Title: Filter Author null
Last modified: June 13, 2022

---

# Filter Author null

 *  [woodypad](https://wordpress.org/support/users/woodypad/)
 * (@woodypad)
 * [3 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/filter-author-null/)
 * Hello,
    I am using this code to which I have added “All Authors”. But I can’t
   in any way add an entry that cancels the user filter, so that it no longer filters
   only the roles listed below.
 *     ```
       add_action('restrict_manage_posts', 'ditt_filter_by_author');
       function ditt_filter_by_author() {
               $params = array(
                   'name' => 'author',
       			'show_option_all' => 'All Authors',
                   'role__in' => array('author','editor')
               );
               if ( isset($_GET['user']) ) {
                   $params['selected'] = $_GET['user'];
           }
           wp_dropdown_users( $params );
       }
       ```
   
 * Do you have feedback to do this?
    Thank you
    -  This topic was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by [woodypad](https://wordpress.org/support/users/woodypad/).

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [3 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/filter-author-null/#post-15733712)
 * I’m unclear on what filter you want cancelled. Filtering the posts query itself
   or the user query to possibly filter posts by? “All Authors” should effectively
   cancel the posts query filtering by author, doesn’t it? So can I assume you want
   the drop down to not filter users and list all of them? But that doesn’t make
   sense either. Not all users can author posts. I suggest using the “capability”
   arg instead of “role__in”. (replaces the “who” arg that has been deprecated since
   5.9)
 * Replace the “role__in” arg with
    `'capability' => 'edit_posts',` This will list
   all users who could possibly author posts. This will not eliminate users who 
   could author a post but have not done so. If you want only users who have actually
   authored posts, I think you’d need to query for all posts, getting only distinct
   post_author field values. Use the result as the “include” arg value.
 *  Thread Starter [woodypad](https://wordpress.org/support/users/woodypad/)
 * (@woodypad)
 * [3 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/filter-author-null/#post-15735711)
 * Hi,
    currently my filter works well, it allows me to filter articles by author
   name, with respect to the roles I have entered. The only problem is that if I
   select “All author” it always searches among the authors / roles included in 
   this filter. I would like to create a voice that seeks out all possible writers.
 * For example: the site administrator has written articles, I deliberately did 
   not mention the roles, but if I carry out a generic search using the filters 
   selecting all, it does not find the contents of other unmentioned roles, in this
   case administrator.
 * Another example: this filter is also visualized inside some plugins that use 
   custom post type.
    I am using an ad plugin, only admin roles can use it, but 
   if I try to use filters, they are all bound to the roles contained in the filter
   and therefore does not find the ads I am trying to filter.
 * Thank you
 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [3 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/filter-author-null/#post-15736628)
 * The role__in arg should only affect the query for user names for the dropdown,
   it doesn’t affect the posts query. The All Authors option yields a `author=0`
   query var, which should result in posts by any author being listed regardless
   of author role. A posts query doesn’t even have an option to qualify results 
   by author role. Something else is restricting your posts query.
 * Regardless of what query vars are passed, you can alter the actual query through
   the “pre_get_posts” action. There you could unset whatever undesirable query 
   vars that had been set. To avoid altering the wrong query, verify you are working
   on the main query and that `is_admin()` returns `true`. Add your action callback
   with a large $priority arg to help ensure your query modification is done after
   any others.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Filter Author null’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Developing with WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/wp-advanced/)
 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * Last activity: [3 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/filter-author-null/#post-15736628)
 * Status: not resolved

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