The Admin Area

The Admin Area is the portal that admins access when they work within WHMCS. The WHMCS Admin Area has over 125 interface or feature pages, each often containing multiple sub-interfaces.

Logging In

To log in to the WHMCS Admin Area, go to your installation’s admin directory and enter your admin username and password.

  • The first time that you successfully log in to a new WHMCS installation, you will see the Setup Wizard. Use these steps to quickly configure some of WHMCS’s most important features.
  • If you experience problems logging in, you can request a password reset. If problems continue, the system may ban your IP address due to multiple failed login attempts.
For more information, see Log In to the Admin Area.

Default Template

The Admin Area displays according to the admin’s configured template at Configuration () > System Settings > Administrator Users.

We ship the default Blend template with all supported versions of WHMCS.

You can find other templates in the WHMCS Marketplace or customize and create your own. For more information, see our Developer Documentation.

The Admin Area provides navigation links and menus at the top of all pages and contextually on the sides of some pages.

Top Navigation

The top navigation bar allows access to all of WHMCS’s features through a series of menus:

  • + — A menu of shortcuts to create new items.

  • Menus for each main area of WHMCS.

  • — Click to search your WHMCS installation.

  • — Click to go to Utilities > Automation Status.

  • — Click to view the Configuration menu.
    The Admin Area Configuration Menu
    This allows you to access the System Settings section of the Admin Area, the list of Setup Tasks, Apps & Integrations, and other configuration items.
    System Settings

  • — Click to access your admin account and notes, visit the Client Area, or log out.

  • — Click to access WHMCS documentation, technical support, forums, new version highlights, and license information for your WHMCS installation.

You can search your WHMCS installation using the search icon () at the top of every Admin Area page.

Searching the Admin Area

To search, enter your search term and press Enter. The system will begin searching as soon as you enter three or more characters and display the most relevant matches as you continue to type. Click Show More to view additional matches.

You can search for:

  • Client, user, contacts, services, domains, and invoices, and the last four digits of client credit cards.
  • Client, user, and contact ID numbers, names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.
  • Domain names, IP addresses, usernames, and notes for services.
  • Invoice IDs.
  • Support ticket IDs, masks, or subjects.
  • The last four digits of client credit cards.
Apps and modules can integrate with searches using hooks. For more information, see our Hook Documentation.

The sidebar navigation menu displays links and information that relate to the current interface.

For example, when you go to Configuration () > Manage Admins, the sidebar menu displays links to all of the other system setting-related pages. If you go to the list of orders at Orders > List All Orders, the sidebar menu will include items from the Orders menu instead.

The Advanced Search in the Admin Area Sidebar

You can use the Advanced Search feature at the bottom of the left sidebar menu on all pages that include the sidebar.

Select the data that you want to search (for example, Clients) and the field to query (for example, Client Name) to search your WHMCS database. Then, click Search.

Depending on the results of your search, the system will display the exact match (for example, the client’s profile) or a list of possible matches.

Dashboard

The Admin Area dashboard displays immediately when you log in.

The Admin Area Dashboard

It includes quick access to important information in WHMCS, like daily sales figures, support tickets, billing and invoicing totals, and your system’s automation status.

For more information, see Admin Dashboard.

Languages

The WHMCS Admin Area includes 13 supported languages. Each admin can set their own language preference at Account () > My Account.

  • We rely on the dedication and generosity of our users for contributing translations. If you have any suggestions for improvements or a new language file that you are willing to contribute, contact us.
  • For more information about localization in WHMCS and customizing or creating translations, see Localization.

The Admin Directory

We recommend customizing the Admin Area’s URL by renaming the default admin directory’s name and updating it in the configuration.php file. This makes it harder for bots and other malicious users to access the login page.

  • The admin directory name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z and 0–9), numerals (0–9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_).
  • You cannot move the admin directory outside of the WHMCS installation’s root directory.
For steps to rename the admin directory and troubleshoot issues, see More Ways to Secure Your WHMCS Installation and Renaming the WHMCS Admin Directory.
admin-area admins admin-dashboard admin-directory

Last modified: December 17, 2024