How to Disable the Gutenberg Editor in WordPress
By WPCodeBox
Learn how to hide the admin bar from your WordPress frontend using a snippet in WPCodeBox!
The WordPress admin bar appears automatically for every logged-in user. While useful for site administrators, it confuses subscribers, customers, and members who don’t need backend access.
Many site owners want to hide this bar, but WordPress lacks a simple setting to disable it globally.
In this article, I’ll share how to hide the admin bar for specific user roles or remove it completely using a simple code snippet.
The default toolbar confuses non-technical users who don’t need access to backend links. The toolbar makes users feel like they are inside a backend system rather than browsing a finished website.
It acts as a gateway to areas users shouldn’t see. Even with restricted permissions, the admin bar provides direct links to the Dashboard and Profile screens. Curious users often click these links, which take them away from your content and into the confusing WordPress backend interface.
The bar disrupts the user journey for membership sites and online stores. When a customer logs in to view their account or course content, a sudden black toolbar breaks their focus.
You can control toolbar visibility individually through the WordPress dashboard. This method requires no code and works perfectly if you have limited users on the site.
The bar disappears immediately for the account you made the change for. However, this setting doesn’t apply to other users automatically. You’ll need to individually uncheck the option for each user on your site. For membership sites or stores with many users, this is not practical, and you need something that applies this rule globally.
You can completely remove the toolbar for all users, including administrators. This is ideal when you’re developing a site and want to view the frontend exactly as a visitor sees it, without logging out constantly.
add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');This single line of code disables the toolbar globally. Once active, no user will see the admin bar on the frontend. Administrators can still access the dashboard by visiting the /wp-admin/ URL directly.
Hiding the bar for everyone is often too restrictive. As an administrator, you need the toolbar for quick access to site settings and content editing. Your subscribers and customers, however, should never see it.
This snippet selectively hides the bar based on user roles. It checks if the current user has administrative permissions. If they don’t, the toolbar disappears.
if (!current_user_can('administrator') && !is_admin()) {
show_admin_bar(false);
}This intelligent filter gives you the best of both worlds. You retain your management options while delivering a clean, professional experience to your users. Members and customers browse a distraction-free site, while you manage it efficiently from the frontend.
You can add these snippets to your theme’s functions.php file, but theme updates will wipe out your changes instantly. You also risk crashing your site with a simple syntax error.
A snippet plugin is a much better solution in such cases. I’ll recommend using WPCodeBox, as it eliminates these risks by running your code safely in an isolated environment. This ensures your snippets remain active even when you change themes, and the plugin’s built-in error protection automatically disables bad code before it breaks your site.
It also comes with a cloud sync feature that lets you store snippets in the cloud and use them across all your WordPress sites. You can manage everything from a single dashboard and use the conditional logic builder to control exactly where your code runs. It replaces dozens of single-purpose plugins with one professional plugin.
Now that you know why it’s better to use WPCodeBox, let’s look at how to add the snippet using the plugin:
Your rule is now active, and WPCodeBox ensures this customization persists through all future theme updates and WordPress upgrades.
To verify the changes, open your website in a new private browser window and log in with a Subscriber or Customer account. The black toolbar should be completely absent from the top of the page.
Next, verify your own access. Stay logged in as an Administrator in your main browser window and refresh the frontend. You should still see the admin bar, confirming the conditional logic is working correctly.
You can also use the User Switching plugin to switch between different users without having to manually log in to each account.
1. How to hide admin menu items for specific users in WordPress?
admin_menu hook.remove_menu_page() function to block the slug.2. How do I disable the WordPress dashboard for users?
You can block backend access by redirecting specific roles to your homepage. You’ll use a PHP snippet that checks if a user is trying to access /wp-admin/ without administrative permissions. If they aren’t an admin, the code automatically sends them back to the frontend, ensuring they never see your backend.
