How to Add Custom Shortcut Links to Your WordPress Toolbar (An Expert‘s In-Depth Guide)

As a WordPress pro with over 15 years of experience, I know that customizing the WordPress toolbar with your own shortcut links can be a game-changer.

The toolbar appears at the very top of your dashboard and lets you quickly jump between pages. With some simple tweaks, you can save huge amounts of time and transform your workflow.

Why Add Custom Links to Your Toolbar?

There are a few key reasons why I recommend adding your own shortcuts:

• Access frequently used pages instantly – Skip having to navigate through the admin menu every time.

• Avoid typing long URLs – No more remembering those long dashboard page addresses.

• Work more efficiently – Shave minutes off your daily WordPress tasks.

• Reduce tabs and clicks – Cut down on tab overload and excessive clicking around.

• Personalize your workflow – Optimize the toolbar so it matches the way YOU work.

According to HubSpot, 40% of visitors will abandon a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. With custom toolbar shortcuts, you can load pages and tools much faster.

Getting Started with Customizing Your Toolbar

Before you can add new links, it helps to understand how the WordPress toolbar works:

• The toolbar appears at the top once you‘re logged in to your WordPress dashboard.

• It contains default shortcuts like Dashboard, Posts, Media, and more.

• Links on the left correlate to the order of menu items.

• You can add single links or grouped sets of links.

• Links can be made visible to certain user roles.

• It‘s customizable through plugins or code snippets.

Now let‘s look at the methods for adding your own custom links and sets…

Using a Plugin (Easiest Method)

For anyone getting started with customizing their toolbar, a plugin makes the process super quick and easy.

The plugin I recommend is Custom Admin Interface. It lets you add, edit, and reorder toolbar links without any coding required.

Here are the simple steps to add a new shortcut:

1. Install and activate the Custom Admin Interface plugin.

2. Go to Custom Admin Interface > Admin Toolbar in your dashboard.

3. Click the + Add Menu Item button.

4. Give your new item a title and link URL.

5. Drag and drop the item to reorder it. Items on top appear on the left side.

6. Choose which user roles can see the link.

7. Click Save All Settings.

Now your custom link will instantly appear in the toolbar!

To add multiple links or entire groups, just repeat the process. The great thing about this plugin is that you can experiment freely with adding and arranging links through a visual editor.

Some other perks include:

• Toggle links on/off for certain user roles

• Edit titles, URLs, and positions anytime

• Disable links on the front-end of your site

• Restore to default toolbar if needed

This is by far the easiest way to customize your toolbar experience.

Adding a Single Link with Code (Intermediate)

Hardcore coders may prefer adding links directly by using WordPress hook code. This allows for more granular control compared to using a visual plugin.

Here are the steps to add a single custom link through code:

1. Open your active theme‘s functions.php file.

2. Add the following code:

// Add custom link
function custom_toolbar_link($wp_admin_bar) {

  $args = array(
    ‘id‘    => ‘my-custom-link‘,  
    ‘title‘ => ‘My Link‘,
    ‘href‘  => ‘http://example.com/‘, 

   );

  $wp_admin_bar->add_node($args);

}

add_action(‘admin_bar_menu‘, ‘custom_toolbar_link‘, 999);

3. Replace the id, title, and href values with your own custom link preferences.

4. Save the updated functions.php file.

This will add your new shortcut link to the toolbar. The benefit of using code is that you have full programatic control vs. relying on a plugin UI.

However, it does require manually updating code each time you want to modify a link. And you need to be extra careful when editing functions.php because a mistake could break your whole site.

That‘s why I recommend the WPCode snippet plugin for adding toolbar links via code instead – it gives you the control of code with the safety of a plugin!

Adding a Group of Links with Code (Advanced)

If you want to consolidate multiple related links together, you can group them under a parent item in the toolbar.

For example:

// Add parent link
$wp_admin_bar->add_node( array( 
  ‘id‘    => ‘my-custom-parent‘,
  ‘title‘ => ‘My Parent Link‘,
) );

// Add child link under parent
$wp_admin_bar->add_node( array(
  ‘id‘     => ‘my-custom-child‘,
  ‘title‘  => ‘My Child Link‘,
  ‘parent‘ => ‘my-custom-parent‘,  
) );

This will nest the child link under the parent when you hover over it. You can add unlimited child links in this manner.

When grouped visually like this, it helps reinforce relationships between links such as:

• Parent = Site
• Child 1 = Pages
• Child 2 = Posts
• Child 3 = Media

This allows you to layout your custom toolbar in a more intuitive, user-friendly way.

My Top Custom Toolbar Link Recommendations

Here are some of the most useful custom toolbar links that I suggest adding for WordPress users:

• Site Pages – View a list of all pages at /wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=page

• Site Posts – View all blog posts at /wp-admin/edit.php

• Media Library – Quick access to all your media at /wp-admin/upload.php

• Comments – Administer comments at /wp-admin/edit-comments.php

• Widgets – Manage widgets at /wp-admin/widgets.php

• SEO Plugin – Example /wp-admin/admin.php?page=yoast-seo

• Backup Plugin – Example /wp-admin/admin.php?page=backupbuddy

• Statistics – View analytics like Google Analytics

Think about which backend pages and tools you access frequently. Adding direct toolbar links can optimize your daily workflow.

A Few Final Tips

Here are some additional pro tips for customizing your toolbar:

• Use descriptive IDs and titles so you remember what each link does.

• Disable custom links on the frontend with show_admin_bar(false);

• Reorder default links along with adding your new ones.

• Mind your user roles so links only show for certain users.

• Always test links after adding to confirm they work.

• Start small! No need to add 50 links at once.

With the right approach, you can fine-tune your toolbar to boost productivity and make WordPress administration much more efficient.

Let me know if you have any other questions!