Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Remove Visual Editor Mode in WordPress

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Do you want to remove the visual editor mode in WordPress? The visual editor in WordPress provides a WYSIWYG interface for writing content. However, many users who are comfortable writing basic HTML prefer to use the text editor. In this article, we will show you how to remove the visual editor mode in WordPress.

How to remove visual editor mode in WordPress

Why Remove Visual Editor Mode in WordPress?

The visual editor offers a convenient way for beginners to write content in WordPress. It comes with a nice WYSIWYG user interface with handy options to choose colors and format when writing posts.

See our tips on mastering the WordPress visual editor.

Visual editor in WordPress

Visual editor can also be programmed to show your posts using the same fonts and colors as your WordPress theme.

However, many advanced users prefer to use the plain text editor. It has some very basic formatting buttons and shows raw HTML / plain text when you create content.

Text editor in WordPress

The biggest complaint about visual editor is that when you switch between Visual / Text mode, it could affect the formatting of your post. Sometimes the visual editor also end up adding additional formatting that’s not needed.

These are not big issues, but they can certainly become really annoying.

Having said that, let’s see how to easily remove visual editor mode in WordPress.

Video Tutorial

Subscribe to WPBeginner

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Removing Visual Editor Mode in WordPress

First, you need to visit Users » Your Profile page in the WordPress admin area. This is where you can edit your user profile in WordPress.

Disable visual editor in WordPress

Under the visual editor, you need to check the box next to ‘Disable visual editor when writing’ option.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update Profile’ button to save your settings.

You can now edit a post or create a new one. You will notice that visual editor will not be available anymore.

Visual editor removed from WordPress

Note: This setting will not affect other users registered on your WordPress site.

We hope this article helped you learn how to remove visual editor mode in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide to boost WordPress speed and performance.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

19 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Michael says

    Your advice is great but surely the best/additional solution would be to stop some of the idiotic behaviour of the visual editor, ESPECIALLY adding and in stupid places, which can disrupt pages completely. I’ve even seen it add tags in the middle of internal style declarations! It also seems to remove HTML comments at times.

    As one of several people maintaining a certain website, I’ve had to waste many hours fixing the mess made by the visual editor because someone else insists on using it.

    SURELY it can be made to listen to what the user actually TYPED instead of taking matters into its own hands for no reason. If I type a succession of carriage returns, and didn’t go into text and add , MAYBE because that’s what I actually WANTED.

    This behaviour has been *programmed* into it, it can therefore be removed.

  3. Satnam Singh says

    Do you use wordpress visual editor on your website ? Or any plugin of shortcodes instead or any thing else ? Mind sharing ?

  4. Karen Doll says

    Hello,

    I’m hoping you can help me with my Visual Editor issue. I know this page addresses how to disable the Visual Editor, but I’m hoping you can help to enable my Visual Editor. I am a freelance writer and a client set up a WordPress account for me on her site. I cannot access the Visual Editor. The disable Visual Editor box in NOT checked. And, when I tried to click on Visual, all of my text disappears. The word counter remains the same as if there are invisible words on the page. Perhaps there is something you can tell me that I can forward onto the site owner.

    Thanks so much for your help :)
    Karen

  5. Stefani says

    Hi there! Do you happen to know if it would cause formatting issues if the visual editor is enabled for one user and they were told not to click the text editor button at all (for my client, so they can do things like change text color for a word here and there) and disabled for me (so that I can easily code things if needed)? Thank you!!

  6. rajkanuri says

    for WordPress Visual Editor is acting weird, it is not showing up in Firefox and Chrome but working fine in IE… what should be the error, I have even reinstalled the WordPress using the reinstall option in the dashboard..

Leave A Reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.