Changing Admin Menu Labels

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I have spent the last day using the functions.php file to fully customize WordPress for my client sites. I am amazed at how much I have been able to accomplish and how much easier it will make things for my clients.

I have removed certain menu items for users that are not logged in as an admin. What I am hoping (and from what I have read know it can be done) is to find a way to rename some of the menu items (left sidebar in the admin area). For instance change Posts to Articles.

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If anyone can supply the code for the functions.php file or point me in the direction I would greatly appreciate it!

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5 comments

  1. Here’s the process to change the labels (I changed posts to “contacts” in my example)

    function change_post_menu_label() {
    global $menu;
    global $submenu;
    $menu[5][0] = 'Contacts';
    $submenu['edit.php'][5][0] = 'Contacts';
    $submenu['edit.php'][10][0] = 'Add Contacts';
    $submenu['edit.php'][15][0] = 'Status'; // Change name for categories
    $submenu['edit.php'][16][0] = 'Labels'; // Change name for tags
    echo '';
}

function change_post_object_label() {
        global $wp_post_types;
        $labels = &$wp_post_types['post']->labels;
        $labels->name = 'Contacts';
        $labels->singular_name = 'Contact';
        $labels->add_new = 'Add Contact';
        $labels->add_new_item = 'Add Contact';
        $labels->edit_item = 'Edit Contacts';
        $labels->new_item = 'Contact';
        $labels->view_item = 'View Contact';
        $labels->search_items = 'Search Contacts';
        $labels->not_found = 'No Contacts found';
        $labels->not_found_in_trash = 'No Contacts found in Trash';
    }
    add_action( 'init', 'change_post_object_label' );
    add_action( 'admin_menu', 'change_post_menu_label' );

    To change the menu order, go with this:

    // CUSTOMIZE ADMIN MENU ORDER
   function custom_menu_order($menu_ord) {
       if (!$menu_ord) return true;
       return array(
        'index.php', // this represents the dashboard link
        'edit.php', //the posts tab
        'upload.php', // the media manager
        'edit.php?post_type=page', //the posts tab
    );
   }
   add_filter('custom_menu_order', 'custom_menu_order');
   add_filter('menu_order', 'custom_menu_order');

    I’ve got code to remove items, but it’s globally and not based on user access level

  2. To rename default post type (or any other for that matter) just use filter post_type_labels_{$post_type}. For default post it will be post_type_labels_post. In the code below is the full list of labels (WP 4.7.1). You do not have to change everything.

    add_filter( 'post_type_labels_post', 'news_rename_labels' );

/**
* Rename default post type to news
*
* @param object $labels
* @hooked post_type_labels_post
* @return object $labels
*/
function news_rename_labels( $labels )
{
    # Labels
    $labels->name = 'News';
    $labels->singular_name = 'News';
    $labels->add_new = 'Add News';
    $labels->add_new_item = 'Add News';
    $labels->edit_item = 'Edit News';
    $labels->new_item = 'New News';
    $labels->view_item = 'View News';
    $labels->view_items = 'View News';
    $labels->search_items = 'Search News';
    $labels->not_found = 'No news found.';
    $labels->not_found_in_trash = 'No news found in Trash.';
    $labels->parent_item_colon = 'Parent news'; // Not for "post"
    $labels->archives = 'News Archives';
    $labels->attributes = 'News Attributes';
    $labels->insert_into_item = 'Insert into news';
    $labels->uploaded_to_this_item = 'Uploaded to this news';
    $labels->featured_image = 'Featured Image';
    $labels->set_featured_image = 'Set featured image';
    $labels->remove_featured_image = 'Remove featured image';
    $labels->use_featured_image = 'Use as featured image';
    $labels->filter_items_list = 'Filter news list';
    $labels->items_list_navigation = 'News list navigation';
    $labels->items_list = 'News list';

    # Menu
    $labels->menu_name = 'News';
    $labels->all_items = 'All News';
    $labels->name_admin_bar = 'News';

    return $labels;
}

    If you want internationalization support, just use __( $text, $textdomain ) like: 

    $labels->name = __( 'News', 'textdomain' );

    I found the filter in function: get_post_type_labels() from a file wp-includes/post.php:

    /**
 * Filter the labels of a specific post type.
 *
 * The dynamic portion of the hook name, `$post_type`, refers to
 * the post type slug.
 *
 * @since 3.5.0
 *
 * @see get_post_type_labels() for the full list of labels.
 *
 * @param object $labels Object with labels for the post type as member variables.
 */
$labels = apply_filters( "post_type_labels_{$post_type}", $labels );

  3. You might want to look at this question

    and the class they mention there on gist

    which holds functions that you ara looking for

    rename_admin_menu_section()

    to rename for instance change Posts to Articles

    and you can remove the appearances menu and create you new top page menu item for

  4. I agree.. The functions.php file gives lots of flexibility. I’ve needed some of the same functionality that you described with a combination of functions.php filters and this plugin.

    From what I can tell..this plugin would accomplish both of your issues and it works well in Multi-Site install situations too. Hope that helps.

  5. Norcross’s example above is right on, but I needed the possibility of internationalization. If I had the reputation, this would be a comment under Norcross’s answer, but since I don’t, i’ll just put the modified code here. ‘i18n_context’ is an arbitrary namespace for the translation context, this could be the name of your plugin or theme for example.

    function change_post_menu_label() {
  global $menu;
  global $submenu;
  $menu[5][0] = __('Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $submenu['edit.php'][5][0] = __('Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $submenu['edit.php'][10][0] = __('Add Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $submenu['edit.php'][15][0] = __('Status', 'i18n_context'); // Change name for categories
  $submenu['edit.php'][16][0] = __('Labels', 'i18n_context'); // Change name for tags
  echo '';
}

function change_post_object_label() {
  global $wp_post_types;
  $labels = &$wp_post_types['post']->labels;
  $labels->name = __('Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->singular_name = __('Contact', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->add_new = __('Add Contact', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->add_new_item = __('Add Contact', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->edit_item = __('Edit Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->new_item = __('Contact', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->view_item = __('View Contact', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->search_items = __('Search Contacts', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->not_found = __('No Contacts found', 'i18n_context');
  $labels->not_found_in_trash = __('No Contacts found in Trash', 'i18n_context');
}
add_action( 'init', 'change_post_object_label' );
add_action( 'admin_menu', 'change_post_menu_label' );