Admin Columns Pro is a WordPress plugin that aims to help users manage and control the list/overview pages of the WordPress admin. Specifically, it expands the core functionality of columns on overview pages for posts, pages, categories, media, users, comments, and other content types.

Developed by Codepress, Admin Columns Pro lets you sort, filter, and edit WordPress admin columns in powerful and highly customizable ways. It even supports inline editing of column data.

The plugin goes far beyond the default capabilities of WordPress overview pages. Admin Columns Pro extends the column data for all post types, pages, media, comments, custom fields, taxonomies, and more. In fact, Admin Columns Pro offers over 160 new data columns to choose from.

In this review, we’ll take a look at the main features of Admin Columns Pro, how to set it up and use it, and give you our final thoughts and recommendations. To find out more, read on.

Admin Columns Pro Main Features

Admin Columns Pro is available in both free and premium versions. Here are the features for the premium version:

• Add, remove, and edit columns on overview pages for posts, pages, media, users, categories, comments, taxonomies, and more.

• Sort and edit columns for custom post types and taxonomies.

• Choose from over 160 columns for many content types (e.g., author name, categories, tags, featured images), allowing you to customize your list/overview page the way you want.

• Label columns however you wish—you can even add icons to column headers.

• Sort the left to right order of columns through dragging and dropping, without any coding.

• Sort and filter column data based on your chosen criteria.

For example, you can sort column data based on post length, number of comments, image size, and more. Or you can filter column data by products, posts by a specific author, or by ranges to quickly find the content information you’re looking for. You can also save and label your filters.

• Admin Columns Pro offers taxonomy columns and the ability to edit your custom fields from the overview page.

• Import/export your column setup for moving between domains, saving presets for use with different column setups, or backing up.

• Save time with the ability to select any field and do inline edits of content directly within your columns. For example, through its compatibility with the Yoast SEO plugin, you can check your posts for SEO titles, descriptions, and focus keywords from the WordPress admin without having to open individual posts to make changes.

• Create and save column sets, make column sets available based on roles or users, and choose different sets from the drop-down menu.

• Create custom date displays for your overview pages.

• Supports unlimited columns with horizontal scrolling (for desktop and mobile devices) for columns that go beyond the screen viewport.

• Determine column widths based on pixels, percentage, or automatically.

• Available in many languages.

Third-Party Plugin Support

Instead of trying to replace the feature set of third-party plugins, Admin Columns Pro aims to complement them by adding new functionality to the columns they offer in the WordPress admin.

With strong third-party integration, users can organize, manage, and edit columns for WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast SEO, bbPress, Toolset Types, Pods, and more. You’ll be able to add new columns that are specific to each plugin.

For example, with Advanced Custom Fields integration, you can display and edit any of your fields in a column on your overview pages (e.g., posts, pages, post types, media, users, comments, and taxonomies). Advanced Custom Fields also allows you to sort or filter fields for any content type.

You’ll be able to save time managing products and orders with WooCommerce columns. For example, you can display columns for product prices, sizes, stock availability, and product dimensions—and you can edit these columns directly from the products overview page. Also, Admin Columns Pro allows you to sort just about any WooCommerce column.

With Toolset Types and Admin Columns Pro, WordPress users have full control over the columns in their overview pages for custom content types, fields, and taxonomies. And you can edit these custom items directly with the Inline Editing feature. You can also sort the data of any field by making the field a column, or filter the data you don’t want by removing columns.

With the Yoast SEO plugin, Admin Columns Pro lets you manage and edit SEO titles, focus keywords, and SEO descriptions directly from the WordPress admin, without having to open each post separately to make changes.

The Pods plugin provides a content development framework. It allows WordPress users to create and manage custom post types and fields. Because Admin Columns Pro supports all post types and taxonomies, media, users, comments, and custom settings pages, you can customize these columns on your overview pages. Admin Columns Pro lets you assign any field as a column and easily edit, sort, and filter your column data.

• Admin Columns Pro works with WordPress Multisite and includes 17 columns for managing network column sets, including columns for:

Plugins used
Themes used
Amount of space used
Username
Name
Email
User role
Sites

You can even create custom column setups for each site in the network.

Setting Up Admin Columns Pro

Installation:

After purchasing Admin Columns Pro, you’ll receive an email with download instructions along with an activation code for purchase verification, updates, and support.

1. From your Admin Columns Pro accounts page, download the Admin Columns Pro plugin.

2. In WordPress, go to Plugins… Add New.

3. Click on Upload Plugin… Choose File, and select the downloaded plugin’s zip file.

4. Click Install Now.

After installation, you’ll see an Admin Columns menu in the WordPress admin sidebar.

License Activation:

When you activate the plugin’s license, you’ll receive automatic updates for Admin Columns Pro and integrated third-party plugins.

