How to Deactivate a Plugin in WordPress

Plugins are incredibly helpful for WordPress site administrators, as they often add powerful or helpful functionality to your site in a relatively easy manner. But certain plugins may not interact well with other ones that you have already installed, or a plugin might slow you site down noticeably.

But it is often difficult to tell exactly which plugin is causing the conflict, or what effects the removal of the plugin from your site might have. In these situations, it is helpful to deactivate the plugin as a means of troubleshooting. Deactivating a plugin in WordPress allows you to keep the plugin and its data installed on your site before you decide that you no longer need it.

How to Disable a Plugin in WordPress Without Deleting It

The steps below are going to show you how to deactivate a WordPress plugin. This is the first step that you would take if you wanted to delete a plugin, but it allows you to see how your site will look and operate without physically removing the plugin and its files from your site.

Step 1: Sign into the admin section of your WordPress site.

Step 2: Hover over Plugins in the left column, then click the Installed Plugins option.

Step 3: Locate the plugin that you want to deactivate, then click the Deactivate link underneath it.

You will see a Plugin deactivated message at the top of the window once the process is completed.

If you decide that you want to reactivate the plugin after disabling it, then navigate back to it and click the Activate button underneath it. If you would like to remove the plugin and its data from your site, then click the Delete link instead.

You can add accelerated mobile page (AMP) functionality to your Wordpres site with the help of a couple of plugins. This may become an important ranking factor for mobile sites in the future, so it could be helpful to set it up on your site as soon as possible so that you are ready when that change occurs.