How to Create Private Taxonomies in WordPress
The slogan for TaxoPress is “Organize your WordPress”. That applies to content on the frontend of your site, but also to the admin area. We often have TaxoPress users who want to organize their content privately. They want a taxonomy that is only used and seen in the WordPress admin area.
With the TaxoPress plugin, you can create taxonomies for internal use only. Your content will still be visible, but it can be organized with private taxonomies.
- Install the TaxoPress plugin.
- Go to “Taxonomies” in the WordPress admin area.
- Create a new taxonomy.
That's it! The easy approach is to use TaxoPress to create a new taxonomy. If you never decide to actively display the taxonomy, it will never be shown anywhere. It will only be available in the WordPress admin area. You will be able to add terms to this taxonomy while adding content:
Inside the “Taxonomies” screen, you can click the “Admin Area” tab and choose where your private taxonomy appears:
- Show user interface: Should be the visible screen to manage these terms?
- Show in admin menus: Should there be a link to this taxonomy in the WordPress admin menu?
- Show in frontend menus: Should this taxonomy be available for the “Menus” screen.
- Show admin menu: Should this taxonomy appear on screens such as “Posts” and “Pages”?
- Show in “Quick Edit” and “Bulk Edit”: Should this taxonomy be available in editing tools on screens such as “Posts” and “Pages”?
These features allow you to visually see all your content with a particular term. For example, in creating this tutorial, I added a taxonomy called “My Hidden Posts” and added it to “Posts”. The taxonomy is visible in the WordPress admin area, and you can click “Count” to see all the posts that are organized with that term. This will take you to the Posts screen in TaxoPress.
If you decide later to make this taxonomy public, here's how to change a private taxonomy to public.
More taxonomy guides
If you want to control who can add or edit taxonomies, try this guide. It's also possible to block users from adding specific terms, prevent them from adding new terms, or even force users to use a specific term.
Don't worry about building a taxonomy with too many levels: WordPress supports unlimited sub-categories.