How to permanently disable comments in WordPress

Last updated December 6th, 2023 00:32

Comments on a website can be an effective way to gather feedback from users. They allow you to communicate with your community and exchange valuable information. However, despite this fact, there may be situations where comments are more of a hassle and not suitable for the website format. The good news is that using a snippet, they can be disabled. Permanently. In this article, you will learn how to permanently disable comments in WordPress using a snippet.

How to Permanently Disable Comments in WordPress Using a Snippet

What is the snippet? The Snippet feature in WordPress CMS allows users to create and save short codes. These codes can then be used in various parts of the website, such as inserting them into pages, posts, or widgets to display specific information or functions. Advanced users typically use snippets to modify code in WordPress templates or add their own code to various functions. The Snippet feature is useful for those who need to quickly change code without modifying the base file.

You can completely disable comments in WordPress by adding a short code snippet using the WPCode plugin. I have personally been using this plugin for a while now, which is stored in the official repository and can be installed through your administration panel. You can find a complete guide on how to install and activate the plugin, as well as how to use it here: How to Add Custom Code to WordPress. So, first take a look at this article and install the plugin.

Snippet for permanently disabling comments

If you have already read my article on inserting custom code into WordPress, you can move on to the next step. You can now add the snippet that will completely disable all comments in WordPress. The snippet to copy is as follows:

				
					// Remove comments
add_action('admin_init', function () {
    // Redirect any user trying to access comments page
    global $pagenow;

    if ($pagenow === 'edit-comments.php') {
        wp_redirect(admin_url());
        exit;
    }

    // Remove comments metabox from dashboard
    remove_meta_box('dashboard_recent_comments', 'dashboard', 'normal');

    // Disable support for comments and trackbacks in post types
    foreach (get_post_types() as $post_type) {
        if (post_type_supports($post_type, 'comments')) {
            remove_post_type_support($post_type, 'comments');
            remove_post_type_support($post_type, 'trackbacks');
        }
    }
});

// Close comments on the front-end
add_filter('comments_open', '__return_false', 20, 2);
add_filter('pings_open', '__return_false', 20, 2);

// Hide existing comments
add_filter('comments_array', '__return_empty_array', 10, 2);

// Remove comments page in menu
add_action('admin_menu', function () {
    remove_menu_page('edit-comments.php');
});

// Remove comments links from admin bar
add_action('init', function () {
    if (is_admin_bar_showing()) {
        remove_action('admin_bar_menu', 'wp_admin_bar_comments_menu', 60);
    }
});

// Comments removed

After inserting and activating this snippet, comments will be deactivated both from the frontend, which is the website itself, and from the backend, which is the administration panel. Yes, even the comments section will disappear from the administration panel because it will no longer be needed.