Title: Better Author Metabox
Author: shooflydesign
Published: <strong>February 18, 2015</strong>
Last modified: November 19, 2019

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/better-author-metabox/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=1093786)

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-author-metabox/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1093786)

# Better Author Metabox

 By [shooflydesign](https://profiles.wordpress.org/shooflydesign/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/better-author-metabox.1.0.5.zip)

 * [Details](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/#installation)
 * [Development](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-author-metabox/)

## Description

This plugin can override the Authors metabox on the post add/edit screen, letting
users who can edit other people’s posts, reassign a post to others user on the site.

This is especially useful in situations where you’ve created custom user roles that
WordPress doesn’t recognize as Authors. If you want to allow your content editors
and administrators to assign new or existing content to anyone, you’ll (hopefully)
like this plugin very much indeed.

On WordPress 5.0, the metabox will appear below the main block editor (see screenshot).
I will be supporting updates to the Status & Visibility box as soon as possible.

I’m not sure how far back this plugin will work, I’m saying it requires 3.5 or greater—
it was originally developed using WordPress 4.1.

(Inspired by [this trac ticket](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/18645))

## Screenshots

[⌊The settings screen.  You'll want to check some of these boxes or the plugin won't
do anything!⌉⌊The settings screen.  You'll want to check some of these boxes or 
the plugin won't do anything!⌉[

The settings screen. You’ll want to check some of these boxes or the plugin won’t
do anything!

[⌊The metabox appears beneath the main block editor window in WordPress 5.0 and 
up, along with other metaboxes using the longstanding metabox APIs.⌉⌊The metabox
appears beneath the main block editor window in WordPress 5.0 and up, along with
other metaboxes using the longstanding metabox APIs.⌉[

The metabox appears beneath the main block editor window in WordPress 5.0 and up,
along with other metaboxes using the longstanding metabox APIs.

## Installation

 1. Upload the `better-author-metabox` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. Visit Settings > Better Author Metabox to choose the post types where the expanded
    Author metabox should be made available, and users who should be included.

## FAQ

  I don’t see any difference. What gives?

There are at least three reasons:

 1. To see the better metabox, the logged-in user must have the `edit_others_posts`
    capability. If you can’t edit other people’s posts, you shouldn’t be able to change
    a post’s author, right?
 2. You need to choose the post types where the plugin should be enabled. **None are
    enabled by default.** If a post type hasn’t been enabled, it will use the default
    metabox.
 3. If you’ve enabled a post type to use the better metabox, but still only see authors,
    select additional user roles to make sure they’re included in the dropdown. This
    is especially useful for custom roles you’ve created.

  Can I exclude certain users without using roles?

This plugin doesn’t support that directly, but there is a filter (`bam_wp_dropdown_users`)
that works just like the core `wp_dropdown_users` filter to let you edit its HTML
before output.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/26cb731cc7d22d265a88d476c9a0ae002ade95cf67930d9344bad90a9a5619fb?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Awesome plugin!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/awesome-plugin-2051/)󠁿

 [Themes Pedia](https://profiles.wordpress.org/themespediacom/) September 3, 2016

The plugin is very useful. Thank you. In my case, i have a lot of members to set
author for new posts, it’s very difficult to select exactly author. Could you make
some functions in future: – Option to show user id with user name (in dropdown box)–
Option to show small avatar per each user (eg 16×16 pixels, round style) – Option
to sort User by Name, Id. – So far we can have a glossary index by alphabet first’s
letter for username in dropdown list. Thank you so much.

 [ Read all 2 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-author-metabox/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Better Author Metabox” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ shooflydesign ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/shooflydesign/)

[Translate “Better Author Metabox” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/better-author-metabox)

### Interested in development?

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

## Changelog

#### 1.0

 * Initial version.

#### 1.0.1

 * Fixed issue with multiple roles not being correctly merged (hat tip: WPSeeker),
   and a couple small issues with settings.

#### 1.0.2

 * Fixed issues in PHP strict mode (hit tip: Clifford Paulick), and other spots 
   where notices and warnings might appear.

#### 1.0.3

 * Tested with WordPress 5.0’s Gutenberg block editor, updated documentation.

#### 1.0.4

 * Code style fixes, tested on WordPress 5.1.

#### 1.0.5

 * Tested on WordPress 5.3.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.4**
 *  Last updated **7 years ago**
 *  Active installations **20+**
 *  WordPress version ** 3.5 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **5.3.21**
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/)
 * Tags
 * [admin](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/admin/)[users](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/users/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/better-author-metabox/advanced/)

## Ratings

 5 out of 5 stars.

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

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

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-author-metabox/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ shooflydesign ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/shooflydesign/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-author-metabox/)