Title: Block Manager Author: Darren Cooney Published: January 7, 2020 Last modified: January 14, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/block-manager/assets/banner-772x250.jpg?rev=3063728) ![](https://ps.w.org/block-manager/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2483990) # Block Manager By [Darren Cooney](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dcooney/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/block-manager.3.2.0.zip) * [Details](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/#description) * [Reviews](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/#reviews) * [Installation](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/#installation) * [Development](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/) ## Description Block Manager gives you complete control over the WordPress Block Editor by allowing you to: ✅ **Disable Blocks** – Remove unwanted blocks from the Block Inserter and Editor ✅ **Disable Patterns** – Hide block patterns you don’t need with a single click ✅ **Change Block Categories** – Reorganize blocks by updating their categories for better workflow Simplify your WordPress editing experience by removing clutter and organizing blocks exactly how you need them. Perfect for client sites, custom workflows, and maintaining a clean, focused Block Editor. ### Key Features **Disable Blocks** – Globally remove any block from the Block Inserter and Block Editor. – Disable block variations individually while keeping the core block. – Control Embed blocks (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to remove unwanted options.– Toggle entire block categories on/off with one click. **Disable Block Patterns** – Remove unwanted block patterns with a simple toggle.– Hide core WordPress patterns that don’t fit your site. – Clean up the pattern library for a focused editing experience. **Change Block Categories** – Update the category of any block to better organize your Block Inserter. – Create a custom workflow that matches your editing process.– Improve findability by grouping related blocks together. **Additional Features** – **Code Hooks**: Use filters to control blocks and patterns via `functions.php`. – **Search and Filter**: Quickly locate blocks and patterns with built-in search. – **Export Options**: Generate code snippets for syncing across environments. – **Status Reports**: View active and disabled blocks at a glance. ### Hooks & Filters Use Block Manager hooks to controls blocks via code and sync options across multiple WordPress environments. #### gbm_disabled_blocks Use the `gbm_disabled_blocks` hook to remove blocks via backend code. ``` // functions.php add_filter( 'gbm_disabled_blocks', function() { return [ 'core/buttons', 'core/columns', 'core/freeform', 'core/table' ]; }); ``` #### gbm_disabled_patterns Use the `gbm_disabled_patterns` hook to remove block patterns via backend code. ``` // functions.php add_filter( 'gbm_disabled_patterns', function() { return ['gbm/core-patterns', 'core/query-standard-posts', 'core/query-medium-posts']; }); ``` #### gbm_block_categories Use the `gbm_block_categories` hook to update block categories via backend code. ``` // functions.php add_filter( 'gbm_block_categories', function() { return [ [ 'block' => 'core/html', 'cat' => 'design' ], [ 'block' => 'core/cover', 'cat' => 'design' ], [ 'block' => 'core/details', 'cat' => 'design' ] ]; }); ``` #### block_manager_user_role Update the minimum user role allowed to access the Block Manager plugin. ``` // functions.php add_filter( 'block_manager_user_role', 'edit_theme_options' // Default: activate_plugins ); ``` ## Screenshots * [[ * Disable Blocks: Easily remove unwanted WordPress blocks by toggling the active state of each block. * [[ * Block Toggle: Disable all blocks in a block categories with a single click. * [[ * Block Categories: Improve the admin editing experience by updating the category of each block using the Category Switcher. * [[ * Disable Block Patterns: Remove unwanted block patterns and core patterns by toggling the active state of each pattern. * [[ * Status Reports: Total active and disabled blocks are displayed in the plugin sidebar. * [[ * Embed Blocks: Choose the Embed blocks you want to allow on your site and remove the majority of useless options. ## Installation How to install Block Manager. #### Using The WordPress Dashboard 1. Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard 2. Search for ‘Block Manager’ 3. Click ‘Install Now’ 4. Activate the plugin on the Plugin dashboard #### Uploading in WordPress Dashboard 1. Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard 2. Navigate to the ‘Upload’ area 3. Select `block-manager.zip` from your computer 4. Click ‘Install Now’ 5. Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard #### Using FTP 1. Download `block-manager.zip` 2. Extract the `block-manager` directory to your computer 3. Upload the `block-manager` directory to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory 4. Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard Then navigate to `wp-admin -> Settings -> Block Manager` to use the plugin. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/5ebece6b52fd679bd09f44aefe9875d7b589dacd2b707f46d66da4255e40847e? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Very simple, very effective!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-simple-very-effective-4/)󠁿 [jaloin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/funnypurple/) January 14, 2026 1 reply Brilliant solution! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7361d1340007537f6c441e5be20c41911382de9b2d55ef47bd7e8daaa46ffec1? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Lifesaver, gets rid of bloat](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lifesaver-gets-rid-of-bloat/)󠁿 [Christian Saborio](https://profiles.wordpress.org/christian-saborio/) April 18, 2025 1 reply What a wonderful plugin! It’s amazing how WP adds all kinds of crap and no way to turn it off – I don’t use patterns, don’t want my clients to use them, and this is the perfect solution to avoid these types of issues. Fantastic way to remove unwanted core blocks as well, sanity at last, THANK YOU! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0344bd813dbbb743d869e9a15601673bc38b3df0b708981d5ca25b8cc09a4e80? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Life Saver](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/life-saver-447/)󠁿 [magicratfish](https://profiles.wordpress.org/magicratfish/) February 4, 2024 1 reply Great plugin, thank you. Let me tame my plug in beast and bring order to the Press. I combined it with the php filter ‘block_categories_all’ to move them to my own categories as well. Together, they have made a world of difference. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8a9ff80bca90110529a52a1593c0b1f40f04694945848e3f0ea2cceb20a5c141? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Clean and handy](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/clean-and-handy-2/)󠁿 [Milan Ivanovic](https://profiles.wordpress.org/lanche86/) October 3, 2023 Extremely useful plugin and one of the first I added to all of my installs. Thank you, Darren! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d5d85d79f79baba4f5b9a619c51000a67c90c4a228473a9b3d30773859ec200e? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Block listings not displayed](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-listings-not-displayed/)󠁿 [skylabb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/skylabb/) November 19, 2022 2 replies I wanted to like this plug for the nice UI design. When I open the block manager screen, the two grey tabs where block listings are suppose to display are empty. It looks like some kind of glitch. Update: I added a couple more review stars for author’s response. Hopefully the issue gets fixed soon. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7edccbf7330c10867b4a41e658f9c3ba722b19bc2a07834c1b3efb0409c3b0ce? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Incredibly useful plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/incredibly-useful-plugin-15/)󠁿 [tomreed25](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tomreed25/) September 15, 2022 1 reply Having the ability to disable some of the more obscure, unnecessary blocks is essential and this plugin features on every site I work on. Thanks! [ Read all 13 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “Block Manager” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Darren Cooney ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dcooney/) * [ connekthq ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/connekthq/) “Block Manager” has been translated into 6 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/block-manager/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “Block Manager” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/block-manager) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/block-manager/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/block-manager/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/block-manager/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/block-manager/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 3.2.0 – January 14, 2026 * NEW: Added support for Stretchy Paragraph and Stretchy Heading block variations. * Fix: Fixed issue with Embed block variation display. * NEW: Added WordPress version detection to improve compatibility with future WP releases. * UPDATE: Project dependency updates. * UPDATE: Various code refactoring and organization. #### 3.1.2 – December 8, 2025 * FIX: Fixed issue WP 6.9 and missing required sprintf package. * UPDATE: Project dependency updates. #### 3.1.1 – March 15, 2025 * FIX: Fixed issue with rendering block icons of various plugins. Now using default WP block editor `BlockIcon` rendering. * FIX: Fixed issue with blocks not showing in Block Manager when being registered using `enqueue_block_assets` hook. * UPDATE: Admin UI/UX updates. #### 