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Troubleshooting Common User Role Editor Issues: Missing Menus, Lost Capabilities, and Reset Problems

26 threads Sep 10, 2025 Plugin → User role editor

Content

If you use the User Role Editor plugin to customize your WordPress site's permissions, you might occasionally run into issues where capabilities don't seem to work as expected. Based on common community reports, this guide will help you diagnose and resolve the most frequent problems.

Why Capabilities or Menu Items Might Disappear

A recurring theme in support threads is that users with edited roles can't see the expected menu items (like WPForms or a list of their posts) even after the correct capabilities have been granted. This can happen for several reasons:

  • Plugin or Theme Conflicts: The most common cause of unexpected permission behavior is a conflict with another plugin or your theme. Another plugin might be overriding or filtering capabilities, preventing your changes from taking full effect.
  • Incomplete Capability Sets: Some plugins, especially those creating custom post types (like event or directory plugins), may have complex, interdependent capabilities. Simply adding one capability might not be enough for full functionality.
  • Multisite Complications: Changes made on a multisite network's main site may not automatically apply to subsites, leading to confusion about why a role isn't working as configured.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide

Follow these steps to isolate and fix the problem.

1. Conflict Testing

This is the most critical step. Temporarily deactivate all other plugins except User Role Editor. Also, switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-One.

  • Did the problem resolve? If yes, the issue is caused by a conflict. Reactivate your plugins and theme one by one, testing after each activation, to identify the culprit.
  • Did the problem persist? If the issue remains even with only User Role Editor active, the problem may lie elsewhere.

2. Verify the Correct Capabilities

Ensure you have added all necessary capabilities for the functionality you need. For example:

  • Seeing the Posts menu requires the edit_posts capability.
  • To delete a published post from the front-end, a user typically needs delete_published_posts (for their own posts) or delete_others_posts (for posts by other users).
  • Some third-party plugins require you to manually Add Capability in User Role Editor before you can assign it to a role.

3. Check for PHP Errors

If you are immediately logged out when updating capabilities or encounter other strange behavior, a PHP error might be occurring. Enable WP_DEBUG in your wp-config.php file to check for any error messages that could point to the source of the problem.

4. Be Extremely Cautious with "Reset"

The User Role Editor's Reset tool reverts roles to their default WordPress state. This will permanently delete any custom roles and capabilities added by other plugins (e.g., WooCommerce, bbPress, form plugins). It should only be used on a clean WordPress install or if you plan to remove all those plugins. Using it on a live site can break functionality and cause "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" errors.

Important Notes on How User Role Editor Works

  • Changes Are Permanent: Modifications made to roles with this plugin are saved directly to your database. They are not reversed if you deactivate or delete the User Role Editor plugin.
  • It Does Not Auto-Reset Roles: The plugin does not automatically revert role capabilities during updates. If capabilities are lost after an update, it is highly likely caused by a conflict with another process or plugin.
  • It Does Not Delete Database Tables: The plugin does not delete WordPress core tables like wp_capabilities.

Conclusion

Most issues with permissions not being applied correctly can be traced back to conflicts with other code on your site. A systematic approach to disabling other plugins and testing is the most reliable way to identify the root cause. Always test permission changes in a private browser window while logged into the test user account to ensure your admin session isn't influencing what you see.

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