Why do you need to disable comments in WordPress sometimes?
As you know, reader comments are a simple way to increase interaction between readers and website owners. Thanks to them, you can improve your site content in the future. However, in some cases, you need to disable comments in WordPress. For example, you may want to post announcements or simply share some information. Such posts do not need to allow comments.
Normally, we allow comments for blog posts or articles, because there are many issues that readers want to discuss. However, for static pages such as contact, services, about us, etc., it makes little sense to allow comments.
Another common reason many website owners want to disable comments in WordPress is to prevent spam. This will help you manage your website and keep the content on it from being diluted by spam.
In today’s blog, we would like to show you some methods to manually disable comments on parts of the website, such as some posts or pages. So, let’s get started now!
Instructions to disable comments in WordPress
Turn off comments on future posts
In order to stop comments on your future posts, you just need to go to Settings -> Discussion. In the Default post settings, uncheck the option ‘Allow people to submit comments on new posts‘. Moreover, there are more comment settings under the option, which you can see in the following image. So, you can easily set up comment features on your site.
Don’t forget to click the Save changes button to make sure that your settings are saved.
Disable comments on posts or pages with Bulk Edit
If you are looking for an easy way to disable comments on all posts or pages, we will show you how to do it with Bulk Edit.
The first step is to go to Posts -> All Posts. After that, click the box before the word Title to select all posts. Then, at the Bulk Actions box, simply choose Edit and press the Apply button.
Now, a bulk edit panel will appear for you to change your settings. In the comments section, let’s choose the Do not allow option to disable comments on all posts. Don’t forget to save your changes by pressing the Update button.
You are able to follow the same steps to disable comments on all your pages.
You just need to access Pages -> All Pages, then select all pages, change Bulk actions to Edit and apply it. In the next step, let’s choose the Do not allow option for Comments and update it.
Disable WordPress comments on media
Actually, there are two methods for you to do that. You are able to manually disable comments on each media attachment file. However, this method is quite time-consuming. So, we recommend turning off the comment feature on all media at once. You just need to add the code below to your site-specific plugin or theme’s functions.php file:
function filter_media_comment_status( $open, $post_id ) {
$post = get_post( $post_id );
if( $post->post_type == 'attachment' ) {
return false;
}
return $open;
}
add_filter( 'comments_open', 'filter_media_comment_status', 10 , 2 );
Use a plugin to turn off commenting
There are many plugins on the market that help you turn off the comment feature on the posts, pages, or media you want. In this article, we will show you how to do that with Disable Comments – one of the most effective WordPress Comment Plugins.
First of all, you need to install this plugin. Now, on the admin dashboard, let’s choose Plugins -> Add New. After that, on the search bar, simply type the name of the plugin you are looking for. Finally, click on Install Now -> Activate the plugin you need.
After activating the plugin, go to Settings -> Disable Comments.
If you want to turn off commenting on all kinds of posts and pages of your site, the Everywhere option is suitable for you. Furthermore, you can disable comments on anything you want, including Posts, Pages, and Media in the On Specific Post Types section.
The last step is saving all your settings with the Save changes button.
Delete WordPress comments
Although the above methods will help you disable comments on posts, pages, or media, it does not mean that previously posted comments will be deleted. In case you want to delete existing comments on your website, let’s follow these simple steps.
Firstly, let’s open the Comments section. Now, select all comments and choose the Move to Trash option in Bulk actions. Then, just apply it.
If your site contains a lot of comments, you must repeat this page by page, because this way only allows you to delete 20 comments at a time. So if you want to delete all comments on the next page, you have to do this again.
Remove the ‘Comments are closed’ message
After using the methods to disable comments, if the comment form still exists on your website or says “Comments are closed”, ask the theme developer to fix the problem. Alternatively, you can handle this problem yourself.
Now, access your site with an FTP client or File Manager in the WordPress hosting control panel. Next, you have to find the theme folder that is in the /wp-content/themes/folder. After that, all you need to do is look for the comments.php file and rename it to comments_old.php.
Then, create a new file by right-clicking and choosing the Create new file option. Name this new file comments.php. Now, there will be an empty comments template for your theme.
Closing thoughts
In conclusion, we have introduced some useful methods to disable comments in WordPress in detail. We hope that this blog is helpful for you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave your comment below. Last but not least, don’t miss the chance to get many responsive and professional Free WordPress Themes for your site here.
