Set your admin interface style

Your site’s dashboard is where you edit your site’s content and manage your site settings. WordPress.com offers two admin interface styles for this dashboard. This guide will show you how to switch between the two admin interface styles.

The interface style refers to the layout of your site’s dashboard, where you edit your site’s content and manage your site’s settings.

WordPress.com provides two different interface styles (views) to manage your WordPress site:

• Default View: WordPress.com’s modern dashboard design with helpful guidance and streamlined navigation.
• WP Admin: The classic WordPress dashboard with a narrower sidebar menu, familiar to WordPress users.

Both interfaces provide access to the same features—the difference is only in how they look and are organized.

To set the admin interface style used for all of your site’s users, take the following steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Settings → General in the menu on the left side of the dashboard.
3. Scroll down to the Admin Interface Style section.
4. Choose between “Classic style” or “Default style” options.
5. Click the “Save settings” button. Your admin interface style will update automatically in a few seconds.

Most screens in your site’s dashboard use a single interface style based on your Admin Interface Style setting. However, when using the Default style, the Users screen allows you to switch between Default and Classic views on that screen alone. This lets you access WP Admin-specific features, like adding WP Admin user accounts, without changing your site-wide interface style.

To change the admin interface for the Users screen, follow these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Users → All Users in the menu on the left side of the dashboard.
3. Click the View tab at the top right of your screen.
4. Select between the “Classic view” and “Default view“.

When you return to the Users → All Users tab, your view selection will be retained. You can switch back at any time.

If you do not see the View tab:

• Confirm that you are using the Default view for your site’s dashboard. The Classic view shows only the WP Admin interface, with no option to switch views per screen.
• Verify that you are on the Users → All Users screen.
• Confirm that you have WordPress.com login (SSO) on.

Alternatively, you can navigate directly to WP Admin to access the Classic View interface for any screen.