Remove Dashboard Meta Boxes in WordPress

The following snippet lets you remove specific meta boxes from the main Dashboard page in WordPress. These are the default meta boxes shown on the main admin screen.

To remove or change which boxes are displayed, add this snippet to your theme’s functions.php file and choose which boxes to remove:

function my_custom_dashboard_widgets()
{
    global $wp_meta_boxes;

    // Main column (left):
    // Browser Update Required
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['high']['dashboard_browser_nag']);
    // PHP Update Required
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['high']['dashboard_php_nag']);
    // Right Now - Comments, Posts, Pages at a glance
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_right_now']);
    // Right Now
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['network_dashboard_right_now']);
    // Activity
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_activity']);
    // Site Health Status
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_site_health']);

    // Side Column (right):
    // WordPress Events and News
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_primary']);
    // Quick Draft, Your Recent Drafts
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_quick_press']);

    // Recent Comments
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_recent_comments']);

    // Incoming Links
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_incoming_links']);

    // Plugins - Popular, New and Recently updated WordPress Plugins
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_plugins']);

    // Other WordPress News Feed
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_secondary']);


    // Recent Drafts List
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_recent_drafts']);
}

add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', 'my_custom_dashboard_widgets');

This is the page we are talking about:

For safe admin customizations, see What Are Child Themes and How to Use Them.