Need to hide an Elementor section by user role, or show a widget to members only? With Restrict for Elementor you can restrict Elementor content by user role directly from the page builder: pick one or more WordPress user roles and decide whether the selected section, column or widget should be shown to those users or hidden from them. This guide walks you through the setup and a couple of real-world examples.
Before you start
You will need the Elementor page builder installed and activated, along with the Restrict for Elementor plugin. A free version of Restrict for Elementor is available on WordPress.org, while premium licenses come in 1 site, 5 sites or unlimited sites plans, billed yearly or as a one-time lifetime payment – see the pricing page for details. If you have never used the plugin before, start with the quickstart guide.
User roles in WordPress: a quick refresher
WordPress comes with several user roles right out of the box: Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber and so on. Many WordPress plugins create their own custom user roles when they are installed – membership and e-commerce plugins in particular. You can also create your own custom roles with a plugin such as User Role Editor.
Roles are one of the most useful mechanisms in WordPress for controlling who can access what. So it is no surprise that Restrict for Elementor can use them as restriction criteria inside the Elementor page builder.
How to restrict Elementor content by user role
- Edit the page with Elementor and select the section, column or widget you want to restrict.
- Open the Content tab and locate the Restrict area.
- Select Users with specific role – a new field is revealed below.
- Select one or more user roles from the available roles.
- Set the Action to Show (visible only to those roles) or Hide (hidden from those roles).
You can select multiple user roles if needed and make that content visible or hidden to users with all of those specific roles – a single rule can target as many roles as you like.
To check the result, open the page in a private or incognito browser window, or log in as a test user with the role in question – the front end can look different for you as a logged in administrator than it does for regular visitors.
Example: members-only content
Let’s say some content on your website should be visible to members only, and the users who should be able to access it have accounts registered with the Members user role. Simply add the section, column or widget you want to reserve for them, set the Action to Show, select Users with specific role, and then select Members in the field below. Everyone else will not see that element on the front end.
Don’t forget the Administrator role
If you, as the administrator, also want to see this content on the front end, select the Administrator user role as well. Users with the administrator role can see restricted content when editing the page, but not on the front end unless they are specifically allowed to. Adding Administrator to the list of allowed roles takes care of that.
Show alternative content instead of hiding
Rather than hiding the element completely, you can display alternative content to users who do not fulfill the required criteria – an Elementor template or a custom formatted message. For role-restricted content, this is the perfect place for a short “become a member” pitch with a signup link. Read more in the alternative content guide.