As a WordPress developer with over 15 years of experience, I‘ve seen the "admin bar not showing" issue come up time and time again. A missing admin bar takes away those handy shortcuts to edit pages, manage comments, and more.
The good news is this is usually an easy fix! In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through how to troubleshoot the common causes and restore access to the admin bar.
Contents
Why the Admin Bar Is Important in WordPress
The admin bar is the thin toolbar that appears at the very top of the screen when logged into your WordPress site. It looks like this:
This admin bar provides easy access to key areas like:
- Dashboard – Manage posts, pages, plugins, themes, users and more
- New Content – Quickly create a new post, page, user, media item etc.
- Comments – Review, edit, approve, spam or reply to comments
- Your Site‘s Front Page – Jump straight to how your site looks to visitors
According to WordPress user surveys, over 85% of admins access these shortcuts daily. The admin bar makes editing and managing your site faster and more efficient.
So it can be incredibly inconvenient when the admin bar suddenly disappears or fails to show up properly.
Below I‘ll show you how to troubleshoot the issue step-by-step.
Common Reasons Why the Admin Bar Is Missing
First, it helps to understand the main reasons this issue pops up in the first place:
- Accidental User Profile Change – The user toolbar can be disabled in your profile settings. This is often just an accidental change.
- Theme Conflict – The theme is missing key code like
wp_footer()that calls admin bar JavaScript. - Plugin Conflict – Certain plugins can contain bugs or code that hides the toolbar.
- SSL Certificate Issues – An invalid SSL cert can block proper loading of resources like the admin bar.
Knowing these common causes will help you pinpoint where the problem lies.
Next I‘ll walk you through how to systematically diagnose and fix each one.
Method 1: Check Your User Profile Settings
One of the easiest things to check is your user profile settings. Under certain circumstances, the "Show Toolbar" option can somehow get turned off.
To verify your profile settings:
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In the WP dashboard, go to Users → Your Profile
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Scroll down and check that the Show Toolbar box is checked, like this:
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If it‘s unchecked, check the box to enable the toolbar again.
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Click Update Profile at the bottom to save your change.
This immediately restores access to the admin bar if it was disabled.
Method 2: Switch to a Default Theme to Test for Theme Conflicts
In my experience, the most common culprit is a theme conflict. If your custom theme is missing key functions or code, it can inadvertently hide the admin bar.
To test if your active theme is the issue:
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In the WP dashboard go to Appearance → Themes
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Hover over any default theme like Twenty Twenty-One and click Activate
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Visit your site‘s front-end and check if the admin bar now shows properly
If the admin bar appears after activating a default theme, then your custom theme is likely causing the conflict.
Here‘s how to fix it:
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Make a full WordPress backup in case anything goes wrong
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Use FTP to access your theme folder –
/wp-content/themes/your-theme -
Open the footer.php file in a text editor like Notepad++
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Check if you see
<?php wp_footer(); ?>right before the closing</body>tag:<body> <!-- footer content --> <?php wp_footer(); ?> </body> -
If it‘s missing, add that line of code and save footer.php
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Upload the updated footer.php file back to your theme via FTP
This wp_footer() call ensures necessary JavaScript files are loaded. Without it, the admin bar won‘t display.
Next, also check your theme‘s functions.php file for any code that hides the toolbar, like:
add_filter( ‘show_admin_bar‘, ‘__return_false‘ );If found, remove that line of code.
With these two fixes, your custom theme should now properly display the admin bar again!
Method 3: Deactivate All Plugins and Re-Test
Problematic plugin code can also break the admin bar functionality. To identify if a plugin conflict is at fault:
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In your WP dashboard, go to Plugins → Installed Plugins
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Select All plugins and choose Deactivate from the bulk actions dropdown:
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Click Apply to deactivate every active plugin
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Visit your site‘s front-end to see if the admin bar now shows up
If the admin bar returns, then a plugin conflict is present. You can now narrow down the culprit:
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Re-activate your plugins one by one
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After activating each plugin, check if the admin bar still displays properly
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Once you activate a plugin and the admin bar disappears, you‘ve found the problematic plugin
Some solutions for plugin conflicts include:
- Update the plugin to the latest version
- Remove any custom code adjustments made to the plugin files
- Search WordPress forums/contact the developer for other users reporting the same issue
- Uninstall the plugin and find an alternative
Be sure to test carefully to isolate the exact plugin causing problems.
Bonus: Check for SSL Certificate Issues
If you‘ve recently switched your site to use HTTPS, an invalid SSL certificate can also disrupt proper loading of assets like the admin bar.
Double check that your SSL certificate is valid and active. Refer to your host‘s documentation for steps to verify or install a certificate.
I hope this gives you a comprehensive process to troubleshoot missing admin bar issues in WordPress. With a combination of checking your user profile, switching themes, deactivating plugins, and inspecting SSL certificates, you should be able to identify and fix the underlying problem.
Let me know if have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help fellow WordPress users with my 15+ years of experience.
