How to Disable Gutenberg Editor For Your WordPress Site

Do you wish to disable the Gutenberg editor for your WordPress site and keep the classic editor? If so, you have covered th topic here. As Gutenberg is soon going to be the default editor of WordPress, it is better to give it a try and use the editor on your site. If you are looking for help, we have recently published a detailed guide on Gutenberg editor, this article will help you to understand the editor better. Gutenberg is soon going to be the core part of WordPress, by the end of 2018. However, many users are not happy with the editor as of now. Though the new editor makes things easier in many ways, it lacks some important features. Another issue is the compatibility with other WordPress themes and plugins. We are using the Gutenberg editor on Begindot blog, and we surely faced issues to make other plugin work around it. For example, it is not easy to make a link nofollow on Gutenberg editor. There is no default option in the editor and it doesn’t support the plugins either. So, if I need to make a link nofollow in the new editor, I will have to edit the code and edit the nofollow tag. As the Gutenberg editor is work in progress, there will be many such small issues with the editor. So, once the Gutenberg editor becomes a permanent part of the WordPress system, you will have to work around to use the old classic editor.

Why to Disable Gutenberg?

Now, the question is why to disable Gutenberg when it is a core part of WordPress? The answer could be different for different users. As the Gutenberg editor is WordPress in progress, you might continue with the classic editor till the time Gutenberg becomes stable. Many WordPress themes and plugins are not yet compatible with the new editor and it might take time to make everything work perfectly around the new editor.

There are a number of simple and quick solution to disable the Gutenberg editor and keep using the old classic editor.

Plugin 1. Use The Classic Editor Plugin

You can use this simple free plugin to disable the Gutenberg editor and keep using the old classic editor on your WordPress site. This plugin is developed by the WordPress core contributors to make the process simple for the users to go back to the old editor without going through any fancy settings. You can download the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory or you can directory install the plugin through your WordPress dashboard. Go to WordPress dashboard >> Plugins >> Add new and look for Classic Editor and install it.

This plugin offers you two different options. Go to the writing settings of your site. WordPress admin >> Settings >> Writing Settings

• Replace the Gutenberg editor completely
• Use the block editor as default and use the Classic editor as optional

If you go for the first option and replace the Gutenberg editor completely and use the TinyMCE editor, there anything additional for you to do. You can keep using the old familiar editor as long as you wish to. However, if you want to keep both the options on your site. Select the second options and save the settings. Now, you will see an additional option in th post section of your WordPress editor that you can use to create a blog post using the old classic editor.

Plugin 2. Disable Gutenberg

As the name suggests, this is another free plugin that is created to disable the Gutenberg editor on any WordPress site. The plugin is quick and simple to get started. Like the first plugin, this plugin also offers you two different options to choose from.

• Disable the Gutenberg editor completely
• Disable on selected post type, user role type post ID etc

So, if you are looking for more flexibility and want to disable the new editor on selected posts, this is a better plugin to go for.

Disable Gutenberg Using a Code

If you don’t want to use a plugin to disable Gutenberg editor and looking for the piece of code to do that, here is the code you need to use to disable the Gutenberg editor on your site.

add_filter('use_block_editor_for_post', '__return_false');

This piece of code works perfectly upto the WordPress 5.0 beta version.

Final Word

Disabling the Gutenberg editor could be a wise decision till the time it gets stable with all the updates and bug fixes. However, in the long run, you will have to move to the Gutenberg editor as it is soon going to be a default feature of WordPress. Hope this quick tutorial is helpful for you. If you have any question about the Gutenberg editor let us know by using the comment section below.