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This short tutorial shows you how to log out of WordPress.

If you’re new to WordPress, the information below will help you if you or someone you know is having difficulties working out how to log out of the WordPress administration area.

If you are working on your website in a secure environment and in your own computer, the easiest way to leave your site is to type a different URL into your browser window, or just close your browser altogether without logging out.

If you’re working on a shared or public computer, or in an unsecured space, however, this presents a security risk. Someone could view your browser history, access your account and get inside your Dashboard.

You can avoid leaving your account exposed by signing out when you are finished working on your site.

The simple tutorial below explains how to log out of WordPress and provides additional information about ways to enhance the WordPress logout function.

Note: When you log into your WordPress site, a “cookie” is stored in your web browser. This cookie allows WordPress to remember who you are. If you leave your site for a while but come back again later, WordPress will recognize the cookie and you will not have to log in again.

Important: The cookie cannot tell WordPress who is actually logged into your site. If you have a WordPress cookie set in your web browser, anyone using your device can access your admin area.

To prevent this from happening (especially when using a public or shared computer) click on the Log Out link and WordPress will delete the cookie from your web browser. To reset the cookie just log into WordPress again.

Also, while you are logged into the WordPress admin, your browser may be sending multiple requests to your server, depending on what kind of plugins you have installed, and if you are editing WP pages on your site (this is largely due to the WordPress autosave feature).

Frequent server requests can add up to a large amount of resource usage if you leave your computer unattended throughout the day, especially on a shared server. For this reason, it is also recommended that you log out of your WP admin whenever you’re not working on your web site.

Logging Out Of WordPress

At the far right-hand side of the Admin Toolbar is the “Howdy, User” section with an image of your Gravatar.

Hover over this panel with your mouse and it displays your name and username, and links pointing to your “Profile Screen” and a “Log Out” link.

To log out of WordPress, click on “Log Out” …

Your WordPress session is now terminated …

How To End All Other Sessions In WordPress

As an extra security measure, WordPress lets you log out everywhere except the one in your current browser. This is useful if, for example, you’ve left your account logged in at a public computer, or if you’ve lost or misplaced your phone.

To log off all sessions in WordPress, go to the “Howdy, User” section and select “Edit My Profile” …

Click on the “Log Out of All Other Sessions” button …

You will be logged out of all other sessions, except for your current browser session …

WordPress Plugins – Log Out Options

In addition to the native logout functions shown above, you can expand your site’s log out capabilities using plugins.

Let’s take a look at just some of the log out functions you can extend with WordPress plugins:

WP Idle Logout

Do you do any online banking, or buy things online using credit cards or PayPal? Have you seen how, if you don’t do anything inside the browser for a while and return a few minutes later, your session has “expired”? This is because inactive users pose a security threat to online accounts. Someone could hijack the session and access the user’s account.

With WordPress you can do the same thing. You can automatically log out all inactive users by installing the WP Idle Logout plugin.

This is not the same as the default WordPress “Session Expired” notice that users will sometimes get when working on their site …

(Default WordPress “Session Expired” notice)

The WP Idle Logout plugin allows the site administrator to specify how long a user can be inactive on the site, before their session is automatically expired, giving you precise control of this event

To install the plugin, go to your WordPress admin dashboard and in the “Add Plugins” screen (Plugins > Add New), enter “wp idle logout” in the search by keyword field and click on the “Install Now” button …

Once the plugin has been activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings from the Settings > Idle Logout menu …

The plugin lets you set the following:

• Idle Time – specify the time (in seconds) that users can be idle before the system will log them out
• Idle Message – enter a message that will show to idle users, or leave this field blank to show the plugin’s default message …

You can test the plugin by opening up a browser session in incognito mode …

From your private browser window, log into WordPress and then letting your existing session go inactive …

Users will automatically be logged out after the specified period of inactivity has passed …

Edit the time and add your own custom message instead of the default …

Logged out users will be redirected to your login page and the custom message will appear to logged out users above the login box …

(Custom message to idle users)

To download this plugin, visit this site: WP Idle Logout

WP One Click Logout

WP One Click Logout helps to avoid confusion and replaces the “two-click” WP logout process by installing a “Log Out” link right on the admin toolbar, making the log out link visible and allowing you to log out of WordPress with just “1” click …

Visit this site to download and use the plugin: WP One Click Logout

Protected Posts Logout Button – WordPress Plugin

This plugin automatically adds a logout button to your password-protected posts.

This allows users to log out immediately after viewing your private content. You can also add an optional alert message informing users they have logged out …

Use this plugin if you want to share private content with clients and the default WordPress cookie expiration setting is too long for your purposes.

To download this plugin, visit this site: Protected Posts Logout Button Plugin

Login-Logout

Protected Posts Logout Button adds a widget to your site that displays either a “login” or “logout” link and additional information depending on whether your user is logged into your site or not …

Visit this site for more information about using this plugin: Login-Logout Plugin

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Hopefully, you have found this tutorial on how to log out of WordPress useful.

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Disclaimer: This site is not associated with WordPress or any of the WordPress products written about on this site. We may derive a financial benefit from sales of products advertised, reviewed or linked to from this site. The product images used in this review have been sourced from the plugin’s own website.

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