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Getting around Drupal CMS

Dashboard

The Drupal CMS administration dashboard displaying Recent content and Top tasks.

When you log into Drupal CMS, you'll land on the Dashboard, where you'll find useful links to help build your site.

  • Top tasks: The central area of the Dashboard includes links to common tasks and a list of updated content.
  • Recent pages: Listing of the most recently updated landing pages.
  • Recent content: Listing of the most recently updated CMS content.
  • Customize your dashboard: Use the Edit layout button in the top-right corner to rearrange existing widgets or blocks, or add new ones.

Administrators can create new dashboards (Structure > Dashboard > Add dashboard) for specific site management tasks. For example, create a dashboard for your editorial team that shows content awaiting review.

Whenever you're logged in to your Drupal CMS site, the administrative toolbar will appear on the left side of the page.

The toolbar has the following sections (the exact list may vary depending on which features are enabled and what permission you have):

  • Dashboard: Get an overview of your site and access top tasks.
  • Pages: Find and manage existing landing pages.
  • CMS: Find and manage existing CMS content (blog posts, utility pages, etc.).
  • Media: Find and manage media assets (images, videos, etc.)
  • Trash: Manage and restore deleted content.
  • Structure: Place and edit blocks, set up content types and fields, configure menus, and administer taxonomy.
  • Appearance: Switch between themes, install themes, and update existing themes.
  • Extend: Browse, add, or disable site features and functionality.
  • Configuration: Configure settings for installed features.
  • People: Manage user accounts and permissions.
  • Reports: Display information about site security, available updates, and site activity.

To search the navigation for a specific feature or setting, you can use Alt + D (on Windows) or Option + D (on Mac) to open the navigation assistant and enter a search term to quickly jump to any administration page.