Title: Better Admin Help Tabs
Author: Stephen S
Published: <strong>June 4, 2014</strong>
Last modified: July 2, 2016

---

Search plugins

![](https://ps.w.org/better-admin-help-tabs/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=926097)

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://ps.w.org/better-admin-help-tabs/assets/icon-128x128.png?rev=984302)

# Better Admin Help Tabs

 By [Stephen S](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ssuess/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs.1.3.4.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/)

## Description

This plugin will allow creation of admin help tabs (and associated sidebars) on 
any screen in the WordPress admin area. It creates a custom post type called Help
Tabs to store information. You need to add the following info to make it work:

 1. Title – The title of your tab
 2. Main content area
 3. Screen – What page/screen it should appear on
 4. Type – Help tab or tab sidebar

HELP TAB EXAMPLE:
 Let’s say I want to add a help tab on the main Help Tabs listing
page that says something about my plugin. I would use:

 1. “My Main Tab”
 2. “This is a main tab with my own info on it!”
 3. “edit-sbah_helptab”
 4. Select “Tab” (the default)

HELP SIDEBAR EXAMPLE:
 Let’s say I want to add a help sidebar (these are the areas
to the right with extra info and links) on the main Help Tabs listing page. I would
use:

 1. “My Sidebar”
 2. “This is a sidebar!”
 3. “edit-sbah_helptab”
 4. Select “Sidebar”

IMPORTANT NOTE: While there can be multiple tabs per page, there can be only ONE
sidebar per page. If you add others to the same page, only the first one found will
show.

NOTE: I also have a plugin that does Admin Pointers (those blue info boxes), if 
you are interested in that one you can find it here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/
better-admin-pointers/

This plugin leverages the great work done by others here:

For configuring metaboxes on the custom post type:
 https://github.com/WebDevStudios/
Custom-Metaboxes-and-Fields-for-WordPress

## Screenshots

 * [[
 * The config page for my example help tab.
 * [[
 * The example help tab and sidebar in action.

## Installation

It is always a good idea to make a backup of your database before installing any
plugin.

There are 3 ways to install this plugin:

 1. Search for it in your WordPress Admin (Plugins/Add New/Search) area and install
    from there
 2. Download the zip file from https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/
    and then go to Plugins/Add New/Upload and then upload and activate it.
 3. Upload the folder “better-admin-help-tabs” to “/wp-content/plugins/”, then activate
    the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress

## FAQ

  Q: How can I find the screen/page id name to use?

A: This can be easily deduced from looking at the URL in the admin. For regular 
posts, it would just be “post”. For a custom post type, it would be the name of 
that custom post type (my-custom-post-type). For other pages (like my plugin editor
example), it usually works to just remove the “.php” from the end of the url (i.
e. “plugin-editor.php” becomes “plugin-editor”).

  Q: Is there some handy reference somewhere for the main admin screen ids?

A: You are in luck: [https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Admin_Screen_Reference](https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Admin_Screen_Reference)

  Q: I’m the lazy type, is there some tool to help me identify admin screens?

A: You are in even greater luck. I just added an option to show you what screen 
you are on anywhere in the admin. Go to BAH Options page and check the box for “
Show Current Screen”. A small header on every page will identify your admin screen.

  Q: If I have more than one tab on a page, how can I order them?

A: Like the blog, they are in reverse cron order. So you can just change the dates
of the ones you want to be on the top to the latest. If there is enough interest
I may add an order field in a future version.

  Q: Can I put the same tab on multiple pages?

A: As of version 1.1, yes. Separate your page(screen) names with either a comma 
or a space.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e55f6a52ccb6965887afa1702b08e28bb3f3ea92e663680124270492f925f6b6?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Good Job](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/good-job-514/)󠁿

 [el_crespo](https://profiles.wordpress.org/el_crespo/) September 3, 2016 5 replies

Hi! Thanks for the plugin. But I found a little problem, in better-admin-help-tabs.
php line 234 you can find: $qargs = array( 'post_type' => 'sbah_helptab', 'posts_per_page'
=> '-1', 'meta_query' => array( array( 'key' => '_sbah_screen_text', 'value' => 
$idofscreen, 'compare' => 'like', // <= the problem ) ) ); so edit-{post_type} and{
post_type} are showing the same tabs $qargs = array( 'post_type' => 'sbah_helptab','
posts_per_page' => '-1', 'meta_query' => array( array( 'key' => '_sbah_screen_text','
value' => $idofscreen, 'compare' => '=', // <= 🙂 ) ) ); English is not my mother
tongue; please excuse any errors on my part.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5558fccb0980f4e0ebe39ffdcd2c010654a92f64bffc10aabbc6fdd788afcf79?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[I love you](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/i-love-you-18/)󠁿

 [limitlessventas](https://profiles.wordpress.org/limitlessventas/) September 3,
2016

Perfect

 [ Read all 4 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Better Admin Help Tabs” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Stephen S ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ssuess/)

“Better Admin Help Tabs” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “Better Admin Help Tabs” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/better-admin-help-tabs)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/better-admin-help-tabs/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/better-admin-help-tabs/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/better-admin-help-tabs/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/better-admin-help-tabs/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### Version 1.3.4

 * FIX: REGEXP was not matching if item was at end of the line.

#### Version 1.3.3

 * FIX: Fixes the previous fix to the fix. Who knew MariaDB was not really identical
   to MySQL?

#### Version 1.3.2

 * FIX: previous fix was not a fix. This version fixes the fix, sigh.

#### Version 1.3.1

 * FIX: help tab query was sometimes showing on wrong pages because of partial name
   matching.

#### Version 1.3

 * FIX: resolved conflicts with some plugins that did not have a wp screen available.
 * FIX: applying content filter properly to help tab content.

#### Version 1.2

 * FIX: Screen display option now properly coded and falls after admin bar loads.

#### Version 1.1

 * NEW FEATURE: Single entry can show on multiple pages

#### Version 1.0

 * First Version, awaiting bug reports…

## Meta

 *  Version **1.3.4**
 *  Last updated **10 years ago**
 *  Active installations **30+**
 *  WordPress version ** 3.3 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **4.5.33**
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/) and [French (France)](https://fr.wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/better-admin-help-tabs)
 * Tag
 * [help](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/help/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-admin-help-tabs/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4.8 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  3 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  1 4-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  0 1-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/?filter=1)

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Stephen S ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ssuess/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-admin-help-tabs/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=paypal%40c%2esatoristephen%2ecom&lc=US&item_name=Stephen%20Suess&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted)