If you have WordPress installed on your website, you may at some point need to make direct adjustments to your theme or plugin files. However, you might find that the option to edit these files directly from the WordPress administration panel is not visible. This issue is common and has a simple solution. Below, we explain step by step how to enable the theme and plugin editor on your WordPress site.
This editor is a built-in WordPress tool that allows you to directly modify your theme or plugin files. In most cases, it is used to edit files such as functions.php or header.php. This feature allows you to customize your site beyond the default options, adjust specific details, or improve your website’s SEO.
You may notice that when looking for this tool in the Appearance menu of your WordPress dashboard, the “Editor” option does not appear.
This happens due to a default security setting, but it can be reversed.
To do so, you need to access your WordPress files via FTP and edit the wp-config.php file of your installation.
You can access our control panel and use the webFTP tool of the corresponding hosting account.
To connect to the "webFTP" service, you need a username and password, which you can find in your cdmon control panel under your hosting management section, in Hosting Information . By clicking on the eye icon, you can reveal the password, which is hidden for security reasons.
Once you have the connection details, access the FTP manager directly from the hosting management panel by clicking the Web FTP Access (net2ftp) icon under the 'File Managers' section.
In the webFTP access panel, enter your FTP credentials (username and password) found in the 'Hosting Information' section.
Once inside webFTP, you will be able to view your hosting files and/or directories. Navigate to the /web directory to locate your WordPress files.
If WordPress is installed in the /web folder, you will immediately see all installation files. Otherwise, access the folder associated with your WordPress installation.
From there, you must “Edit” the wp-config.php file.
Next, locate the line that says “//Disable PHP Editor”. By default, it is usually found at the end of the file:
//Disable PHP Editor
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );
To enable the Editor, change the “true” value to “false” as follows:
//Disable PHP Editor
define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', false );
After making the change, make sure to save the file.
When you return to the “Appearance” or “Plugins” section in WordPress, the file editor should now be visible:
I have disabled the editor restriction as indicated in the steps, but it still does not appear. How can I fix this?
- Editor disabled: This is a basic setting but can prevent access. It is a user-specific setting in WordPress. Go to Users > Your Profile and check that the “Disable the visual editor” box is unchecked.
- Clear your browser cache: Clear your browser cache and check again whether the editor appears.
- Uninstall/Install plugins: A plugin may be causing the issue. Try disabling plugins one by one and check whether the editor appears after each deactivation. Check for WordPress plugin conflicts
- Check hosting error logs: For more details about why the file editor does not appear, review your hosting error logs and check what message is being generated. Where to view hosting error logs