How to Create Guest Authors

By default, everyone who writes on your WordPress site has to have a user account. With the PublishPress Authors plugin, it is possible to create “Guest Authors” who do not have an active user account.

This Guest Authors feature is useful if you do not want to give a WordPress account to people, even if you publish your content. There are two types of Guest Author:

  1. Guest Author With User Account: This is an author profile and a linked user account. This account will be in the “Guest Author” role and will not be able to login to the WordPress dashboard or update their profile. This option is best for compatibility with other themes and plugins.
  2. Guest Author With No User Account: This is an author profile with no linked user account. This option is lightweight but may have compatibility issues with other themes and plugins.

How to Enable the Guest Author Feature #

It is possible to enable or disable the Guest Authors feature. If this feature is disabled, every “Author” in the PublishPress Authors plugin must be connected to a WordPress user account.

To configure this setting, go to “Authors”, then “Settings” in your WordPress admin menu. Click the “Author Profiles” tab.

Guest Authors tab

Adding Guest Authors #

After installing PublishPress Authors, to go the “Authors” link in your WordPress menu. You can add the two kinds of Guest Authors here. In this screenshot below, I'm adding a guest author with no user account.

PublishPress Authors treats Guest Authors identically to Authors who are mapped to users. You will be able to select and display Guest Authors in exactly the same way as for mapped users.

  • Now when you go to create a post, you can choose the Guest Author, as in the screenshot below.
  • Save your content and visit the front of your site. You'll be able to see the Guest Author profile, sitting next to the profile for actual users on your site.
Choose a Guest Author in PublishPress Authors