BT Disable Comments Documentation

Completely remove all comment functionality from your WordPress site with a single toggle. No leftover traces in the admin, frontend, or feeds.

Overview

BT Disable Comments is a free WordPress plugin that globally disables all comment functionality across your entire site. Unlike simply unchecking "Allow comments" on individual posts, this plugin removes every trace of the comment system — from the frontend forms to the admin menu items, widgets, meta boxes, and feed links.

This is ideal for business sites, portfolios, landing pages, or any WordPress installation where comments are not needed and you want a cleaner admin experience.

Installation

Download the .zip file from the Boulley Technology catalog or install it directly from the WordPress plugin directory. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins › Add New › Upload Plugin, select the ZIP file, and click Install Now.

Once installed, click Activate. The settings page is available at Settings › BT Disable Comments.

BT Disable Comments requires WordPress 5.0 or higher and PHP 7.4+.

Settings

The settings page has a single master toggle: Disable Comments. When enabled, the plugin performs the following actions across your site:

Comment forms — Removed from all post types on the frontend. The comment template is intercepted and returns empty.
Comments menu item — The "Comments" link is removed from the WordPress admin sidebar.
Comment widgets — The "Recent Comments" widget is unregistered and cannot be added to sidebars.
Discussion meta boxes — The "Discussion" meta box is removed from the post editor screen for all post types.
Admin bar comment link — The comments bubble icon in the admin bar (top toolbar) is removed.
Comment feed links — The comment feed <link> tags are removed from the HTML head, and comment feed requests return a 403.
Dashboard widget — The "Activity" dashboard widget's comment section is removed from the admin dashboard.

Note: Disabling comments does not delete any existing comments from your database. Your comment data is preserved and will reappear if you deactivate the plugin or turn the toggle off.

Close Existing Comments

In addition to hiding the comment UI, the settings page includes a one-time bulk action: Close Comments on All Existing Posts. Clicking this button sets comment_status to "closed" on every published post and page in your database.

This is useful if you have hundreds or thousands of posts that were published with comments open. While the disable toggle prevents new comment forms from rendering, closing existing comments ensures that direct POST requests to wp-comments-post.php are also rejected at the database level.

Important: This bulk action modifies your post data directly. It is not reversible through the plugin — you would need to manually re-open comments on individual posts or run a database query to undo it. Use this only if you are certain you want all comments permanently closed.

FAQ

Does this plugin delete my existing comments?

No. BT Disable Comments hides the comment UI and prevents new comments from being submitted, but it does not delete any existing comment data from your database. If you deactivate the plugin, all your previous comments will still be there.

Does it work with custom post types?

Yes. When enabled, the plugin disables comment support on all registered post types, including custom post types created by themes or other plugins. The Discussion meta box is removed from every post type editor screen.

Can I disable comments on only certain post types?

BT Disable Comments is an all-or-nothing toggle — it disables comments globally across all post types. If you need per-post-type control, you can use the WordPress Discussion settings under Settings › Discussion combined with individual post settings instead.