ABCode View As Role Switcher

ABCode View As Role Switcher lets an administrator see the front end of the site exactly as a chosen user role sees it, without logging out and without creating a test account for every role on the site.

Pick a role from the toolbar, and the front end reloads with that role’s capabilities. Member-only content hides itself. Price rules, menus, shortcodes and blocks that check who is looking behave as they would for a real customer or subscriber. Pick Switch back and you are yourself again.

Switch to a role, not to a user

Most switching plugins log you in as a specific person. That is a different job, and it means keeping a spare account for every role you want to check, then keeping those accounts in step as the site changes.

This plugin switches to the role. Add a role today, test it in the next click. There is no dummy account to create, no password to store, no extra user cluttering the users list, and nothing to tidy up afterwards. It never touches anybody’s real account.

Capabilities actually change

The switch is applied where WordPress decides what a visitor is allowed to see, so current_user_can() tells the truth for the length of the session. That is the function themes, WooCommerce, membership plugins and page builders all call, which is why the pages you test look like the pages your users get.

The view is always a subset of your own account. It can only ever take capabilities away, never add them, so it can never be used to reach something you could not already reach.

Features

• Switch from the toolbar: every role on the site is one click away, on the front end and inside wp-admin
• View as a logged-out visitor: check the guest experience without a private window or a second browser
• Real capability switching: current_user_can(), user_can() and role checks all agree with the role you picked
• A visible switched state: the toolbar item turns green and reads “Viewing as: Subscriber”, so you always know what you are looking at
• One-click way back: the same toolbar item ends the session, and wp-admin is never switched, so you cannot lock yourself out
• Automatic expiry: a session ends by itself after 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours, whichever you choose
• Nothing is saved to the database: no user’s stored roles or capabilities are ever written to
• Choose what appears: tick the roles you actually test with, and leave the rest out of the menu
• Secure by design: a signed, HttpOnly cookie tied to your login session, plus a compulsory nonce on every switch
• Free forever: no premium tier, no feature locks, no upsells
• Translation ready: fully internationalised, with five languages included

Who is this for?

• WooCommerce shops checking what a customer, a shop manager or a guest sees on a product page
• Membership and course sites confirming that gated content really is gated
• Agencies and freelancers handing over a site and wanting proof the permissions are right
• Anybody who has ever asked “does this menu item show up for subscribers?”

How it works

1. Go to View As in the toolbar
2. Choose a role, or View as a logged-out visitor
3. Browse the site the way that role would
4. Choose Switch back to your own account when you are done

The switch applies to front-end page loads only. wp-admin, the REST API and admin AJAX always run as your real account, on purpose: it means there is always a way back, whatever the role you switched to is allowed to do.

Privacy

The plugin stores one cookie, set only when you start a view session, and only for you. It holds the role being viewed, an expiry time and a signature, and is removed when the session ends, when you log out, or when it expires. Nothing is sent anywhere, no data is collected, and no third party is involved.