Not all of them have one, if yours does and you’re just learning about it, I’m very sorry. But you have a truly terrible job ahead of you.
Assuming you don’t have a manual to read: First, start with a freshly -emptied clean dishwasher, no spills in the bottom. Wear rubber gloves if you’re easily grossed out. Pull out the bottom drawer. Look in the bottom, you see anything that looks like you could turn it 🛞, with maybe a couple arrows ▶️ ◀️ to line up? Lefty-loosey it, pull it out and take it to the sink, along with any screenlike thingamabobs that come out with it. Run warm water and use hands, sink brush, or scrunge to gently remove all the gunk. You don’t have to abuse it, you want it to last the life of the machine. Also feel in the hole, removing any gunk left behind. If the filter pieces come apart easily, do that, but put them back as they were before reinserting into the machine. Fit it back into the hole and righty-tighty to match up the arrows. Don’t over-tighten! Go rinse out your sink, dry your hands, and set a monthly notification on your phone. It’s much less gross if you do it monthly.
oh that doesn’t sound as bad as i was expecting. thank you for the explanation. i believe i have found the wheel and i will give it a go this coming weekend after i secure some gloves and prepare myself mentally for what’s to come. the reminder thing sounds like a good idea, i have a poor habit of letting some of these home maintenance things slip my mind and the new year might be a good excuse to try to do those things more routinely. we’ll see how it goes.