Getting around Drupal CMS

Two surfaces carry almost all administration work in Drupal CMS: the dashboard you land on after logging in, and the navigation sidebar that follows you everywhere else. This page tours both so the rest of the guide can say “go to Structure” without further directions.

The dashboard

When you log in to Drupal CMS, you land on the Dashboard, a launchpad of links and listings for building and running your site:

• Top tasks: the central area, with links to common tasks and a list of updated content.
• Recent pages: the most recently updated landing pages.
• Recent content: the most recently updated content of other types, such as blog posts.
• Edit layout: the button in the top-right corner. Use it to rearrange the existing widgets or add new ones, so the dashboard reflects how you actually work.

Administrators can create additional dashboards at Structure → Dashboard → Add dashboard/admin/structure/dashboard/add for specific jobs. For example, give your editorial team a dashboard that shows content awaiting review.

The admin navigation

Whenever you are logged in, the administrative navigation appears on the left side of the page. Its sections, top to bottom (the exact list varies with which features are enabled and what permissions you have):

• Dashboard: the overview page described above.
• Pages: find and manage landing pages.
• CMS: find and manage other content, such as blog posts and utility pages.
• Media: find and manage media assets such as images and videos.
• Trash: manage and restore deleted content.
• Structure: place and edit blocks, set up content types and fields, configure menus, and administer taxonomy.
• Appearance: switch, install, and update themes.
• Extend: browse, add, or disable site features.
• Configuration: settings for installed features; see Configure site-wide settings.
• People: manage user accounts and permissions.
• Reports: site security, available updates, and site activity.

The navigation assistant

To jump straight to a feature or setting, press Alt + D (Windows) or Option + D (Mac) to open the navigation assistant, then type a search term. It matches administration pages by name, so you rarely need to remember where a setting lives in the menu tree.

Where to go next

• Configure site-wide settings puts the Configuration section to work.
• Content modeling starts the content track, built on the Structure section.
• Add features with recommended add-ons extends the site from the Extend section.