Protect selected Administrator accounts

Protect Admin PRO is designed for WordPress sites where several people need administrative access but certain Administrator accounts must remain protected. It helps prevent other visitors and administrators from deleting selected accounts, opening their profile edit pages, changing their roles, or selecting them in bulk actions on the users list.

The add-on can protect more than one Administrator account. Protection applies to the accounts you select in the add-on’s options. Only users with the Administrator role can be protected, so the product is intended for safeguarding administrator accounts rather than custom roles or other user types.

Protection for accounts and content

In addition to selected Administrator accounts, Protect Admin PRO can protect standard posts and pages made directly by protected Administrators. This can help preserve important administrator-owned content on websites where multiple people work with broad permissions.

If another user or administrator reaches a protected profile through another plugin or an alternative route, the plugin prevents changes from being saved. It also restores the original email address if someone attempts to change the protected Administrator’s email address through the profile page.

Visibility and controlled administration

When the plugin is activated, it stores the ID of the user who activated it. The plugin is then hidden from other users, while the activating Administrator remains able to access it. Only that activating Administrator can save the plugin’s settings; other users do not see the settings page or menu.

You can enable or disable protection from the plugin’s settings page. This provides a way to change the protection state without deactivating the plugin. The source also advises taking care when deactivating, because users with the ability to manage plugins can then see it.

Logs and email notifications

Attempts to edit protected Administrator accounts are logged to the database. Protect Admin PRO provides access to all logs and data about users who try to modify protected accounts, rather than recording only the most recent attempt.

The PRO edition also lets you enable or disable email notifications. When someone attempts to modify a protected Administrator account, email notification can help you learn about the event without checking the WordPress dashboard first. Recent details can be viewed in the plugin area under Users > User Protection.

Practical use cases

• Share administrative access with an IT team or developers while protecting selected Administrator accounts.
• Reduce the risk of accidental deletion or profile changes by less technical administrators.
• Preserve standard posts and pages created directly by protected Administrators.
• Review modification attempts and receive email notifications when activity occurs.

Installation and setup

Install and activate Protect Admin PRO through the WordPress admin area. The user who activates the plugin becomes its controlling Administrator. Open the plugin’s settings, select the Administrator accounts to protect, and choose whether email notifications should be enabled. Review the available logs under the plugin’s User Protection area.

The plugin has not been tested with other user-management or role-editor add-ons, and multisite use has not been tested. Those combinations may not work as intended.