Difference between revisions of "Admin Area"

Latest revision as of 19:26, 8 February 2023

WHMCS 8.0 Admin Dashboard

The Admin Area is the portal that admins access when they work within WHMCS. The WHMCS admin area has over 125 interface or feature pages, each often containing multiple sub-interfaces.

You can access the Admin Area by following the steps below to log in as an admin. Then, use the navigation tools to find the WHMCS features you want to use.

Logging In

To log in to the WHMCS admin area:

Go to your installation's admin directory.
- For example, if you installed WHMCS at https://billing.example.com/, you would access https://billing.example.com/admin/.
- If you have followed the recommended security steps, you will need to use the custom name you have set up.
Enter your admin username and password.
Click Login. The Admin Dashboard will display.

If you experience problems logging in, you can request a password reset. If problems continue, your IP address may have been banned due to multiple failed login attempts.

Default Theme

We updated the default Admin Area theme in WHMCS 8.0 and later to Blend, and the sections below only describe the interface in WHMCS 8.0 and higher. In this update we:

Replaced the Setup menu with the Configuration () menu.
Added the Configuration () > System Settings and Automation Status () interfaces.
Added new update icon () that appears whenever an update is available.

You can find other templates in the WHMCS Marketplace or customize and create your own. For more information, see Admin Area Template Files.

Top Navigation

The top navigation bar allows access to all of WHMCS's features through a series of menus:

The Configuration Menu in WHMCS 8.0

+ — A menu of shortcuts to create new items.
Menus for each main area of WHMCS.
— Click to use the Intelligent Search (below).
— Click to go to Automation Status.
— The Configuration menu. Click to access System Settings, System Logs, Apps & Integrations, and many other items.
— Click to access your admin account information and notes, visit the Client Area, or log out.
— Click to access WHMCS documentation, technical support, forums, new version highlights, and license information for your WHMCS installation.

Sidebar Navigation

The sidebar navigation menu displays links and information that relate to the current interface.

For example, when you go to Configuration () > Manage Admins or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > Staff Management > Administrator Users, the sidebar menu displays links to all of the other system setting-related pages. If you navigate to the list of orders at Orders > List All Orders, the sidebar menu will include items from the Orders menu instead.

Search

There are two primary methods of search: Intelligent Search and Advanced Search. Both of these search options are available from any page.

Advanced Search in WHMCS 8.0

Intelligent Search in WHMCS 8.0

Advanced Search is in the bottom left of the sidebar on every page. With advanced search, you can choose exactly what entity type and field you wish to perform a search for. Entering a search term here and submitting it will take you to the exact match or list of possible matches.

Intelligent Search is at the top right of every page. To use it, enter a search term and press enter. Starting from when you enter three or more characters, the system searches as you type. Intelligent search makes a best guess attempt at what you are searching for and will display the most relevant matches it is able to find.

Intelligent Search

Intelligent Search allows you to perform the following search types:

Numeric searches — Entering a numeric search term will trigger searching for Client IDs, User IDs, Contact IDs, Service IDs, Domain IDs, and Invoice IDs as well as the last four digits of Clients' credit cards. There is no minimum length restriction.
Alphanumeric searches — Entering a search term containing a minimum of three letters and numbers will trigger a search of:
- Clients, Users, and Contacts: Name, Company Name, Email Address, Address, Phone Number
- Services and Domains: Domain Name, Username, Dedicated IP, Assigned IP, Notes
- Invoices: Invoice ID or Invoice Number
- Support Tickets: Ticket ID, Mask, or Subject

Automatic searching can be toggled off using a slide toggle button located towards the bottom of the intelligent search results pane. Disabling search as you type will persist for the duration of your current admin session. When search as you type is disabled, you must press enter to initiate a search.

Shortcuts

You can use the following shortcuts with Intelligent Search:

Enter/Return: Perform a search
Escape: Close the search results

Search Results

Show More Results

Search results are grouped into categories. By default, the first 10 results will be displayed. If more than 10 results are available, a "Show More" link will be displayed.

To view any additional results, click on this link. Only one category can be expanded at a time in this way.

Apps and modules can integrate with intelligent search using the Hooks system. For more information, see our Hook Documentation.

