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manifest / admin / wp-admin-submenus

WP Admin Submenus WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

Adds submenus to WordPress admin for quick access to posts, taxonomies, and users. Configurable via Settings.

★ 0stars
1.0.18latest · 8mo ago

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/dbrabyn/wp-admin-submenus/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Updates itself. It ships its own updater (Plugin Update Checker), so new versions appear under Dashboard → Updates.

A performant, robust, and secure WordPress plugin that adds intelligent submenus to the WordPress admin for quick access to posts, taxonomies, and users.

Features

  • Smart Submenus: Automatically adds submenus to post types, taxonomies, and user roles for quick access
  • Configurable: Settings page to enable/disable submenus for specific post types
  • Performance Optimized: Efficient queries with proper caching and no persistent object cache issues
  • Polylang Compatible: Automatically filters content by default language when Polylang is active
  • Secure: Built with WordPress security best practices (nonces, sanitization, capability checks)
  • Responsive Design: Scrollable submenus with clean, accessible styling
  • Automatic Updates: Integrates with GitHub releases for seamless plugin updates

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/wp-admin-submenus/
  2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
  3. Go to Settings > Admin Submenus to configure which post types should have submenus

Automatic Updates

This plugin uses the Plugin Update Checker library to enable automatic updates from GitHub releases.

How it works:

  • The plugin automatically checks for new releases on GitHub
  • When a new version is released, WordPress will notify you in the Plugins page
  • You can update directly from your WordPress admin, just like WordPress.org plugins
  • No manual downloading or uploading required

For developers:

  • Create a new release on GitHub with a version tag (e.g., v1.0.1)
  • The plugin will automatically detect the new version
  • Users will be notified and can update with one click

Configuration

Settings Page

Navigate to Settings > Admin Submenus to configure:

  • Enable Submenus For: Select which post types should display submenus (all eligible post types are enabled by default)
  • Items Per Menu: Set the maximum number of items to show before the "See more" link appears (default: 20)

Default Behavior

  • All content post types are enabled by default (except core WordPress types like posts, attachments, revisions, etc.)
  • Post types must be either public (front-end content) OR have a top-level admin menu (show_in_menu === true) to be included
  • This allows both public content types and internal admin-only post types while filtering out plugin configuration screens
  • Shows up to 20 items per submenu
  • Automatically excludes internal/system post types:
    • Core WordPress internal types (blocks, templates, navigation, etc.)
    • ACF internal types (field groups, fields, post types, taxonomies, options pages)
    • Formidable Forms internal types
    • Ninja Forms submissions
  • Taxonomies and user roles are always shown (following the same exclusion rules)

Filters

wp_admin_submenus_excluded_post_types

Filter the list of post types to exclude from submenus:

add_filter('wp_admin_submenus_excluded_post_types', function($excluded) {
    $excluded[] = 'my_custom_post_type';
    return $excluded;
});

wp_admin_submenus_excluded_taxonomies

Filter the list of taxonomies to exclude from submenus:

add_filter('wp_admin_submenus_excluded_taxonomies', function($excluded) {
    $excluded[] = 'my_custom_taxonomy';
    return $excluded;
});

wp_admin_submenus_desc_sorted_post_types

Specify post types that should be sorted in descending order (useful for year-based content):

add_filter('wp_admin_submenus_desc_sorted_post_types', function($post_types) {
    $post_types[] = 'yearly_reports';
    return $post_types;
});

Security Features

  • Capability Checks: All menu items respect WordPress capabilities
  • Nonce Verification: Settings page uses WordPress Settings API with automatic nonce handling
  • Input Sanitization: All user input is properly sanitized
  • Output Escaping: All output is escaped to prevent XSS attacks
  • Direct Access Prevention: Blocks direct file access

Performance Optimizations

  • Efficient Queries: Uses no_found_rows, disables meta/term cache updates when not needed
  • Smart Pagination: Fetches limit + 1 items to efficiently determine if "See more" is needed
  • Static Caching: Configuration cached per request to prevent redundant calculations
  • No Persistent Cache: Avoids Object Cache Pro compatibility issues

Translation (i18n)

The plugin is fully translation-ready and includes:

  • Text Domain: wp-admin-submenus
  • Translation Template: languages/wp-admin-submenus.pot - Use this as a base for new translations
  • Included Translations:
    • French (fr_FR)
    • Spanish (es_ES)
    • German (de_DE)

For Translators

  1. Copy languages/wp-admin-submenus.pot to languages/wp-admin-submenus-{locale}.po
  2. Translate the strings using a tool like Poedit or your preferred translation editor
  3. Compile the .po file to .mo using msgfmt or the included script:
    cd languages
    bash compile-translations.sh

Accessibility

The plugin follows WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility guidelines:

  • ARIA Labels: All form controls have proper ARIA labels for screen readers
  • Keyboard Navigation: Full keyboard accessibility throughout
  • Semantic HTML: Proper use of fieldsets, legends, and form labels
  • Screen Reader Support: Hidden labels and descriptions for assistive technologies

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.0 or higher
  • PHP 7.4 or higher

License

GPL v2 or later

Support

For issues and feature requests, please use the GitHub issue tracker.

Releases

14 releases.

Tag
Published
1.0.18 latest
Feb 17, 2026 8mo ago
Feb 14, 2026 8mo ago
Nov 25, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 22, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 11, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 11, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 11, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago
Nov 9, 2025 11mo ago

These releases are tags only. The author does not attach a packaged zip, so there are no download counts to report.

A grade

Security

WP Admin Submenus 1.0.18 · audited by WP Registry

No security issues found.

Audited release
1.0.18
Findings
none
Worst severity
—
Content hash
6a0603837476a85e6581787f…

WP Registry hashes the installable build and reports on that exact bytes-for-bytes copy. Embargoed findings are withheld until they are disclosed, so a clean verdict means nothing public is outstanding. WP Manifest does not audit code itself.