Hello. Many times, we build a beautiful website in WordPress and we want to publish it. But, the footer credits like ‘Powered by WordPress‘ becomes the main problem. Also, it is not possible to remove it via customizer. So, in this tutorial, We will see how to remove it externally.
Hope you have started and running WordPress website (on local or live host). If you’re not aware how to start WordPress site, then please go to this Tutorial.
What is Footer in website?
It is the lowermost area of the website which shows the similar things like contact no., address, logo and other things. That is also mainly includes the credits text like “powered by WordPress” and a theme name. It cannot be removed by the UI, we have to jump into back end complex coding to change or remove it. Don’t worry, this article shows you how to do this.
Is it Legal?
Now the question arises is it legal to remove WordPress footer credits? The answer is Yes, definitely. As the WordPress is an open-source CMS, you can modify it as per your requirements.
Let’s remove the credits!
Go to your website Dashboard and hover over the Appearance tab. you will see the list with the las option as Editor. Click on it you’ll see the following window.
The right container will show the various .php files in the theme. As we have to remove the footer, we’ll head to the Theme Footer (footer.php) file. By clicking on it, you can edit it. Now search where the line ‘Powered by WordPress’ is written. You can simply edit it and write what you want. Just save the file and refresh the page. You’ll see your change.
If you’re unable to find the credits line in footer.php file, don’t worry. We have solution for that also. The method shown above is older. Nowadays, the special functions are created instead of writing the footers directly. So, we have to find that function.
The functions are present most probably in templates directory. Now, go to path: C:\wamp64\www\wordpress\wp-content\themes\twentyseventeen\template-parts\footer\site-info.php. Find the footer credit lines there. Just modify them, and you’re done.(Applies to theme Twenty Seventeen)
It is not necessary that all themes will put their credits in this location only, they can modify it and put elsewhere.
If you still failed to find credits, here’s a third optional path which may help you. Go to path: C:\wamp64\www\wordpress\wp-content\themes\\inc\template-functions.php you can find credits there and just modify them. Make sure you replace with your theme’s name in path above.
After all this discussion, you now have idea how to edit the footer credits. The format to put the credits differs according to theme. All the best!:)