---
title: "The Help Center — SimplifyGuide docs"
description: "The Guides dashboard where authors manage guides, and the Help Center where everyone else reads the guides meant for them."
url: "https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/help-center/"
---

# The Help Center

The Guides dashboard where authors manage guides, and the Help Center where everyone else reads the guides meant for them.

SimplifyGuide adds one menu to WordPress. What it shows depends on who is looking:

-   **Authors** — anyone who can edit posts — see **SimplifyGuide**, with the **Guides** dashboard, the recorder and settings.
-   **Everyone else** sees **Help Center**, listing the published guides meant for their role. Someone with no guides to see gets no menu at all.

It is the same page underneath, so a link to a guide works for both.

## The Guides dashboard

**SimplifyGuide → Guides** shows every guide you can see as a card, newest change first.

![The Guides dashboard: filter chips and search above a grid of guide cards](https://simplifybase.com/_astro/guides-dashboard.EWRpLXMW_Z5EA5P.webp)

Along the top:

-   **Classic UI** — the standard WordPress list, below.
-   **Import guide** — create a guide from a SimplifyGuide file. Shown to authors who can upload files. See [Exports](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/exports/#importing-a-simplifyguide-file).
-   **Record a guide** — opens the recorder.

### Filters and search

| Filter | Shows |
| --- | --- |
| **All** | Every guide you can see |
| **Published** | Guides in the Help Center |
| **Drafts** | Drafts, pending and private guides |
| **Public** | Guides marked Public, published or not |

Each chip shows its count. The **Search guides…** box matches the title, the description and the text of every step, as you type.

Your filter and search are kept in the address — `?status=draft&q=invoice` — so they survive a reload and you can share or bookmark a filtered view.

### Guide cards

![A guide card with its screenshot, Public badge, step count, and Show me, View and edit buttons](https://simplifybase.com/_astro/guides-card.DldqF31P_Zxuxug.webp)

Each card shows the first screenshot in the guide, a **Draft** or **Public** badge where it applies, the title and description, and the number of steps and when it was last updated. Below that:

-   **Show me** — starts the [walkthrough](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/show-me/). Only on guides with steps.
-   **View** — opens the guide page.
-   **Edit** (pencil) — opens the [editor](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/editor/). Only on guides you can edit.

### Classic UI

![The classic WordPress list of guides with Steps, Shown to and Shortcode columns](https://simplifybase.com/_astro/guides-classic.BbRjxbKW_1R6QzG.webp)

**Classic UI** is the standard WordPress list, for bulk actions, trash and sorting. It adds three columns — **Steps**, **Shown to** and **Shortcode** — and **View**, **Show me** and **Record more** links under each title. **New UI** takes you back to the dashboard.

## The guide page

Click a card or **View** to open a guide.

![A published guide: the steps with screenshots on the left, and the sidebar with Show me, Print, Edit, Download and About this guide on the right](https://simplifybase.com/_astro/guide-view.BGsfLg-S_23xiuY.webp)

The main column is the guide as readers see it everywhere: title, description, step count, and each step with its note and annotated screenshot. Click a screenshot to open it full size.

The sidebar holds:

-   **Show me** — “Walks you through it on the real screens, one click at a time.”
-   **Print** — prints the guide, or saves it as a PDF from the print dialog.
-   **Edit** — only for people who can edit the guide.
-   **Download** — every export format, one click each.
-   **About this guide** — number of steps, when it was updated, and the author. People who can edit the guide also see **Shown to**: the roles it is for, and **Public** or **Draft** badges.
-   **Steps** — a list of every step that jumps to it, with the step you are reading marked as you scroll. Shown on guides with more than one step.

![The Download card listing each export format](https://simplifybase.com/_astro/guide-downloads.CNsqmmur_1KWmsA.webp)

## What readers see

People who cannot edit posts — Subscribers and Customers, for example — see a simpler version:

-   The menu is called **Help Center**, near the top of the admin menu.
-   The page is titled **Help Center**, with search but no filters, no **Import** and no **Record a guide**.
-   Only **published** guides appear, and only those meant for them: guides with their role ticked in **Who sees this guide**, guides with no roles ticked (which are for every logged-in user), and guides marked **Public**.
-   Cards have **Show me** and **View**, but no edit button.
-   If there is nothing for them yet, the page says **No guides yet** — “Guides shared with you will appear here.”

Readers can still download guides from the **Download** card.

## The dashboard widget

Anyone with at least one published guide to see also gets a **Help Center** widget on the WordPress dashboard. It lists up to eight of their published guides, newest change first, each with a **Show me** link, and an **All guides** link to the Help Center.

## Who can author

By default anyone with the `edit_posts` capability — Contributors and above — is an author. Developers can change that with the `simplifyguide_author_capability` filter. See [Roles and capabilities](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/roles-and-capabilities/).

[← Previous Writing reliable guides](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/reliable-guides/)[Next → The Overview page](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifyguide/docs/overview/)

Last updated 27 September 2026