You can remove dashboard widgets/metaboxes using the following action, wp_dashboard_setup:
Example 1
function remove_dashboard_widgets() {
global $wp_meta_boxes;
$wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core'] = array();
$wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core'] = array();
}
add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', 'remove_dashboard_widgets', 100);
Also there is the more specific core function, remove_meta_box() which can be used in the same way:
Example 2
function remove_dashboard_widgets() {
remove_meta_box( 'dashboard_right_now', 'dashboard', 'normal');
remove_meta_box( 'dashboard_activity', 'dashboard', 'normal');
}
add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', 'remove_dashboard_widgets', 100);
The above removes everything, if you want to remove only specific widgets/metaboxes, then inspect the output of the global $wp_meta_boxes variable, and in particalur everything within $wp_meta_boxes['dashboard'].
var_dump(array_keys($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']));
var_dump(array_keys($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']));
In my case the keys are:
/*
$wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core'];
array (
0 => 'dashboard_right_now',
1 => 'dashboard_activity',
2 => 'woocommerce_dashboard_recent_reviews',
3 => 'woocommerce_dashboard_status',
)
$wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core'];
array (
0 => 'dashboard_quick_press',
1 => 'dashboard_primary',
)
*/
You can target specific widgets/metaboxes accordingly.
By the way, a word of warning, if you use the approach where you assign an empty array to the corresponding key as shown in example 1, then any subsequent metaboxes that you add after the fact, should be added on a priority higher than 100 or whatever the priority is that you chose to remove them on otherwise your widget/metabox will not show. This is why it’s probably a better idea to stick to the WordPress core function remove_meta_box() if in doubt.