Dashboard

The Admin Dashboard in WHMCS 8.0

The Admin Dashboard displays individual widgets. Each admin can arrange, maximise, or minimize these widgets and enable or disable them entirely for different administrator roles.

Languages

The WHMCS admin area has full multi-language support.

Each administrator user can set their own language preference via the My Account page, which you can access at Account () > My Account or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, directly from the top navigation bar.

Language files for the admin area are in the /admin/lang/ directory.

To customise the translations for a given language, create an overrides file. You can learn more about overrides and how to use them in our Developer Documentation.

We rely on the contributions of our users for language translations. If you notice any discrepancies or phrasings that you want to improve, we welcome you to submit your suggestions for change to our support team. We thank you for your help to ensure our users have the best experience possible, whatever their language.

Admin Directory URL

We recommend customizing the Admin Area's URL by renaming the default admin directory's name and updating it in the configuration.php file. This makes it harder for bots and other malicious users to access the login page.

The admin directory name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z and 0-9), numerals (0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_).
You cannot move the admin directory outside of the WHMCS installation's root directory.

For steps to rename the admin directory and troubleshoot issues, see Renaming the WHMCS Admin Directory and Troubleshooting Admin Directory Errors.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Login==
+[[File:NewLookDashboard.png|300px|thumb|right|WHMCS 8.0 Admin Dashboard]]
-To login to the admin area, simply append the word "admin" to the URL at which you installed WHMCS.  For example if you installed WHMCS @ http://demo.whmcs.com/ then you would access the admin area by typing in http://demo.whmcs.com/admin
+The Admin Area is the portal that admins access when they work within WHMCS. The WHMCS admin area has over 125 interface or feature pages, each often containing multiple sub-interfaces.
-If you have followed the recommended further security steps (http://wiki.whmcs.com/Further_Security_Steps) then you may have renamed the admin folder to make it harder for visitors to find and therefore the folder name you need to type in might be different.
+You can access the Admin Area by following the [[#Logging_In|steps below]] to log in as an admin. Then, use [[#Top_Navigation|the navigation tools]] to find the WHMCS features you want to use.
-An IP Ban is enforced if you make 3 invalid password login attempts to the admin area. By default the ban time is 15 minutes but this can be increased in '''General Settings > Security'''.  If you get banned, you will need to wait for the ban to expire or lift it via the database, please refer to our [[FAQs]].
+==Logging In==
+To log in to the WHMCS admin area:
-==Password Resets==
+# Go to your installation's <tt>admin</tt> directory.
+#* For example, if you installed WHMCS at <tt>https://billing.example.com/</tt>, you would access <tt>https://billing.example.com/admin/</tt>.
+#* If you have followed the [[Further Security Steps|recommended security steps]], you will need to use the custom name you have set up.
+# Enter your admin username and password.
+# Click '''Login'''. The [[Admin Dashboard]] will display.
-Admin password resets can be requested from the link on the admin page login form by following the link "Forgot your password?"  There it's simply a case of entering your admin email address to be sent a new password.
+If you experience problems logging in, you can [[Resetting an Admin Password|request a password reset]]. If problems continue, your IP address may have been [[Removing an IP Address Ban|banned due to multiple failed login attempts]].
-If you fail to receive the email, or have disabled the forgot your password option, instructions for resetting the admin password can be found in our [[FAQs]].
+== Default Theme ==
-==Templates==
+We updated the default Admin Area theme in WHMCS 8.0 and later to '''Blend''', and the sections below only describe the interface in WHMCS 8.0 and higher. In this update we:
+* Replaced the '''Setup''' menu with the '''Configuration (<i class="fa fa-wrench" aria-hidden="true"></i>)''' menu.
+* Added the '''Configuration (<i class="fa fa-wrench" aria-hidden="true"></i>) > System Settings''' and '''[[Automation Status]] (<i class="fa fa-cogs" aria-hidden="true"></i>)''' interfaces.
+* Added  new update icon '''(<i class="fa fa-download" aria-hidden="true"></i>)''' that appears whenever an update is available.
-The admin area comes with 2 templates:
+You can find other templates in the WHMCS Marketplace or customize and create your own. For more information, see [[Admin Area Template Files]].
+==Top Navigation==
-*'''V4''' - A web 2.0 styled interface introduced in Version 4.0
