14

I need to customize the admin panel for my user. So how do I remove the entire admin menu? Not remove the menu item, I mean entirely remove the left vertical menu bar, include the design of the menu (eg, css, background..etc). I want it become blank.

I can do it by css hack. But I prefer to use hook to do it. Any ideas?

Thanks

Improve this question
4
  • I'm curious. If your users don't need access to any of the admin menu items, why do they need access to the dashboard at all?
    – moraleida
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 1:35
  • Wondering on the motives... Do you want to hide it for specific roles/users? Are you making a custom Admin Bar menu (at the top)?
    – brasofilo
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 1:49
  • 1
    Yes, I would like to customize the admin menu. Not that the current admin menu is not good enough, it just too 'wordpress' feel. Not good for branding, in my opinion.
    – dev-jim
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 11:05
  • Please check my previous answer here; wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/136058/…
    – numediaweb
    Commented Sep 7, 2014 at 15:46

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
16

The correct hook to use is admin_menu and then create a function to remove the menus you want to remove. The following 2 functions remove all the menus. 

add_action( 'admin_menu', 'remove_admin_menus' );
add_action( 'admin_menu', 'remove_admin_submenus' );

//Remove top level admin menus
function remove_admin_menus() {
    remove_menu_page( 'edit-comments.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'link-manager.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'tools.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'plugins.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'users.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'options-general.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'upload.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'edit.php' );
    remove_menu_page( 'edit.php?post_type=page' );
    remove_menu_page( 'themes.php' );
}


//Remove sub level admin menus
function remove_admin_submenus() {
    remove_submenu_page( 'themes.php', 'theme-editor.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'themes.php', 'themes.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'edit.php', 'edit-tags.php?taxonomy=post_tag' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'edit.php', 'edit-tags.php?taxonomy=category' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'edit.php', 'post-new.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'themes.php', 'nav-menus.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'themes.php', 'widgets.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'themes.php', 'theme-editor.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'plugins.php', 'plugin-editor.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'plugins.php', 'plugin-install.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'users.php', 'users.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'users.php', 'user-new.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'upload.php', 'media-new.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-writing.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-discussion.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-reading.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-discussion.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-media.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-privacy.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'options-general.php', 'options-permalinks.php' );
    remove_submenu_page( 'index.php', 'update-core.php' );
}

Screenshot of left menu using the above 2 functions:

enter image description here

Improve this answer
2
  • 3
    I did find another way by using $GLOBALS['menu'] = array();. Giving null in the array will also do the work.
    – dev-jim
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 11:13
  • Where do you put this?
    – user26728
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 14:22
5

Following the lead of /wp-admin/admin-header.php -> /wp-admin/menu-header.php there's no hook to do it.

A solution is to hook in admin_head and do some CSS + jQuery

add_action('admin_head', 'wpse_52099_script_enqueuer');
function wpse_52099_script_enqueuer(){
    if(!current_user_can('administrator')) {
        echo <<<HTML
        <style type="text/css">
        #wpcontent, #footer { margin-left: 0px; }
        </style>
        <script type="text/javascript">
        jQuery(document).ready( function($) {
            $('#adminmenuback, #adminmenuwrap').remove();
        });     
        </script>
HTML;
    }
}

[update]
As per a clarification to the question, where it gets clear that the motivation is branding the admin area, these are the 4 plugins that I use for that:

  • Adminimize (hide large chunks of WordPress interface, filtering by role)
  • Ozh' Admin Drop Down Menu (all admin menu in a horizontal CSS driven drop down menu)
  • Admin Menus Fixed (perfect companion for Ozh's)
  • Admin Tweaks (I'm the author of this one, and it's main purpose is customizing many areas of the admin interface)
Improve this answer
6
  • If you go this route, it makes more sense to use wp_enqueue_script() with admin_enqueue_script hook.
    – mrwweb
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 1:55
  • 1
    @mrwweb Even when it is such a small insertion? Do you think is worthy?
    – brasofilo
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 2:01
  • Agreed. Small script/style insertions are more easily done with admin_head.
    – chrisguitarguy
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 3:18
  • I don't like using the jquery unless I have no other choice. What if the visitors disable the javascript on their browser? Though, there is not likely to happen, but there is the possibility there. Anyway thanks for the advice.
    – dev-jim
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 11:10
  • In my example, it'll be a matter of double removing by also hiding the 2 divs in CSS as well.
    – brasofilo
    Commented May 15, 2012 at 12:06
2

The only hook-friendly way I know is to use remove_menu_page() for every single menu item. Even then, I don't know what happens to the left bar itself (whether it would collapse down to 0px width or what). Even with using the hooks, I imagine at some point you'll want to enqueue an admin stylesheet to cleanup what remains of the menu markup styles.

I would be careful about doing this. For instance, if you remove "Settings," then any plugins that creates menu pages in the "Settings" menu can't be reached. In general, I wonder how sustainable it really is to completely remove the menu.

Improve this answer
1
  • I am sure he was looking for a way to remove the menu for regular users, not admins. :)
    – Christine Cooper ♦
    Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 15:56
1 
add_action( 'admin_menu', 'remove_admin_menus' );

function remove_admin_menus(){
    global $menu;
    $menu = array();
}
Improve this answer
2
  • This answer is very handy too. It is short and works like a charm, except for the menu pages created by plugins. (which should not be a problem because they are only visible for an administrator)
    – Charles
    Commented Apr 26, 2018 at 13:39
  • It is a handly solution, indeed, BUT it is worth saying that it won't actually block access to those admin pages, it will just make them invisible in the admin bar. It is better than a CSS solution for hiding items, of course, but still flawed in terms of security: savy users can still get direct access to admin pages by editing the URL.
    – Marcos Buarque
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 14:47
0

I improve the solution of @brasofilo as it is have small bug - on page reload with not best internet connection menu will appear for very short time. To avoid it I added a bit of more css:

add_action('admin_head', 'wpse_52099_script_enqueuer');

function wpse_52099_script_enqueuer() {

    if(!current_user_can('administrator')) { 

echo <<<HTML
<style type="text/css">
#wpcontent, #footer { margin-left: 0px !important; }
#adminmenuback, #adminmenuwrap { display: none !important; }
</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready( function($) {
    $('#adminmenuback, #adminmenuwrap').remove();
});
</script>
HTML;

    }
}
Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.