Skip to main content

Use "Quick Edit" To Bypass The Dashboard Menu

One very useful Blogger feature is the option to bypass the Blogger dashboard - to edit the various gadgets, and existing blog posts.

The feature, termed "Quick Edit", provides two different icons, generally visible to the proper recipients, with the option enabled, on the published blog.
  • The "Quick Edit" "pencil" is visible to administrators and authors, in the posts toolbar, to the right of the "Email Post" icon. This will generally be in one of the post footer lines.
  • The gadget "screwdriver / wrench" icon is visible to administrators, to the lower right of each template gadget (except for "Blog Posts").
Though the "screwdriver / wrench" icon is more visible, that icon has no name, and no selection option in the Blogger dashboard. And, there are more mysteries.

The "Quick Edit" option is selected using "Configure Blog Posts", as "Show Quick Editing".

Most blog owners enable "Quick Edit" on their blogs, routinely.


What I see, of the"Search Me, Direct" gadget, in this blog.


The Quick Edit icon, that I see. You should not not see the icon, when you view this blog - but you may see it, on a gadget in your blog, when you view your own blog.


You enable "Quick Edit" from the dashboard Layout page.
Though the option affects visibility of the "screwdriver / wrench" icons, in the blog template, there is no dashboard Settings selection. It is only selected as a post template option, in "Configure Blog Posts".

The "Configure Blog Posts" wizard is accessible only by Editing the "Blog Posts" gadget, from the dashboard Layout wizard. There is no "screwdriver / wrench" icon which allows access to the "Configure Blog Posts" wizard.

Names used to identify the "Quick Edit" icon may vary.
Adding to the mystique here, residents of Europe may term the "wrench" as a "spanner". Long ago, some blog owners referred to the "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" icon as "dragonflies".

Both the "pencil" and "screwdriver / wrench" icons may or may not be consistently visible. Both icons have been known to be invisible / non functional, with improperly configured cookie or script filters.

The icon may be visible, even when not operational.
And thanks to caching, a blog owner may see either the "pencil" or "screwdriver / wrench" icon when logged out of Blogger - and mistakenly conclude that the public, in general, is able to access the Dashboard or Post Editor for his blog, and change blog options or edit posts. Having logged out, then clicking on any visible icon - or clicking on a carefully configured link URL, we can verify that no illegal access is possible.

And some blog owners, thanks to an intriguing terminology variation, may refer to the "pencil" as an option for editing a "blog".

All that said, use of the Quick Edit URL - with Quick Edit enabled or not - can be very useful, in removing gadgets properly identified.

Comments

This feature disappeared months ago, and I just did what you said to do, and it still did not appear. Do not know what has happened to this handy feature after 10 years of blogging. Sad.
i agree. this is a handy tool for exactly that: quick edits. for more elaborate editing, though, i always use the dashboard. thanks. this is another great nugget of knowledge. angelina
Nitecruzr said…
Carol,

The "Quick Edit" icons - both the "pencil" and the "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" - are subject to inappropriate filtering of cookies and scripts - when they are enabled.

Many filters are subject to update, by the publisher - generally, without notice.

If one or more features, such as "Quick Edit", are disabled or missing on your computer, check your security filters (and verify the setting in "Configure Blog Posts").

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2011/01/security-add-ons-on-our-computer-and.html

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2014/01/almost-nobody-controls-their-own.html

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/11/blogger-layered-security-and-you.html

Popular posts from this blog

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.

Embedded Comments And Main Page View

The option to display comments, embedded below the post, was made a blog option relatively recently. This was a long requested feature - and many bloggers added it to their blogs, as soon as the option was presented to us. Some blog owners like this feature so much, that they request it to be visible when the blog is opened, in main page view. I would like all comments, and the comment form, to be shown underneath the relevant post, automatically, for everyone to read without clicking on the number of comments link. And this is not how embedded comments work.

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".