How to Create an Inventory Manager Role for WooCommerce

Last modified: July 2, 2026
In this article

Introduction

Managing product inventory often falls to warehouse staff, stock controllers, or fulfilment teams who need regular access to WooCommerce, but giving them the Administrator role, or even Shop Manager, hands them far more than inventory work requires. Shop Manager alone grants access to orders, customer records, payment configuration, and store settings, none of which a stock team member should be able to touch.

None of WordPress’s default roles is designed around inventory specifically. The practical fix is a custom Inventory Manager role, scoped to exactly what stock management requires: product editing, stock levels, categories, and inventory reports and nothing else.

This guide walks you through creating that role using Digages Role Manager step by step, including every capability and menu access setting you need to configure.

Understanding WordPress User Roles

WordPress includes five default user roles, each designed with a different level of access and responsibility. Understanding these roles helps explain why creating a custom role is often the best option when assigning permissions to a marketing team member.

Subscriber

Subscribers have the most limited level of access. They can read content on the website and manage their own user profile, but they cannot create, edit, or publish content, nor can they access administrative settings.

Contributor

Contributors can create and edit their own posts, then submit them for review. However, they cannot publish posts themselves or upload media files, making this role suitable for writers who require editorial approval.

Author

Authors have more publishing privileges. They can create, edit, publish, and manage their own posts, as well as upload media files. Their permissions are limited to their own content, so they cannot modify posts created by other users.

Editor

Editors are responsible for managing the site’s content. They can create, edit, publish, and delete any posts or pages, manage categories, moderate comments, and oversee the media library. However, they do not have access to site administration settings or WooCommerce configuration.

Administrator

Administrators have unrestricted access to the entire WordPress site. They can manage users, install plugins and themes, change site settings, configure WooCommerce, and perform all administrative tasks. Because this role provides complete control over the website, it is generally far more access than a marketing team member needs.

None of the default roles fit a stock team. Shop Manager, a role added by WooCommerce itself, not WordPress core, is the closest match, but it grants full access to orders, customer data, payment settings, and store configuration alongside product management. That’s too much for someone whose job is simply to keep stock levels accurate. A custom Inventory Manager role, built from scratch rather than inherited from an existing role, avoids carrying over capabilities your warehouse team will never use.

Installing Digages Role Manager

Digages Role Manager is available for free from WordPress.org and also directly from the Digages website. Choose whichever method suits you.

Method A — Installing from WordPress

  • In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New.
  • Search for Digages Role Manager.
  • Click Install Now, then Activate.

Method B — Installing from Digages

Download the plugin ZIP file from the Digages Website, then follow these steps:

  • Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins → Add New.
  • Click Upload Plugin at the top of the page.
  • Click Choose File and select the ZIP file you downloaded.
  • Click Install Now.
  • Once installed, click Activate Plugin.

Once activated, Role Manager appears in the left-hand WordPress admin sidebar. From there, you can access the dashboard, create roles, manage existing roles, and view the audit log.

Creating the Inventory Manager Role

From the Role Manager dashboard or the sidebar, click Create New Role. This opens the role configuration screen where you will define the name, capabilities, and menu access for your new role.

Basic Information

Fill in the fields in this section as follows.

For the Marketing Manager role:

  • Role Name: Inventory Manager
  • Description: Warehouse or stock team member responsible for managing product inventory. Can view and edit WooCommerce products, update stock levels, and access inventory reports. Restricted from orders, customer data, plugin settings, and all site configuration.
  • Inherit From: None; start from scratch to avoid inheriting unnecessary permissions.
  • Admin Colour Scheme: Leave as default.
  • Login Redirect URL: Leave empty.
Starting from None means every capability begins unselected. This takes a little longer to configure than inheriting from an existing role, but it guarantees the Inventory Manager role only ever has what you explicitly grant it, nothing carried over by accident.

WordPress Core Capabilities

This section lists every WordPress capability that can be assigned to a role. Since we started from None, nothing is selected by default; you’ll enable only the minimum needed for inventory work.

For the Inventory Manager role:

Check the following capabilities:

  • Upload Files

Leave the rest unchecked

WooCommerce Capabilities

This section appears when WooCommerce is active on your site. It is where the actual inventory work happens: product editing, stock control, and reporting.

WooCommerce Capabilities

This section appears when WooCommerce is active on your site. It is where the actual inventory work happens: product editing, stock control, and reporting.

For the Inventory Manager role:

Allow these WooCommerce items:

  • Set Order > Pending
  • Set Order > Processing
  • Set Order > On Hold
  • Set Order > Completed
  • Set Order > Cancelled
  • Create Products
  • Edit Products
  • Delete Products
  • View Reports

Admin Menu Access

This section controls which items appear in the WordPress admin sidebar for this role. Even if a capability is granted, users will only see the relevant menu items you enable here. Use this as a final layer of access control to keep the dashboard clean and focused.

For the Inventory Manager role:

Allow these admin menu items:

Dashboard;

  • Home
  • Updates

Woocommerce;

  • Home
  • Orders
  • Coupons
  • Reports

Products;

  • All Products
  • Add New Products
  • Brands
  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Attributes
  • Reviews

Analytics;

  • Overview
  • Products
  • Variations
  • Categories
  • Coupons
  • Stock

Saving Your Role

Once you have configured all three sections, Basic Information, WordPress Core Capabilities, and WooCommerce Capabilities, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Create Role.

The Inventory Manager role will now appear in the Manage Roles screen and on the Role Manager dashboard. It is immediately available to assign to users.

Managing Your Custom Roles

The Manage Roles screen lists all roles on your site, including the ones you have created with Digages Role Manager. For each custom role, you can:

  • Edit: modify capabilities, menu access, or basic information at any time.
  • Disable: temporarily deactivate the role without deleting it. Users assigned to it will lose their access until you re-enable the role.
  • Delete: permanently remove the role. Assign an alternative role to any users before deleting.
Digages Role Manager includes an Audit Log screen that records changes made to roles. Use this to track when capabilities were added or removed and by which administrator.

Connecting Role To A User

Once your custom role has been created with the correct permissions, you need to link it to the actual staff on your site. You can do this by either updating a current staff member’s permissions or setting up an account for a new hire.

Edit an Existing User

If you already have a team member registered on your site and want to change or upgrade their permissions to the new role, follow these steps:

  • Navigate to Users > All Users in your WordPress dashboard.
  • Find the team member you want to adjust and click Edit.
  • Scroll down to the Role dropdown menu.
  • Select your newly created custom role from the list.
  • Click Update User at the bottom of the page to save the changes.

Creating a New User

If you are onboarding a new team member specifically for this support position, you can assign them the role from scratch:

  • Go to Users > Add New User in your WordPress dashboard.
  • Fill out the required details, including their username, email, and password.
  • Locate the Role dropdown menu near the bottom of the registration form.
  • Choose the new custom role to ensure they only receive access to relevant support features.
  • Click Add New User to finalise the creation and automatically apply the role.

Conclusion

Role Manager makes it straightforward to go beyond the default WordPress role system. By creating custom roles with specific capabilities and controlled admin menu access, you can give every team member exactly the access they need and nothing more.

Whether you are running an e-commerce store, a membership site, or a content team, well-structured roles help you keep your WordPress site secure, organised, and easy to manage.

After setting up a role, if you need to adjust the role later, tighten or expand access, return to Role Manager → Manage Roles, click Edit next to Content Editor, and update the capabilities. Changes take effect immediately for every user assigned to the role.

Read the Settings article here to learn how to configure audit logging, alert emails, and other plugin-level settings.

Check out the plugin on WordPress or the Digages website

Plugin:
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