# How to add button or link to Admin page and assign an action to it ?

**URL:** <https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-add-button-or-link-to-admin-page-and-assign-an-action-to-it/4778>\
**Category:** Using Django\
**Created:** [October 13, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-add-button-or-link-to-admin-page-and-assign-an-action-to-it/4778 "2020-10-13T18:40:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pitagora04](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/pitagora04/32/1019_2.png) [@pitagora04](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/pitagora04)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-add-button-or-link-to-admin-page-and-assign-an-action-to-it/4778/1 "2020-10-13T18:40:46Z")

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I would like to customize Admin page for my `NewsletterSubscriber` model.

**How can I add new button (just beside the “ADD NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBER +”) and assign specific action to this button ?**

The idea behind is that I would like to have functionality to export string (and show it to user with `HttpResponse`) with multiple email addresses separated by comma (later I’ll be pasting this string directly into TO field when sending emails).

I already tried to implement this using Django Admin Actions but unfortunately I’m getting WARNING: `Items must be selected in order to perform actions on them. No items have been changed.`  
So if this would be easier, for me the option is also to bypass this WARNING - if that’s possible.  
But I don’t want to make selections to perform this action because I don’t use `queryset` and I don’t care about selected items but I use specific query to retrieve needed objects for exporting.

Here is what I tried to do using Django Admin Actions:

```auto
def export_newsletter_subscribers(modeladmin, request, queryset):
    emails = []
    ns = NewsletterSubscriber.objects.filter(has_consented=True)
    for n in ns:
        emails.append(n.email)
    emails_string = ","
    emails_string = emails_string.join(emails)
    response = HttpResponse(emails_string)
    return response
export_newsletter_subscribers.short_description = "Export Newsletter Subscribers"

```

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**Author:** ![KenWhitesell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/kenwhitesell/32/280_2.png) [@KenWhitesell](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/KenWhitesell)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-add-button-or-link-to-admin-page-and-assign-an-action-to-it/4778/2 "2020-10-14T04:31:23Z")

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I’m not sure I understand what you’re looking to do.

First, Django actions are designed for a specific purpose. From the [docs](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/contrib/admin/actions/#admin-actions):

> In these cases, Django’s admin lets you write and register “actions” – functions that get called with a list of objects selected on the change list page.

If you’re just looking to display a list of names, that’s not an admin function, that’s an ordinary view. Likewise, the functionality of building and sending an email based upon user interactions - that’s a standard view, too.

From the [Admin docs](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/contrib/admin/#module-django.contrib.admin):

> The admin’s recommended use is limited to an organization’s internal management tool. It’s not intended for building your entire front end around.

and

> If you need to provide a more process-centric interface that abstracts away the implementation details of database tables and fields, then it’s probably time to write your own views.

It’s a common mistake to try and build everything around the admin. You’ll likely save time in the long run by not trying to wedge everything in to it.

Ken

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pitagora04](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/pitagora04/32/1019_2.png) [@pitagora04](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/pitagora04)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 6:35am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/how-to-add-button-or-link-to-admin-page-and-assign-an-action-to-it/4778/3 "2020-10-14T06:35:44Z")

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Yes, I understand this is bad practice but for me it would be too much effort to build separate Admin panel only because of 2-3 additional functionalities 🙂.

That’s why I came up with a workaround.  
I created separate model `NewsletterSubscriberExport` with field `export` which is auto populated with the exported string - I can then just copy the string with or without saving the model.

```auto
class NewsletterSubscriberExport(models.Model):
    export = models.TextField(default=export_newsletter_subscribers_emails)

```