Widget Disable

Description

This simple plugin allows you to disable any sidebar and dashboard widget for the current WordPress site you are on. It provides a simple user interface available to users with edit_theme_options capabilities (usually Administrator role) available under Appearance -> Disable Widgets.
After saving the settings, the sidebar and dashboard widgets are removed from and the user can’t see those widgets anymore.

Developer? Get to know the hooks

Have a look at the filters we provide:

  • wp_widget_disable_default_sidebar_widgets – Allows you to exclude certain sidebar widgets from being disabled.
  • wp_widget_disable_default_dashboard_widgets – Allows you to exclude certain dashboard widgets from being disabled.

Contributions

If you would like to contribute to this plugin, report an issue or anything like that, please note that we develop this plugin on GitHub.

Developed by required

Screenshots

  • Disable the sidebar widgets you don’t need.
  • Even disable unused dashboard widgets.
  • The simplified widgets overview.
  • The stripped-down dashboard.

Installation

Manual Installation

  1. Upload the entire /wp-widget-disable directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate WP Widget Disable through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
  3. Go to Appearance -> Disable Widgets to manage sidebar and dashboard widgets.

Reviews

April 24, 2023
Thank you, a wonderful plugin, you can't even imagine how happy I am that I found it
October 7, 2022
I use this pretty much on all my sites, very easy way to get a small speed boost to the backend of the website. Thank you so much for the developer!
February 8, 2021
Super easy way to speed up wp-admin by just disabling the useless dashboard widgets. A few clicks and my frustration level with the back end decreased 50%. Thanks!
Read all 20 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Widget Disable” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

“Widget Disable” has been translated into 10 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “Widget Disable” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

3.0.0 – 2023-03-26

  • Fixed: Replace use of jQuery to avoid deprecation warnings.
  • Changed: Requires at least PHP 7.4 and WordPress 6.0.

2.1.0 – 2022-03-17

  • Enhancement: Hide disabled sidebar widgets when widget block editor is enabled.
  • Changed: Requires at least PHP 5.6 and WordPress 4.7.

2.0.0 – 2020-02-02

  • New: Allows removal of the “Browse Happy” and “PHP Update Required” widgets in the dashboard to suppress remote API requests.

1.9.1 – 2019-03-11

  • Enhancement: Cleanup and compatibility with WordPress 5.1.

1.9.0 – 2018-07-26

  • Enhancement: Added Multisite support.
  • Enhancement: Allows hiding the Try Gutenberg callout in WordPress 4.9.8.

For older versions see CHANGELOG.md.