Navigating WA's public and admin menus

Wild Apricot (WA) supports two menus, one for the public and one for administrators. The material on this page gives a quick overview of these two menus.

Go to Wild Apricot

Public View menus

When a member logs onto Wild Apricot they see what are called the Public View menus. There are only two displayed at the top right of the page: 

  • Directory which give you access to the membership directory for addresses, phone, and ASU Affiliation numbers (default view)
  • Events which give you access to a variety of upcoming events.

Admin View menus

In order to manage events, send emails, adjust the website stetting, etc., Board Members, Office Staff, ASURA committee Chairs, Liaisons, and  Wild Apricot Administrators have access to an additional set of menus called Admin View menus. Access to these menus requires having the necessary Wild Apricot administrative privileges. Typically these privileges are assigned as follows.

  • The Technology and Business Managers are given Full access
  • The Office Staff are given Event manager authority,
  • Event chairs are given Event manager authority,
  • Membership & Obituary chairs are given Membership manager authority,
  • The Board Secretary is given, Event manager, Member manager, and Limited Web access authority so they can access the files,
  • The "Prime Times" editor is given Membership manager authority,
  • The E-News editor is given Newsletter manager authority,
  • Presidents are given Membership manager and Events manager authority; if they want more so they can access the files stored in Wild Apricot they need to contact the Technology Manager.

To accomplish the various tasks these administrators are expected to do, they must be in the "Admin view". The "Admin view" has a new set of menus which can at first be a bit overwhelming. The following material should help first time users get comfortable navigating these "Admin view" menus. Specifically the following topics are addressed:. 

  • "Admin view" Access
  • "main (admin) menu" Structure
  • "main (admin) menu" Items - What Can You Do?
  • "website (admin) menu"

"Admin view" access

When an administrator logs onto Wild Apricot they are by deefault in the “Public view” and they need to move to the “Admin view”. To access the “Admin view” click on the “Admin view” button in the upper right of the screen. You will likely be asked for a code sent to your email to verify who you are. Once the code is entered, Wild Apricot will bring up what Wild Apricot calls its “main (admin) menu” with "Account" highlighted in the left vertical menu bar. There is a second "Admin view" menu, the "website (admin) menu", which can be accessed by clicking on "Website" in the "main (admin) menu". Most administrative work in done in the "main (admin) menu"

"Main (admin) menu" structure

The “main (admin) menu” has two gray menu bars, one vertical and one horizontal. The vertical menu bar is the top-level menu; the horizontal menu shows the menu options associated with whatever item has been selected in the vertical menu. What menu items appear in these two bars depends on what type of administrative access the user has been given. There are thirteen items in the vertical menu but only someone with full access privileges will see all thirteen. The table below shows which menu items are visible for each administrative type. If you have multiple access privileges the visibility is the union of the visibility for each privilege. Below the table is a brief overview of what administrative actions are possible if the menu item is selected.

 

"main (admin) menu" Items Visible for Various Administrative Access Types

Menu Item Full Access Event Donation News Letter Website Membership
Account (Dashboard) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Contacts Yes Yes Yes     Yes
Members Yes         Yes
Events Yes Yes        
Store (not used) Yes          
Donations Yes   Yes      
Finances (not used) Yes not used not used     not used
Communications Yes Yes Yes Yes   Yes
Apps (not used) Yes          
Settings Yes       Yes Yes
Website Yes Yes Yes   Yes Yes
Profile Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Help Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes


"Main (admin) menu" items - what can you do?

  • Account– an overview of the database (Dashboard)
  • Contacts – used to search the database for member information and contact import. there are five menu options but only the first three (shown below) are ones used by chairs.
    • List – this option allows searching the database for members. Enter a name or part of a name in the search box and a list of members meeting the search text will appear and you can select the member of interest.
    • Advance search – this option allows the creation of a special search. For example, it is possible to search the database for all members who lived in Arizona and had indicated an interest in being on the Travel Committee.
    • Saved searches – these are predefined advanced searches and there are a boatload of them. Most of these searches are used to maintain the integrity of the database but there are some that are used for distribution of material to our members via email blasts.
  • Members – similar to Contacts but the searching is limited to Members. There are a number of additional menu items used by a small number of administrators
  • Events – used to create events. There are three options for creating an event
    • Click on "Create new event" button
    • Search for an old event using the Search box. Once the event is found you can either
      • click on the "Duplicate" button or
      • click on the event.
  • Store – not used since ASURA does not have a store with stuff for sale
  • Donations – used to handle donations including the creation of receipts and confirmation.
  • Finances – not used since ASURA does not use Wild Apricot to keep track of who has paid membership or event fees / renewals / donations
  • Communication– used to compose and send Textt messages (not used) and emails to selected members. There is a separate document that explains how to send e-mails. and create email templates
  • Settings – used to adjust website settings; it is possible to gain access to the Wild Apricot file menu if you have Limited Web access.
  • Website – takes you to the "Admin view's" "website (admin) view" menu. administrative “Web view”. This “Admin view” shows all the web pages and allows the user to edit the pages, provided they have permission. To get back to the “main (admin) menu” click on the house button at the left of the gray horizontal menu bar.
  • Profile– used to view your account information and logout
  • Help center – used to access Wild Apricot’s help materials.

"Main (admin-website) menu" items - what can you do?

This is the "Admin view" that is used to edit pages, change the website theme, etc. Aside from the ASURA Secretary and those editing the site pages, administrators have no need to visit this menu view. The menu items are displayed in a gray horizontal bar. What is shown in the left column depends on which menu item has been selected. When you select "Files" to see the file structure for the various documents / pictures that have been uploaded to Wild Apricot. o get back to the “main (admin) menu” click on the house button at the left of the gray horizontal menu bar.

 


Updated 29 April 2026 by Barry McNeill