How to Change the Footer in Your WordPress Admin Panel

One of the first things we noticed when we started working with WordPress was the familiar footer message in the admin area: “Thank you for creating with WordPress.”

While it’s a nice message, we quickly realized that for professional sites and client projects, this generic branding doesn’t always fit the image they want to present.

Over time, we’ve customized many WordPress admin areas for clients and our own projects. We’ve found that these small branding details matter more than you might think.

When clients log into their admin panel and see custom footer text instead of the default WordPress message, it shows they’re working with someone who pays attention to the details.

In this guide, we’ll show you simple ways to customize the WordPress admin footer, step by step.

Why Change the Admin Panel Footer?

You can change the WordPress admin panel footer to make it more useful or better branded for your site.

By default, the footer is very basic, showing a link to WordPress.org and your current WordPress version. While it updates automatically when a new version is available, it doesn’t provide any additional value for most users.

Changing the footer lets you:

• Add links back to your own site for quick access.
• Provide helpful resources or documentation for your team or users.
• Remove the default footer entirely if you prefer a cleaner admin interface.

With these options, you can make the admin area feel more tailored to your needs instead of just showing the default WordPress links.

With that in mind, we’ll show you how to change the WordPress admin footer in 2 different ways. Simply click the link below for the method you prefer:

• Method 1. Changing the Footer in the WordPress Admin with WPCode (Recommended)
• Method 2. Changing the Footer in WordPress Admin Manually (Complex)
• Frequently Asked Questions About Changing the Footer in WordPress Admin Panel
• Bonus Tip: More WordPress Admin Panel Customization Tricks

Ready? Let’s jump right in!

Method 1. Changing the Footer in the WordPress Admin with WPCode (Recommended)

To change the footer in the admin dashboard, we’re going to insert a code snippet into our theme’s functions.php file.

Normally, we only recommend pasting code snippets into your WordPress core files for advanced users because even a slight mistake can break your site. Plus, if you update your theme, any changes to the functions.php file will be erased.

That’s why we will be using the free WPCode plugin, which makes it safe for anyone to add code snippets to WordPress files.

First, let’s install and activate WPCode. For detailed instructions, feel free to see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once that’s done, you’ll need to go to Code Snippets » + Add Snippet in the admin dashboard’s left-hand menu.

Then, simply search for ‘footer’ and hover your mouse over the entry titled ‘Change Admin Panel Footer Text.’

From here, all you need to do is click the ‘Use snippet’ button.

This will take you to the ‘Edit Snippet’ screen. WPCode automatically configures settings for snippets that you add from the library.

Next, you need to change the text inside the quotes on the line that begins with $footer_text.

Be careful to keep the single quotes ' ' and the semicolon ; at the end, or the code will not work. You can use HTML here if you want to add links.

For example: Powered by <a href="https://yourwebsite.com">Your Business Name</a>.

Once you’re done customizing the footer text to your liking, go ahead and toggle the switch to ‘Active’ and then click the ‘Update’ button.

The new admin panel footer will now be live on your site. It will vary based on your specific changes, but if you enable the default snippet from WPCode, you will see this:

If you like how this code snippet works, you can take a look at the WPCode snippet library found at Code Snippets » Library.

This will show you everything that comes with the plugin for free.

WPCode’s built-in library has dozens of pre-configured snippets. For example, WPCode can disable the WordPress REST API, WP admin bar, or media attachment pages.

Method 2. Changing the Footer in WordPress Admin Manually (Complex)

Another way to change the WordPress admin’s footer is by adding code to your theme’s functions.php file.

We recommend this method for advanced users only. If you make a tiny mistake in the code or accidentally delete a character, it can cause the “White Screen of Death” and make your website inaccessible.

For more information, you can see our detailed guide on how to paste code snippets from the web into WordPress.

First, you’ll need to connect to your site via FTP or through your WordPress hosting provider’s file manager. Then, you can head to your site’s /wp-content/themes/your_theme/ directory.

From here, you just need to edit the file.

You can open it in a plain-text editor like Notepad, or you can use the built-in editor if your host provides one.

Simply copy and paste this code into the functions.php file.

add_filter(
	'admin_footer_text',
	function ( $footer_text ) {
		// Edit the line below to customize the footer text.
		$footer_text = 'Powered by <a href="https://www.wordpress.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WordPress</a> | WordPress Tutorials: <a href="https://www.wpbeginner.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WPBeginner</a>';
		
		return $footer_text;
	}
);

Be sure to change the HTML in the line that starts with $footer_text in the sample code to whatever you want as your new admin footer.

Here’s what the line looks like on the editor:

Finally, you can go ahead and save your file.

You should see the new footer in your admin dashboard right away.

Frequently Asked Questions About Changing the Footer in WordPress Admin Panel

Here are some questions that our readers have frequently asked about changing the footer in their WordPress admin panel:

How do I change the footer in WordPress admin?

You can change the WordPress admin footer using a plugin like WPCode or by adding custom code to your theme’s functions.php file (ideally in a child theme).

How do I modify the footer section?

The footer section can be modified via the WordPress Customizer, a page builder like SeedProd, or by editing your theme’s footer template file.

How do I edit the footer CTA in WordPress?

Footer CTAs can be edited by accessing your theme’s footer template, using a page builder, or adding a widget in the Footer Widget area, depending on your theme.

How do I edit the header and footer in WordPress?

You can edit headers and footers using the WordPress Customizer, a theme builder like Elementor or SeedProd, or by editing the theme template files directly.

Why can’t I edit the footer?

Some themes restrict footer editing in the Customizer, or the footer may be hardcoded in template files. Using a child theme, a plugin, or a page builder usually resolves this limitation.

Bonus Tip: More WordPress Admin Panel Customization Tricks

Want to jump in and personalize your WordPress experience even further? We’ve put together some easy guides to help you get started with different customizations:

• How to Change or Remove ‘Howdy Admin’ in WordPress (Easy Way)
• How to Add Dark Mode to Your WordPress Admin Dashboard
• How to Automatically Empty Your WordPress Trash
• How to Add Additional File Types to Be Uploaded in WordPress
• How to Hide Unnecessary Menu Items From WordPress Admin

We hope this article helped you change the footer in your WordPress admin area. Next, you may also want to see our guide on how to make a WordPress website with AI to overcome creative blocks or how to add a favicon to your WordPress site.

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