitewide Admin Bartender settings.

add_filter(
    'wpab_admin_bar_settings_capability',
    function ( $capability ) {
        return 'manage_network_options';
    }
);

`wpab_user_override_capability`

Control whether a user can save personal Admin Bartender overrides.

add_filter(
    'wpab_user_override_capability',
    function ( $can_override, $user_id ) {
        if ( user_can( $user_id, 'edit_theme_options' ) ) {
            return true;
        }

        return $can_override;
    },
    10,
    2
);

`wpab_admin_bar_excluded_ids`

Exclude admin-bar item IDs from Admin Bartender management.

add_filter(
    'wpab_admin_bar_excluded_ids',
    function ( $excluded ) {
        $excluded[] = 'my-account';

        return $excluded;
    }
);

`wpab_admin_bar_item_action`

Change the final behavior for an admin-bar item. Return show, collapse, or hide.

add_filter(
    'wpab_admin_bar_item_action',
    function ( $action, $node, $settings ) {
        if ( 'updates' === $node->id && current_user_can( 'update_plugins' ) ) {
            return 'show';
        }

        return $action;
    },
    10,
    3
);

`wpab_admin_bar_seen_item`

Modify an item before Admin Bartender stores it in the discovered item inventory.

add_filter(
    'wpab_admin_bar_seen_item',
    function ( $item, $node ) {
        if ( 'site-name' === $node->id ) {
            $item['label'] = 'Site Menu';
        }

        return $item;
    },
    10,
    2
);

`wpab_discovery_scan_urls`

Add URLs to the Discovery Scan for plugin-specific screens or important front-end templates.

add_filter(
    'wpab_discovery_scan_urls',
    function ( $urls ) {
        $urls[] = array(
            'label' => 'Events Calendar',
            'url'   => admin_url( 'edit.php?post_type=tribe_events' ),
        );

        $urls[] = array(
            'label' => 'Members Area',
            'url'   => home_url( '/members/' ),
        );

        return $urls;
    }
);

Changelog

1.0.0 – 2026-05-25

Add global admin-bar visibility rules for always shown, three-dot menu, and always hidden behaviors.
Add personal user overrides with an administrator control to disable overrides sitewide.
Add the Admin Bartender three-dot menu for tucked-away admin-bar items.
Add Quick Peek for temporarily revealing hidden items with the Option or Alt key.
Add Focus Mode for temporarily collapsing default items while preserving explicitly shown items.
Add Command Search for filtering items inside the three-dot menu.
Add Auto-Hide Bar for sliding the admin bar mostly out of view until needed.
Add Spotlight Shortcut for opening Admin Bartender with Command+K or Ctrl+K.
Add Discovery Scan for finding page-specific admin-bar items across common site contexts.
Add expanded Discovery Scan coverage for registered admin menu pages, add/edit screens, Customizer previews, author archives, search results, date archives, and cache-busted front-end requests.
Add browser-side admin-bar capture so items from visited pages and fetched scan markup are added to the settings inventory.
Add hierarchical admin-bar item settings with children indented under their parents.
Add live admin-bar previews and auto-save when item behaviors change.
Fix core Comments and Updates labels so notification counts do not appear in the settings list.
Fix WordPress.org and Support items so they appear under the main WordPress logo group.
Fix admin-bar item labels so text entities render as readable characters in settings.
Fix late-added admin-bar items so saved rules still move or hide them after the page finishes loading.
Remove account and user-menu items from Admin Bartender rules so they always remain visible.
Add Settings > Admin Bartender, plugin listing Settings link, profile controls, and uninstall cleanup.
Add German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese translation files.
Add compatibility guards, inline admin setup notes, and product-ready security hardening.
Document installation, configuration, user overrides, surprise features, uninstall behavior, and developer filters.