How To Disable Comments in WordPress

Comments boost a brand’s reach and engagement because they allow visitors to interact with your company’s online content. However, an unmanaged comment section can be counterproductive as it can start to negatively impact your brand’s image. If you don’t have the resources to manage your comment section directly from your WordPress site, you can choose to disable comments altogether. 

In fact, by default, WordPress disables comments on all pages, though the platform will naturally enable comments on all of your posts. You can go ahead and disable comments on everything if you want to thanks to the customization abilities of WordPress websites. Learn how you can disable comments on your WordPress site today!

How Does WordPress Comment Work?  

Comments are a pre-built component of all WordPress posts and blogs. With comments automatically installed, WordPress makes it so that users don’t need to integrate third-party plugins when they want to enable comments on posts and pages. 

While comments on WordPress are an excellent way for your readers to interact with your website, enabling comments on every post and site page comes with the need to moderate the comments people are leaving on your website. 

The internet is full of trolls who like to leave spam messages and offensive comments. Plus, both good and bad comments take up space in the database which can impact your website’s overall performance. So, disabling your comments on pages and posts not only gets rid of inappropriate comments but can help increase your page load times, too. 

Fortunately, WordPress lets you disable comments quickly and easily. There are a few different approaches that you can take when it comes to disabling comments on WordPress! 

Steps to Disable WordPress Comments

WordPress offers several options for users who are looking to manage the comment sections of their WordPress posts or pages. In this article, we will explore the steps to disable comments through WordPress settings and a plugin.

Disabling comments through WordPress settings

Disable Comments on Future WordPress Posts

To disable comments on future blog posts while still allowing your readers to interact with existing posts, WordPress makes it possible to only disable comments on upcoming posts. Here’s how to disable comments on future posts.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Settings > Discussion using the Dashboard sidebar.
3. Under the post settings, uncheck Allow people to comment on new posts box.
4. Click on Save Changes.

To re-enable the comments all over again, simply check the box once more and save the changes.

Disable comments on all published posts

The steps mentioned in the section above don’t turn off the flow of comments on published posts and pages. It also won’t make it possible for you to remove existing comments from the already-published posts. To disable and erase all existing comments on your already-published WordPress posts, follow the steps below.

1. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to the left sidebar and click on the Comments section. 
3. Click on Bulk Actions.
4. Select all comments.
5. Select Move to Trash.
6. Click Apply. 

Disable comments on specific WordPress posts

WordPress turns off the comments on all posts by default. However, if you have enabled comments yet you also want to remove comments from specific posts and pages, follow the steps below. 

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to All Pages via the Pages menu located in the sidebar.
3. Select the page that contains the comments you want to disable.
4. Click on Edit.
5. Navigate to the Discussion tab located in the Discussion meta box from the editor.
6. Uncheck Allow Comments.
7. Click on Update to save your changes.

If you want to re-enable comments for specific posts, follow the steps above but check Allow Comments instead. 

Disable comments on WordPress pages and posts in bulk

If you want to disable comments on your all-published pages and posts without going through them individually or using a Plugin, follow the steps below.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Posts from the sidebar menu.
3. Click on All Posts.
4. Select all of the posts that contain comments you want to disable.
5. Choose Edit from the Bulk Actions dropdown and then click on Apply.
6. From the new bulk Edit option, select Do not allow from the Comments dropdown.
7. Click on Update to save changes.

You can use this method to restrict comments on a bulk number of WordPress pages, too. However, by default, WordPress only allows you to select up to 20 posts from the All Posts screen. If you want to select more than 20 posts at one time, choose the number of posts that you want to select via the Screen Options section.

Disable comments on media files

When you include an image or a video file in a WordPress post, WordPress creates an attachment file. WordPress sees such media files as components that are completely separate from pages. 

So, WordPress automatically allows readers to comment on media files even if you have disabled comments on the post. If you want to turn off comments on the media file as well, you will need to follow the instructions below.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Media from the left sidebar.
3. Click Library.
4. Select the media files containing comments that you want to disable. 
5. Click Edit.
6. Disable comments using the Discussion box.

You can’t perform a bulk edit for media files using the WordPress dashboard. However, if you are technologically sound and proficient with PHP codes, you can add a snippet of code to your WordPress theme file to disable comments in bulk from media files. 

Disable comments using a WordPress Plugin

Aside from manually adjusting your WordPress settings, you can disable comments on WordPress posts using a plugin. Plugins make it possible for you to finetune the comment disabling process. 

In turn, you’ll be able to access your posts, pages, and media files all from a single place. Plugins come with quick and easy interfaces that are simple enough for even WordPress beginners to figure out. 

The WordPress Marketplace offers a ubiquitous number of free and premium plugins that can help you disable comments. While the exact steps of disabling comments will be different for each plugin, the following steps are some of the most common ways to disable comments via a WordPress plugin. 

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugin from the left sidebar.
3. Click on Add New.
4. In the search bar, search for plugins that help with disabling comments.
5. Choose from the best plugin to disable comments.
6. Click on Install Now.
7. Click Activate after the installation completes.
8. Head over to Disable Comments via the Settings menu.
9. Select the option to turn off comments on all posts or choose specific post types.
10. Click on Save Changes.

Disable the Commenting on WordPress Pages and Posts now

Comments are an excellent way for visitors to interact with your website and increase your brand’s engagement. By offering feedback and giving suggestions to your brand, customers, and followers who comment on your content help to build community. 

However, you should moderate the comments on your posts and pages to avoid detrimental discourse. If moderation is not an option for you, consider disabling comments on your WordPress website. 

Disabling comments prevents spam, improves your website’s performance, and saves time because you don’t have to micromanage the comment sections. You can disable comments in any of the aforementioned ways that we discussed in this article. Assess your needs and disable the comments in whichever way suits you best!