Backup and Restore User Capabilities

PublishPress Capabilities offers you the ability to backup and restore your permissions.

This feature is very helpful if you want to test out changes on your site, or you've installed a new plugin that has changed your site's permissions.

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Automatic permissions backups

Changing permissions in WordPress can be a tricky task. It's possible to lock yourself or others out of some important features.

So, we've built a way to keep your site safe.

Every time you change your permissions, the PublishPress Capabilities plugin will automatically create a backup. If you make a mistake, go to the “Backup” menu link and click the “Restore” tab.

Here you can browse through the most recent 20 automatic backups. The plugin also saves a backup from you first installed PublishPress Capabilities. And you can click the “Backup” tab to manually create backups.

Click the yellow “Restore Selected Roles” button and you'll be able to roll back to a previous version.

Whenever you choose a backup, the plugin will show all the permissions in that backup. Important changes in permissions are highlighted:

• A green role title means the role does not exist in your current set.  
• A green capability is set in the role backup, but not the current role.
• A stuck-through capability is set in the current role, but not the role backup.

In the image below, several permissions are marked in red: these will be removed if you restore this backup.

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How to Create a Permissions Backup

You can also manually create a backup of your permissions.

• Go to Capabilities > Backup.
• Click the “Backup” tab.
• Click the “Manual Backup” button:

• You'll now see the message, “New backup saved”.

PublishPress Capabilities will save one manual backup at a time. You can find that backup under the “Restore” tab.

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Restore Permissions to the WordPress Defaults

If you really need to clean up and refresh your site, PublishPress Capabilities does allow you to restore the default WordPress permissions.

• Click the “Reset Roles” tab.

Before you take this step, make sure to read the warning:

“WARNING: This will delete and/or modify stored role definitions. If you have installed any plugin that adds new roles or capabilities, these will be lost.It is recommended to use this only as a last resort!”

If you want to proceed, click the “Reset to WordPress defaults” link.

PublishPress Capabilities will ask you if you're really sure you want to do this. Click “OK” to continue.

Once the process is complete, you'll see the message, “Roles and Capabilities reset to WordPress defaults”.