Are you looking for a way to bolster your content protection? This is important if you have a content-heavy site, particularly one with lots of original images like a photography website. Sadly, whether it’s intentional or not, it can be easy for users to copy, save, and hotlink your images.
Fortunately, you can disable right click in WordPress to prevent visitors from using your images without permission. Although it’s important to be aware of the consequences of this action, it’s a quick and easy way to protect your website from content theft.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at why you would consider disabling right click in WordPress. Then, we’ll explore three ways to do this and discuss some other useful ways to protect your content. Let’s get started!
Check Out Our Video Guide On How To Disable Right Click in WordPress
When To Consider Disabling Right Click in WordPress
If your website features lots of original content like images, you might want to disable right click in WordPress. Since online properties can be stolen with just one click, doing so can prevent content theft.
Not only that but disabling right click can also deter image hotlinking. This occurs when users steal your images and display them on a different website while using your server resources to do so. As a result, hotlinking violates your copyright and places unnecessary strain on your server.
However, disabling right click in WordPress isn’t a decision to take lightly. For instance, it can disrupt your User Experience (UX). This is particularly relevant on sites where readers benefit from copying and saving content like recipes or DIY instructions.
Plus, disabling right click isn’t a full-proof measure. In fact, visitors can bypass blocks by viewing your site’s source code or using a simple JavaScript trick to turn right click back on. Even for beginners, it’s easy to take screenshots of your images or rewrite your content.
How To Disable Right Click in WordPress (3 Methods)
Now that you know how disabling right click can protect the content on your website let’s take a look at three ways you can do this in WordPress.
Method 1: Use the WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click Plugin
With the WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click plugin, you can disable right click in WordPress and turn off commands like CTRL+C. Since the plugin also disables CTRL+U in Chrome, users are unable to view your page code (which is another way to steal content).
You can also disable the ability to select text, so you can protect more than just your images. If you upgrade to the premium version of the tool, you’ll get access to even more features. For example, you can use watermarking and jQuery overlay protection.
To get started, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin in WordPress:
Once it’s up and running on your site, head to Settings > WP Content Copy Protection. You should see Copy Protection appear in your admin area. Under Main Settings, you can enable protection on your homepage, posts, and more:
When you’re ready, save your settings. You can then test these changes on the front end. For instance, you might see a warning message when you try to select or copy an image:
You can even customize this message within your settings. Navigate to Copy Protection > Main Settings and scroll down to Selection disabled message to write your own warning.
Method 2: Use the Disable Right Click For WordPress Plugin
With the Disable Right Click For WordPress plugin, you can prevent actions like cut, copy, paste, view source, save image, and inspect element. Plus, it provides site-wide protection, though this might not be ideal if you only want to protect specific pages on your website.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the tool in WordPress:
Next, head to Settings within your dashboard and select Disable Right Click for WP. Then, tick the Yes button for Show messages on Disable Events and click on Save Settings:
Front-end users will now see a warning message informing them that right click has been disabled. This will appear when visitors attempt to select, save, or copy your images.
Method 3: Disable Right Click Without a Plugin
Plugins offer quick solutions for those who lack technical skills. However, they can slow down your site. Fortunately, you can also disable right click by editing your site’s code.
In your dashboard, go to Appearance > Theme File Editor. Then, scroll down to find your footer.php file on the right side of your screen:
Click on the file and locate the </body> tag. Then, just add the following JavaScript code:
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function () {
//Disable cut copy paste
jQuery('body').bind('cut copy paste', function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
});
//Disable mouse right click
jQuery("body").on("contextmenu",function(e){
return false;
});
});
</script>The file should now look something like this:
Then, hit Update File to save the changes. With this code in place, users will be unable to right click on the pages of your website.
Other Useful Ways To Protect Your Content
While the choice to disable right click in WordPress can make it harder for users to steal your content, there are some other measures to help you boost protection.
1. Add a Clear Copyright Notice
By adding a copyright notice to your website, you can inform visitors that your content is your intellectual property and that it shouldn’t be used without permission. This is helpful since not all users know the consequences of copying content and may have completely innocent intentions:
Your notice doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Simply let visitors know what kind of uses you will and won’t allow.
For example, you might decide that some content, such as excerpts and links, can be used by others. However, you can make it clear that full credit is to be given to you or your website and ask for a link to the original piece of content.
We recommend placing your copyright notice in a place that’s visible on all your web pages, such as the footer or sidebar. You’ll also have the legal right to take action if this becomes necessary. For instance, you may want to file a DMCA notice.
2. Use a Creative Commons License
You can determine exactly what kinds of use you will and won’t permit on your website by adopting a recognized license that meets your requirements. We’d still suggest using a copyright notice to protect your content. Although you might like to obtain a free license from Creative Commons for extra peace of mind.
3. Watermark Images
You can watermark images using your logo or site name to stop users from copying them. Additionally, this can deter visitors from bypassing a disabled right click by taking screenshots of your images. Since watermarks can’t be removed without damaging the quality of the image, this is considered an effective way to prevent content theft.
You can find plugins such as Image Watermark to take care of this for you. If you go to Settings > Watermark, you can choose where you want the watermark to appear, set the scale and transparency of the mark, and back up the original image:
This plugin also includes basic image protection. This includes disabling right click in WordPress and preventing drag and drop.
One of the best parts about using watermarks is that even if users decide to copy your images, you can benefit from the free advertising for your brand. However, it’s important to note that watermarks can make your images look less appealing.
4. Disable Hotlinking
Hotlinking is when users load images from your server. This unethical practice uses up your bandwidth as other websites are indirectly linked to your own.
If you have a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, you’ll get free built-in hotlink protection. Alternatively, you can use a plugin like All In One WP Security & Firewall:
To disable hotlinking manually, you’ll need to find the root directory of your website. You can do this by logging into your hosting account and navigating to your File Manager. Alternatively, you can use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client like FileZilla.
Then, simply open your .htaccess file and add the following:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?google.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?bing.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?yahoo.com [NC]
RewriteRule .(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|svg)$ http://dropbox.com/hotlink-placeholder.jpg [NC,R,L]When you’re ready, save your changes. If you change your mind, all you have to do is remove the code from the file.
5. Install Plagiarism Protection
A plagiarism protection program like Copysentry scans the internet for stolen content. You can set up daily or weekly scans, and the tool will look for sites that have copied your pages.
You can also search for snippets of your content manually using search engines. Simply select a piece of text and place it inside quotation marks. This method is a little more time-consuming, although it’s a great alternative if you don’t want to pay for a tool.
Summary
Unfortunately, content theft is pretty common. Even with the best intentions, users can lift images without being aware of the consequences of their actions. However, by disabling right click in WordPress, you can safeguard your content to prevent visitors from using it without permission.
Another way to protect your website is to switch to a secure WordPress hosting provider. With Kinsta’s state-of-the-art infrastructure, you can maintain a thoroughly secure environment. Plus, you can benefit from one-click SSL certificates, a dedicated malware team, and automatic backups.
