WordPress Quick Tip: Remove The Dashboard Update Message
A particularly useful function of WordPress is that it informs you when a new update is available to download. This is displayed at the top of your WordPress admin panel and provides a link to the update page where you can automatically install the new available version.
Updating your WordPress installation is important because the latest version will likely contain security updates and will give you access to any new functionality that has been developed.
However, there are occasions where you might not want this message to displayed – for example, if you’re building a WordPress site for a client, you might want to remove the message to stop them from updating the site themselves.

This is because sometimes it’s best to initially test the effects of a new WordPress update locally to ensure that it doesn’t cause the site any problems – it’s not unusual to have configuration issues with plugins that cause the website not to display or work properly.
Removing the update message is very straightforward to do – simply add the following lines of code to your functions.php file:
remove_action('wp_version_check', 'wp_version_check'); remove_action('admin_init', '_maybe_update_core'); add_filter('pre_transient_update_core', create_function( '$a', "return null;"));
Then check your WordPress admin panel and you should see that the message has disappeared.
Whilst this removes the update message, please make sure that you still update to the latest version when it becomes available. Not doing so can leave you vulnerable to security risks, so make sure you’re aware of when new versions are released and ensure that you apply the update.
I hope you found this tip helpful – let me know if you have any questions or comments.












July 3rd, 2010 at 1:54 am
Foolish
that wont work.
i uploaded with following chnages, but site displayed an empty page.
where r u declaring the function remove_action()
it wont
it wont work
July 26th, 2010 at 10:48 am
@someone et al
Add the code to the functions.php file in your theme folder (ie /wp-content/themes/yourtheme/functions.php) and not the functions.php in /wp-includes.
Works fine then.
Cheers,
Andrew
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Tested on wordpress 2.9.2
open update.php
/wp-admin/includes/update.php
Make additional space at around line 325 and add
add_action( ‘admin_init’, create_function(”, ‘remove_action( \’admin_notices\’, \’update_nag\’, 3 );’) );
Look at my line 325
http://pastebin.com/D3SPPCKh
October 31st, 2010 at 11:14 pm
I like this form!
Anyway, thanks for the tip G-STAR01. Updating the theme function is better if you ever plan to update wordpress in the future. then you won’t have to add the code again to the new instillation. However, I don’t plan to update wordpress as too many plugins depend on me sticking with this.
I’m also surprised that you decided to add more code, as opposed to just staight up delete the message! Under update.php I found the message (you can search for and it’ll get you to it. Deleted it, (that paragraph) and all was well.
Thanks anyway for pointing me in the right direction! Cheers!
January 16th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Hi Dude,
Nice, Its working Awesome.
I just updated my site
Click to view output
June 9th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
請問應該如何刪除留言訊息呢?
還有那個”posted”日期等消息,應該如何刪除?
July 13th, 2011 at 7:52 am
I am in some kind of dilem whether I should remove it or not. The message is so irritation, but I also need to be informed with the latest updates.
I installed wordpress 3.2 with my hosting 1 click installation, but when I visit the admin pane, I see the message at the top.Grrrrrrrrrrr…