+The top navigation bar allows access to all of WHMCS's features through a series of menus:
-*'''Blend''' - The default template, designed for use on a range of devices including tablets. Introduced in Version 4.5.
-The existing templates can be customised and/or new ones created - see [[Admin Area Template Files]] for more info on that.
+[[File:ConfigurationMenu.png|200px|thumb|right|The Configuration Menu in WHMCS 8.0]]
-The template you see when logging in can be set on a per admin level and therefore your staff can choose their preference or you can create different templates tailored to their specific role.  The template for an admin can be set in '''Setup > Administrators'''
+* '''+''' — A menu of shortcuts to create new items.
+* Menus for each main area of WHMCS.
+* '''<i class="fa fa-search" aria-hidden="true"></i>''' — Click to use the Intelligent Search (below).
+* '''<i class="fa fa-cogs" aria-hidden="true"></i>''' — Click to go to [[Automation Status]].
+* '''<i class="fa fa-wrench" aria-hidden="true"></i>''' — The '''Configuration''' menu. Click to access '''System Settings''', '''System Logs''', '''[[Apps_and_Integrations|Apps & Integrations]]''', and many other items.
+* '''<i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i>''' — Click to access your admin account information and notes, visit the Client Area, or log out.
+* '''<i class="fa fa-question-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i>''' — Click to access WHMCS documentation, technical support, forums, new version highlights, and license information for your WHMCS installation.
+==Sidebar Navigation==
+The sidebar navigation menu displays links and information that relate to the current interface.
+For example, when you go to '''Configuration (<i class="fa fa-wrench" aria-hidden="true"></i>) > [[Administrator Users|Manage Admins]]''' or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, '''Setup > Staff Management > Administrator Users''', the sidebar menu displays links to all of the other system setting-related pages. If you navigate to the list of orders at '''Orders > [[Order Management|List All Orders]]''', the sidebar menu will include items from the '''Orders''' menu instead.
 ==Search==
-The admin area has 2 main methods of search - '''Intelligent Search''' & '''Advanced Search'''.  Both of these search options are available from any page.
+There are two primary methods of search: '''Intelligent Search''' and '''Advanced Search'''. Both of these search options are available from any page.
+[[File:AdvancedSearch.png|200px|thumb|left|Advanced Search in WHMCS 8.0]]
+[[File:IntelligentSearch.png|200px|thumb|right|Intelligent Search in WHMCS 8.0]]
+'''Advanced Search''' is in the bottom left of the sidebar on every page. With advanced search, you can choose exactly what entity type and field you wish to perform a search for. Entering a search term here and submitting it will take you to the exact match or list of possible matches.
+'''Intelligent Search''' is at the top right of every page. To use it, enter a search term and press enter. Starting from when you enter three or more characters, the system searches as you type. Intelligent search makes a best guess attempt at what you are searching for and will display the most relevant matches it is able to find.
+=== Intelligent Search ===
+Intelligent Search allows you to perform the following search types:
+* Numeric searches — Entering a numeric search term will trigger searching for Client IDs, User IDs, Contact IDs, Service IDs, Domain IDs, and Invoice IDs as well as the last four digits of Clients' credit cards. There is no minimum length restriction.
+* Alphanumeric searches — Entering a search term containing a minimum of three letters and numbers will trigger a search of:
+** Clients, Users, and Contacts: Name, Company Name, Email Address, Address, Phone Number
+** Services and Domains: Domain Name, Username, Dedicated IP, Assigned IP, Notes
+** Invoices: Invoice ID or Invoice Number
+** Support Tickets: Ticket ID, Mask, or Subject
+Automatic searching can be toggled off using a slide toggle button located towards the bottom of the intelligent search results pane.  Disabling search as you type will persist for the duration of your current admin session.  When search as you type is disabled, you must press enter to initiate a search.
+==== Shortcuts ====
+You can use the following shortcuts with Intelligent Search:
+* Enter/Return: Perform a search
+* Escape: Close the search results
+==== Search Results ====
-Intelligent search is located at the top right of each template and allows you to enter a search term, press enter and the results are instantly displayed.  It will search accross various fields in the Clients, Products, Invoices & Tickets databases to display the most relevant matches to the term entered.  However it doesn't search all fields and with large databases because of the amount of data it has to look through can be slower.
+[[File:intelligent_search_show_more.png|250px|thumb|Show More Results]]