1. In the WordPress sidebar, go to Settings…Admin Columns, and select the Settings tab.

2. In the Updates section, enter the license code that came with the plugin, and click the Update License button.

If you don’t have your license code, you can find it at your account page where you downloaded the plugin.

Third-Party Plugin Installation:

Before installing the third-party plugins, make sure you activated the Admin Columns Pro license (see above).

1. In WordPress, go to Settings…Admin Columns, and select the Add-ons tab.

2. For any desired plugins you wish to install, click its Download & Install button.

Using Admin Columns Pro

Admin Columns Pro lets you manage and edit columns for overview pages (posts, media, users, taxonomies, comments and more).

In this example, we’re going to use columns from a Post overview page.

Column Creation and Editing

1. To start creating and editing columns, go to Settings…Admin Columns and select the tab for Admin Columns.

This is where you go to control the columns for your overview pages.

2. To edit the Post overview page, select Posts from the drop-down menu.

3. To add a column to the Post overview page, click the + Add Column button at the bottom of the page.

This adds a new column and automatically opens the setting options for that column.

4. In the Type row, from the drop-down menu, select the column type you want to display.

The options that are available in the drop-down menu depend on what third-party add-on plugins are installed.

A few of the many available options include Comment Count, Custom Field, Excerpt, Featured Image, ID, Permalink, Post Format, Slug, Status, Taxonomy, and Word Count.

Select Featured Image for the column type selection. After doing so, the settings options appear again, where you can choose additional sightings.

Note: Filtering, sorting, and inline editing features are not available with the free version of Admin Columns.

5. In the Label row, type a new label for the top of your column, or use the label that Admin Columns Pro adds automatically.

6. Choose how you want to determine the width of the column (Auto, percentage, or pixels).

Individual column widths can be adjusted by dragging the width slider from the column’s setting box. If you don’t specify column widths, the browser will handle them automatically. To save your changes, click the Update button.

7. To view your Posts screen and see your changes, click the View button at the top of the screen.

After seeing the new Featured Image column on your Posts overview page, click your browser’s back button to go back to the Add Column section.

8. Click the + Add Column button to add another column. For Type, select Excerpt, and complete the steps for Label and Width, as before.

Click the Update button to save your changes.

9. Hover over any open column setting boxes and click the Close link (or upward pointing arrow) to close it.

10. Hover over a column row and notice the Edit and Remove links that appear. Select Edit to open back up the column options. Select Remove to get rid of the column.

Again, click the Update button to save any changes.

11. You can change the order of columns by dragging them from their leftmost edge into the position you want. The higher position, the further to the left it will appear on your overview page. When finished, you can save your new column order by clicking the Update button.

12. Select the View button to see your columns in the Posts overview page.

Sorting and Filtering Columns

By default, WordPress allows you to sort post columns by title, author, categories, tags, comments, and date. With Admin Columns Pro, you can sort many other kinds of content, including media and users.

Let’s take a look at some of Admin Column Pro’s sorting and filtering features:

Sorting

1. Go to Settings…Admin Columns, and select the Admin Columns tab.

2. Click the Enable Sorting icon for the column you’d like to sort (it looks like two arrows). Save your changes by clicking the Update button.

3. Click the View button to go to the Posts overview page.

4. Click the column’s title to sort its data in ascending and descending order on each click.

For example, you might sort posts by word count or number of comments.

Admin Columns Pro retains the latest sorted method you use for each column when you come back to it.

Filters

The more content you have, the longer it can take to find what you’re looking for.

Admin Columns Pro lets you filter almost any type of data for your overview page. For instance, by enabling filtering for the Comment Count or Author column, you can filter your posts by the number of comments they have or by a specific author, respectively.

1. To be able to filter a column, you must first go to the Admin Columns tab and click the Enable Filtering icon (looks like a funnel for the column you want to be able to filter. Then, click the Update button.

2. After filtering is enabled for your selected columns, you can select filtering options from the drop-down menus across the top of the overview page, and then click the Filter button.

Note: If your existing taxonomy column doesn’t already do so, you can enable sorting, filtering, and editing capabilities with new taxonomy columns (e.g., categories, tags).

Go to the Admin Columns tab and remove the original taxonomy column. Next, click Add new column, and from the drop-down menu pick Taxonomy for the column type.

Finally, select the Taxonomy you want (Categories, Tags, or Types), and click the radio buttons to enable sorting, filtering, and editing. Save your changes by clicking the Update button.

Inline Editing

In my opinion, one of the most impressive and timesaving features of Admin Columns Pro is its ability to edit fields directly on the overview page. Here’s how to do that:

1. First, enable inline editing for a column. In the Admin Columns tab, hover over your desired column and click the inline editing icon (pencil) for a column, and then the Update button. This will add an Inline Edit button to the overview page.

Note: Inline editing is only available for posts, pages, and custom post types.

