Magento 2 tutorial: admin panel walk-through
Magento 2 versus Magento 1 admin panel
In this article, we will quickly outline and demonstrate the main navigation and design changes in Magento Enterprise 2.1.6 versus Magento Enterprise 1.14.3.2, to save you time and improve efficiency when carrying out admin tasks for your Magento 2 ecommerce store.
If you are used to navigating yourself around the Magento 1 admin panel, you will notice there have been some design and navigation changes made within the admin panel for Magento 2. The same information is available, but from an aesthetic standpoint, the admin panel is now a lot simpler and cleaner. From a store owner’s perspective, it’s much more user-friendly.
The menu bar of the dashboard is now accessible from the left-hand side, similar to popular CMS applications like WordPress, and each button within the menu features subcategories organised based on its subject of relativity, i.e. Marketing, Content, and Stores.
Here we will walk you through some of the new Magento 2 admin panel features and show you how they compare with those in Magento 1.
Marketing
Promotional rules
Promotional rules such as discount codes, sales and offers can be created via Marketing > Promotions > Cart Price Rules.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via Promotions > Shopping Cart Price Rules
URL rewrites
URL rewrites will redirect pages, i.e. for disabled products or categories, and prevent customers from seeing 404 pages. You can create custom rules via Marketing > SEO & Search > URL Rewrites.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via Catalog > URL Redirects
Content
Pages
With Pages you can update your CMS pages, such as ‘about us’, ‘privacy policy’ and other customer service pages. You can edit these via Content > Elements > Pages.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via CMS > Pages > Manage Content
Static Blocks
Static blocks are the website’s footer links, promotional blocks and contact info blocks on the homepage. You can edit these via Content > Elements > Pages.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via CMS > Static Blocks
Stores
Tax Rules
Tax rules allow you to set different tax rates for certain locations and/or product types. You can set these via Stores > Taxes > Tax Rules.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via Sales > Tax > Manage Tax Rules
Product Attributes
Product attributes are used to set specific descriptive specifications against products i.e. size, colour. You can add and update these via Stores > Attributes > Product.
In the Magento 1 admin panel, this is found via Catalog > Attributes > Manage Attributes
Once you have familiarised yourself with the Magento 2 admin panel, we are sure you will agree it is a lot cleaner and user-friendly than the previous Magento 1 admin panel. The design and categorisation changes allow for much easier navigation for Magento 2 store owners, and ultimately improves efficiency when carrying out upkeep tasks in-house.
Space 48 is a UK-based ecommerce consultancy, comprising of Magento specialists and Magento 2 developers. We’re often advising our ecommerce clients on how to get the most from Magento 2, including the admin panel functionality. Want to know more? Our experts can help. Ask us a question using the comments section below or test its features for yourself with our free Magento 2 demo access, which we keep up to date with the latest versions of Magento 2 Community and Enterprise editions.
