How To Disable Dashboard Widgets

Are you looking for a way to disable dashboard widgets? This snippet disables dashboard widgets, like the Right Now widget, Incoming Links widget, and several other widgets.

Instructions:

All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin. You can optionally comment out lines for widgets that you want to keep.

function remove_dashboard_widgets() {
  global $wp_meta_boxes;
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_plugins']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_recent_comments']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_incoming_links']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_right_now']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_primary']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_secondary']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_quick_press']);
  unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_recent_drafts']);
}
add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', 'remove_dashboard_widgets' );

You can find all the dashboard widgets here in the Wordpress Codex. It’s also possible to add your own dashboard widgets.

Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly copy / paste code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.

If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: How to Install Google Analytics on Your WordPress Site.