-The Advanced Search allows you to search more specifically, choosing exactly the field you want to search on. It is available from the top menu bar in the Original template, bottom left sidebar in V4 and bottom right sidebar in Simple.  Entering a search term here and submitting will take you to the exact match or list of possible matches.
+Search results are grouped into categories. By default, the first 10 results will be displayed. If more than 10 results are available, a "Show More" link will be displayed.
-==Widgets==
+To view any additional results, click on this link. Only one category can be expanded at a time in this way.
-The admin summary page is made up of a number of individual 'widgets'. These can be arranged and maximised/minimized by each individual member of staff and enabled/disabled entirely for different administrator roles. To move a widget, simply click and drag the title bar where the widget name is displayed to the desired location and then release it. Before you let go of the mouse, a dotted outline will appear where the widget will be moved to allowing you to confirm it's as you want.
-Further Reading:
+Apps and modules can integrate with intelligent search using the Hooks system. For more information, see our [https://developers.whmcs.com/hooks-reference/everything-else/#intelligentsearch Hook Documentation].
-*[[Widgets]]
-*[[Creating_a_Widget]]
-==Multi-Language==
+==Dashboard==
+[[File:Dashboard.png|600px|thumb|center|The Admin Dashboard in WHMCS 8.0]]
+The [[Admin Dashboard]] displays individual [[Widgets|widgets]]. Each admin can arrange, maximise, or minimize these widgets and enable or disable them entirely for different administrator roles.
-WHMCS supports multiple languages for the admin area making the system truly multi-lingual throughout. Admins can then have a default language set for their profile in the '''Setup > Administrators''' or the '''My Account''' area when logged in.
+==Languages==
+The WHMCS admin area has full multi-language support.
+Each administrator user can set their own language preference via the '''My Account''' page, which you can access at '''Account (<i class="fa fa-user-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i>) > [[My Account]]''' or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, directly from the top navigation bar.
+Language files for the admin area are in the <tt>/admin/lang/</tt> directory.
+To customise the translations for a given language, create an overrides file. You can learn more about overrides and how to use them in our [https://developers.whmcs.com/languages/overrides/ Developer Documentation].
+<div class="docs-alert-warning">
+We rely on the contributions of our users for language translations. If you notice any discrepancies or phrasings that you want to improve, we welcome you to submit your suggestions for change to our support team. We thank you for your help to ensure our users have the best experience possible, whatever their language.
+</div>
-The language files for the admin area can be found in the ''/admin/lang/'' folder, from there you can create entirely new additional language translations by translating and saving one of the existing language files with a new name.
+== Admin Directory URL ==
-The language files use PHP syntax for storing the variables, so you need to take care when editing the file not to remove the quotes or semi-colons from the ends of lines, and also if wanting to use quotes inside a word or phrase translation, you must escape it with a back slash, eg. "This needs to be \"escaped\"."
+We recommend customizing the Admin Area's URL by renaming the default <tt>admin</tt> directory's name and updating it in the <tt>configuration.php</tt> file. This makes it harder for bots and other malicious users to access the login page.
-When it comes to modifying an existing translation an overrides system has been implemented, this has the benefit of when it comes to upgrades you don't have any risk of overwriting and losing your customisations.
+* The admin directory name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z and 0-9), numerals (0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_).
-The steps for creating an admin area language override are the [[Language_Files#Overriding_Language Strings|same as the client area]] but uploaded to '''/admin/lang/overrides/''' instead.
+* You '''cannot''' move the admin directory outside of the WHMCS installation's root directory.
-We rely on the dedication and generosity of our users for contributing translations, as we find real life translations are a much higher quality compared with using automated translation systems as some softwares do. So if you have any suggestions for improvements, or a new language file you are willing to contribute, please get in touch.
+For steps to rename the <tt>admin</tt> directory and troubleshoot issues, see [https://help.whmcs.com/m/installation/l/1650304-renaming-the-whmcs-admin-directory Renaming the WHMCS Admin Directory] and [https://help.whmcs.com/m/troubleshooting/l/1650308-troubleshooting-admin-directory-errors Troubleshooting Admin Directory Errors].

Documentation