BEGINNER'S GUIDE

How to Select User Role at Registration in WordPress?

Last Updated: 7 mins By: Akriti Pant

Allowing users to select their roles during registration can be a game-changer. By assigning the appropriate permissions from the start, you’ll save time, improve user experience, and keep your site secure.

Thus, this guide will show you how to implement user role selection at registration on the WordPress site using the User Registration plugin.

You’ll learn to create custom registration forms, choose user roles, and optimize your WordPress user management—all without coding.

Ready to take control of your user roles? Let’s dive in!

How to Select User Role at Registration in WordPress?

WordPress doesn’t offer a front-end registration form by default. Yes, that’s true.

Its built-in registration system is basic and lacks customization options, which presents challenges for websites needing to assign specific user roles during registration.

To overcome these limitations, you’ll need a custom registration solution.

A well-designed plugin like the User Registration plugin is the perfect solution since it lets you build a custom registration form and select user roles simultaneously.

User Registration Plugin WordPress Select User Role at Registration

This powerful tool allows you to customize the registration form with multiple options and conditional logic, enhancing your site’s user management

In this guide, we’ll show you how to select a user role when registering using the User Registration plugin.

Let’s get started.

Step 1. Install and Activate the User Registration Plugin

Before anything else, you’ll need to install the User Registration plugin on your WordPress site. So, here’s how you do it:

First, log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New.

Plugins to Add New

In the search bar, type “User Registration” and press Enter.

Installing User Registration Plugin

Locate the User Registration plugin in the search results and click the Install Now button.

After the installation, click the Activate button to enable the plugin on your WordPress site.

Activate User Registration

Step 2: Configure the User Registration Setup Wizard

Upon activating the plugin, you will see a welcome page.

Click on the Get Started button to begin the setup process. You can skip to the dashboard, but it’s recommended that you go through the setup wizard.

Get Started Button

The plugin automatically installs essential pages on the Install Pages screen, such as the Default Registration Form, Registration Page, and My Account Page.

Click on Install & Proceed to continue.

Install Pages

Next is the General Settings page. You can toggle the button from here to allow anyone to register on your site.

General Settings Page

To use User Registration to create custom registration forms, you must allow user registration on your site. If not enabled, users won’t be able to access these forms on your website.

Third is the Registration Settings page, where you can enable a strong password.

Registration Settings

You can even choose a default user role right from the dropdown menus. This setting applies to all of your registration forms unless you assign a specific user role to your custom registration form.

Likewise, you can also customize your My Account page from the My Account Settings.

My Account Settings

With this step, you can now create a custom WordPress user registration form. Alternatively, you can edit the default form if you don’t want to create a custom form from scratch.

For convenience, you can use the pre-built default form provided by the plugin upon installation. For that you can proceed with the Edit Default Form.

You can also find the default form by navigating to User Registration >> All Forms.

Default Form

You can follow the steps if you want to create a form from scratch.


Step 3: Create a New Registration Form for Your WordPress Website

First of all, navigate to User Registration >> Add New.

Add New Form Page

This takes you to the Add New Form page, where you’ll find several free and premium registration form templates and the option to start from scratch.

You can also utilize the pre-built form templates to save time and effort. However, in this guide, we’ll show you how to create a registration form from scratch.

So, click on the Start From Scratch option.

Start from Scratch

Then, enter a suitable form name and hit Continue.

Naming Registration Form

Just after that, a beginner-friendly form builder opens up, where you can drag the required Fields from the left and drop them into the form on the right.

Form Builder

As you can see, the form on the right already comes with four essential fields: Username, User Email, User Password, and Confirm Password.

You can also add any other fields you need from Default User Fields and Extra Fields with the simple drag-and-drop process.

Drag and Drop Username

Once you’re done, hit the Update form button at the top.

Update Form Button

But we’re not done yet. It would be best if you still customized the form fields to fit your requirements. This can be easily achieved through the Field Options tab. 

Just click on the field you want to edit, and its Field Options tab on the left. From the General Settings, you’ll be able to change the field Label, Description, Placeholder, and more. 

Field Options General Settings

The Advanced Settings lets you add custom classes to the fields.

Fields Options Advanced Settings

Some fields, such as Username, come with extra options like Limit Username Length and Allow Special Character in the Advanced Settings.

So, customize the fields to your heart’s content and click Update form when you’re done.

Update Form

Step 4: Select WordPress User Role at Registration

With the custom registration form ready, you can now proceed to the most crucial step of the tutorial.

And that’s selecting a WordPress user role for users who register through the custom form you’ve just created.

To do so, navigate to Form Settings >> General.

Default User Role WordPress Select User Role at Registration

Here, you can find the Default User Role option on the right side. When you select the dropdown, you’ll see all the user roles available on your website. 

So, choose one as you see fit, say, Subscriber. All users who register through this form will be automatically assigned the Subscriber user role

Note that you cannot select multiple user roles for a single form. However, you can build numerous forms and select unique roles for each.

Besides selecting a user role, you can also set a user approval and login option, enable a strong password, enable Captcha support, change the success message position, and so on. 

Thus, the powerful customization capabilities of User Registration will help you design incredible registration forms for your site.


Step 5: Publish the Registration Form on Your Website

Finally, you must add the registration form to your website to make it accessible to users. It’s pretty simple!

Simply copy the form shortcode from the top of the form builder.

Copy Shortcode

Then, open the page or post where you want to display the registration form. Add a shortcode block and paste the shortcode there.

Paste Shortcode

You can also preview what the form looks like with the Preview icon near the Publish button. 

Registration Form Preview

After that, hit the Publish button. That’ll allow the registration form to assign user roles to go live on your site. And you’re all done!

Based on user role, you can also restrict access to WordPress pages and posts.


The Bottom Line

Selecting a user role during registration simplifies user management on your website.

With the User Registration plugin, you can easily create custom registration forms and assign roles or permissions to streamline the process.

User Registration offers even more functionality through its premium add-ons, such as multi-part forms and conditional logic. To explore these features, visit the plugin’s official documentation page.

Check out our blog for more informative articles on User Registration. Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter) and Facebook to stay updated on the latest news and tips.

How to Select User Role at Registration in WordPress?
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