2. On the overview page, click the Inline Edit button to enable inline editing.

3. To edit column data, click on the Edit icon (pencil) in the column you want to make changes to.

For instance, you might have an SEO description column (using the Yoast SEO plugin). You can move down the column and click on the pencil icon to add or modify descriptions for your posts. In this way, you can quickly edit multiple SEO descriptions without having to go into each post to make changes. You could take the same basic steps to change post titles, categories, tags, featured images, and more.

Column Sets

With Admin Columns Pro, you’re able to create different configurations of column sets for the Posts overview page. You can create as many as you want, and switch between them by picking another set from a drop-down menu.

Here’s how to create and manage column sets:

1. From the Admin Columns tab, click the + Add set button in the Column Sets section.

2. Give your new column set a name.

3. Optionally, make the column set available only for specific users or WordPress roles.

You have the option to assign WordPress users or roles to a set. People who are assigned to a set are able to select the set from the overview page. If they are assigned to more than one set, they can choose between them from a drop-down menu.

Column sets that are not assigned to anyone are available to all users.

4. Click the Add button.

5. After your set is created, you can add, remove, and edit the columns in your set as you like. Click the Update button to save your changes.

6. If you create more than one column set, you can switch between them from the Column Sets menu at the top or right sidebar area of the Admin Columns tab.

You can also switch sets at the top of the Posts overview page from the Column View drop-down menu.

7. To edit a column set (e.g., change its name or assign different users and roles), just click the arrow next to its name in the Admin Columns tab.

Video Tutorial: Setting Up and Using Admin Columns Pro

Admin Columns Pro Support & Documentation

Admin Columns Pro includes extensive online documentation, direct email support, and a support ticket system through their support forums. Their documentation includes information for how to get started with the plugin, the different column types it supports, how-to tutorials, FAQs, information about compatible third-party plugins, documentation for developers, and more.

For email inquiries on business days, they promise a response within the same day.

Codepress, the people behind Admin Columns Pro, seem genuinely receptive to input from their customers. This is reflected in their online support forums and the surveys they put out for customer feedback, with recommended features finding their way into the software.

Reviews for the free version of the plugin are extremely positive, with a 4.9/5.0 rating from WordPress.org. Currently, the plugin has over 740 reviews and more than 80,000 active installs.

You can also sign up to their blog for the latest news and updates about the plugin.

Admin Columns Pro does not come in a demo version. Instead, the developers recommend trying out the free, more limited version of the plugin, which can be found here. While the free version provides a good idea of what the plugin can do, it doesn’t include more advanced features such as sorting, filtering, inline editing, direct email support, and integration with many third-party plugins.

Admin Columns Pro Pricing

Admin Columns Pro is available in free and premium versions. For the premium version of Admin Columns Pro, there are several price plans.

Personal Plan ($49)
For use on one site
One year of updates and support

Business Plan ($99)
For use on five sites
One year of updates and support
Includes: Column support for Advanced Custom Fields, WooCommerce, Pods, and Toolset Types

Developer Plan ($199)
For use on unlimited sites
One year of updates and support
Includes: Column support for Advanced Custom Fields, WooCommerce, Pods, and Toolset Types

The purchase of Admin Columns Pro allows you to use it for an unlimited period of time. Users can extend updates and premium support for the plugin through license renewal. Users who renew their license before it expires receive a 40% discount.

If you purchase a lower-level premium version of the plugin, you can upgrade at any time by paying the difference between the plans. This can be done by clicking the Upgrade button at your account page.

Admin Columns Pro comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.

Conclusions & Recommendations

Admin Columns Pro expands the built-in functionality of admin columns overview pages and feels like a core component of WordPress because it’s so intuitive and unobtrusive.

I like how the plugin not only extends the capabilities of the WordPress core, but also works nicely with third-party plugins and custom columns (e.g., WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast SEO, etc.) to extend their functionality. Admin Columns Pro lets you organize columns added by these plugins and also lets you add custom columns, including many custom field and content types.

With over 160 column types included, Admin Columns Pro can help you turn your overview pages in the WordPress admin from a mere convenience to a powerful weapon for organizing and saving time when dealing with your content’s data in the backend of your site.

It’s extremely convenient to see posts and content data at a glance right from the overview/list page. It’s also a great timesaver to be able to edit information without having to go into every post, make the changes, and save. In this way, you spend less time editing your content and more time on profit-generating activities.

Whether you’re creating a simple blog or an advanced ecommerce shop, Admin Columns Pro lets you customize your overview column pages however you wish, without touching any code. You can sort, filter, and directly edit all types of data, including titles, custom fields and taxonomies, featured images, and much more.

This is an extremely valuable plugin that nearly any WordPress user could benefit from, so I highly recommend you give it a good look.

Admin Columns Pro comes in both a free and premium version. To get a taste of its capabilities, you can download the free version from the WordPress plugin repository here. To check out the premium version with all of its advanced features, visit their website here.