3.1.0 – November 3, 2024 * UPDATE: New admin UI. * UPDATE: Various changes for upcoming Block Manager Pro plugin. #### 3.0.0 – April 3, 2024 * NEW: Added support for disabling block patterns and core block patterns. * FIX: Fixed incorrect number of filtered blocks display in Blocks sidebar. * FIX: Fixed issue with return value in admin_footer text. * UPDATE: Updated plugin installer vendor file. * UPDATE: Various code refactoring and organization. * UPDATE: Various security updates. #### 2.1.1 – November 1, 2023 * HOTFIX: Fix for undefined React key warning when `WP_DEBUG` is enabled. #### 2.1.0 – November 1, 2023 * NEW: Adding notification system for feedback after an action is performed. * UPDATE: Added display indicators for variation blocks. * FIX: Fixed potential upgrade issue with disabled blocks throwing admin error due to object vs array data. * FIX: Fixed issue with missing loading animation. * FIX: Fixed issue with block variations not counting towards block count. #### 2.0.0 – October 20, 2023 * NEW – New admin interface and interactions for the Block and Block Categories pages. * NEW: Added block category export and hook `gbm_block_categories` to allow for changing block categories at the theme level. * UPDATE: Updated build scripts and dependencies to use wp-scripts. * UPDATE: Block Manager is now supported on Widget screen. * FIX: Fixed issue with some missing block definitions. * FIX: Fixed issues with block icons not rendering for some blocks. * FIX: Fixed issue with various blocks crashing the Block Manager edit screen. * FIX: Other various bug fixes and overall improvements. #### 1.2.5 – May 23, 2023 * FIX – Fixed potential issue with JS errors on Site Editor screens. * UPDATE – WP version bump and testing. #### 1.2.4 – November 30, 2022 * HOTFIX – Fixed issue with plugin not working on `edit` screens. #### 1.2.3 – November 19, 2022 * FIX: Added fix for blank screen when users have JetPack plugin enabled. * FIX: Fixed issue with missing semi-colon in Block Manager export functionality. * FIX: Added fix for only loading the block removal script on `New` and `Edit` screens. #### 1.2.2 – August 17, 2021 * NEW – Added new Reset option that will clear all disabled blocks. * FIX – Added fix for possible issue with icon width on blocks admin page. * UPDATE – Updated tab navigation inside the plugin to make it more clear which section was being edited. #### 1.2.1 – February 28, 2021 * UPDATE – Added Category Switcher support for all block including core Gutenberg blocks. #### 1.2 – February 27, 2021 * NEW – Added new Category Switcher. - The Category Switcher provides functionality for changing the category core Gutenberg blocks. - Changing a block category will update the location of the block in the Gutenberg Block Inserter while editing posts. * FIX – Fixed issue with missing semi-colon in export code. * UPDATE – Various admin UI/UX updates. #### 1.1 – January 19, 2021 * NEW – Added new `gbm_disabled_blocks` filter to allow for disabling blocks via functions.php * NEW – Added `Export` option to dynamically build a pre-populated `gbm_disabled_blocks` filter. * NEW – Added Grid/List view toggle. #### 1.0.1 – January 2, 2021 * NEW – Added support for Embed blocks (Twitter, Facebook, Spotify etc). These blocks were changed in WP 5.6 and the handler had to be updated to manage the active/inactive states. * FIX – Fixed REST API warning for missing `permissions_callback`. #### 1.0 – January 6, 2020 * Initial release ## Meta * Version **3.2.0** * Last updated **3 months ago** * Active installations **4,000+** * WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **6.9.4** * PHP version ** 7.0 or higher ** * Languages * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), [Japanese](https://ja.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), [Korean](https://ko.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/), and [Swedish](https://sv.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/block-manager) * Tags * [block category](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/block-category/)[disable blocks](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/disable-blocks/) [disable patterns](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/disable-patterns/)[remove patterns](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/remove-patterns/) * [Advanced View](https://scn.wordpress.org/plugins/block-manager/advanced/) ## Ratings 4.9 out of 5 stars. * [ 12 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 1 4-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 0 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/?filter=1) [Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Darren Cooney ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/dcooney/) * [ connekthq ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/connekthq/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/block-manager/) ## Donate Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin? [ Donate to this plugin ](https://connekthq.com/donate)