Troubleshooting

Solutions to common questions and issues with ID Dashboard Cleanup.

The settings page says “No dashboard widgets found”

The plugin captures widgets when you load the Dashboard page. If you haven’t visited the Dashboard since activating the plugin, no widgets have been captured yet. Click the Go to Dashboard button on the notice, then return to the settings page.

All widgets were unchecked after saving

This was a bug in version 1.0.0 and has been fixed in 1.1.0. If you’re still on 1.0.0, update to the latest version. The issue was caused by widget IDs being lowercased during save, which created mismatches with the actual IDs.

A widget I hid is still showing on the dashboard

Make sure you clicked Save Changes after unchecking the widget. Also confirm you’re looking at the correct site — in a multisite setup, each site has its own settings.

I set 4 columns but only see 2 on the dashboard

WordPress reduces the visible column count on smaller screens. Try maximizing your browser window or checking on a wider display. The column count setting is a maximum — WordPress may show fewer columns responsively.

A new plugin’s widget doesn’t appear on the settings page

Visit the main Dashboard page once after installing the new plugin. The widget list updates on each Dashboard visit. After that, return to the settings page and the new widget will appear.

Users can still see widgets I hid

Check that the plugin is active. Hidden widgets are removed during every Dashboard page load — if the plugin is deactivated, all widgets revert to their defaults. Also confirm you saved the settings after making changes.

Can I use this with the ID Admin Toolkit?

Yes. The ID Admin Toolkit includes an identical Dashboard Cleanup module. However, you should not activate both the standalone plugin and the toolkit’s Dashboard Cleanup module at the same time. The toolkit automatically detects the standalone plugin and skips its own module if the standalone version is active.

Will my settings be lost if I deactivate?

No. Deactivating the plugin restores default WordPress dashboard behavior, but your settings remain saved in the database. If you reactivate the plugin later, your previous configuration will still be in place.