Admin columns
4 min read
Admin columns put the values of your fields into the WordPress list screens, so you can scan, sort and (with Pro) filter, edit and export them without opening every item.
List screen | Column | Sorting | Filters | Quick and bulk edit | CSV export |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Posts, pages, custom post types | Free | Free | Pro | Pro | Pro |
Users | Free | Pro | |||
Terms (categories, tags, custom taxonomies) | Free |
Comments, widgets and options pages have no list columns.
Turn a column on
- Edit the field in the field builder and open its Display tab.
- Switch on Show in the admin list (see Field settings: display and advanced).
- Save the field group.
The list shows the column when the field group feeds that list:
List screen | Which groups feed it |
|---|---|
Posts, pages, custom post types | Active groups with a rule Post type is equal to {type}. "Is not equal to" and other rules do not count. |
Terms | Active groups with a rule Taxonomy is equal to {taxonomy}. |
Users | Active groups with any User role or User form rule. |
Only top-level fields get columns, not sub-fields of a Group or Repeater. Password fields never get a column, and layout fields (Accordion, Tab) have no value to show.
How values are shown
The column title is the field's label. New columns are placed before the Date column of posts and before the Posts (count) column of terms and users, or at the end when there is no such column.
Field type | Cell |
|---|---|
Text, number, email, URL | the value |
Select, radio, button group | the label |
Checkboxes | the labels, comma separated |
True / false | Yes / No, or your on and off labels |
Date, date and time, time | formatted with the field's display format, or the site's date format |
Image | a thumbnail |
Gallery | the images at the field's Image size on the site |
WYSIWYG, text area, repeater, flexible content | the text with markup removed, trimmed to 12 words |
Link, post object, page link, taxonomy, user | what the field prints, as a short line |
Empty value | a dash (screen readers hear "No value") |
Long or block-level output is turned into one trimmed line; short inline output such as links and color swatches and any output that contains an image stay as they are. If a field fails to render, its cell shows the dash, the error is logged under WPM Fields › Settings › Health and the rest of the row is unaffected.
Use Screen Options at the top of the list to hide or show columns, like any other column. The CSV export honors the hidden columns (see CSV export).
Sorting
On the posts list a column is sortable (click its header) unless the field is stored as JSON. Text, text area, number, range, email, URL, color, select, radio, button group, true / false, date, date and time, time, WYSIWYG, image and file columns sort. Checkboxes, Group, Repeater, Flexible content, Clone, Gallery and other fields that store a list or an object do not.
Sorting uses the field's own column, so it is a real database sort and respects the type (numbers sort as numbers, dates as dates). Posts that have no value yet sort as empty. Users and terms lists have no sorting for these columns.
Developer filters
Filter | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Add, remove or change the column descriptors ( |
| Change the escaped HTML of one cell. An empty string shows the dash. |
| Return |
| Return |
| Action fired when a list got its columns. |
What Pro adds
- List filters: controls above the list that narrow it by field values.
- Quick edit and bulk edit: change values from the list.
- CSV export: download the list as it is shown.
Without a Pro license these tools are absent and nothing else changes: the columns, their values and sorting stay.
Troubleshooting
- My column is missing. Check that Show in the admin list is on, the group is Active, the group has a rule Post type is equal to (or the taxonomy or user rule above), and the field type is not Password. Sub-fields of a Group or Repeater cannot have columns.
- The column is not sortable. The field is stored as JSON (checkboxes, repeater, gallery and so on).
- A cell shows only a dash. The post has no row in the group's table yet, or the value is empty.
- I see the column on the posts list but not on the pages list. The group's rule names one post type; add a second rule group for the other type.
Still stuck? Contact support