If your WordPress admin dashboard sidebar is missing items, try the following steps:
- Check User Role and Permissions: Ensure your account has Administrator rights.
- Disable All Plugins: Rename the
plugins folder via FTP or your hosting control panel to deactivate all plugins, then check the admin area. Reactivate plugins one by one to find the culprit.
- Switch to a Default Theme: Rename your active theme’s folder to force WordPress to use a default theme and see if the issue is resolved.
- Clear Browser Cache and Cookies: Clear your browser’s cache and cookies or try accessing the admin area in a private browsing window.
- Reinstall WordPress Core Files: Download and upload the latest WordPress files, excluding
wp-content and wp-config.php, to ensure no core files are corrupted.
- Check for JavaScript Errors: Open the browser’s developer console to look for JavaScript errors that might be causing the issue.
- Review Debug Logs: Enable debugging in
wp-config.php and check wp-content/debug.log for error messages.
- Database Issues: Use
phpMyAdmin to check and repair database tables to ensure they are not corrupted.
It sounds like your account may have lost admin privileges for some reason.
If you are not using Multisite, access your database via phpMyAdmin (most hosting providers offer this in your hosting account’s control panel), go to the wp_users table and find the row for your user_login. Note the ID of this row. Now, go to the wp_usermeta table and find the wp_capabilities row for your user_id. Set the value of this row to:
a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}
