How to prevent content copying on WordPress

Separate public content from content that must be private. A right-click block can discourage casual copying of articles and images, but it cannot secure information that your page already sends to the visitor’s browser.

For paid downloads, client files or private documents, use login checks, membership rules or protected file delivery instead of relying on browser tricks. Public files in the Media Library may still have a reachable file URL.

Apply a semi-transparent logo, site name or copyright notice to images before uploading them, or use an image-watermarking tool that can process new and existing Media Library images. Keep an unwatermarked original outside the public uploads folder.

Watermarks deter reuse and make attribution easier, but they do not stop someone cropping, blurring or recreating an image. Test the watermark on mobile and at the image sizes your theme actually displays.

For a small site, you can add front-end CSS that limits text selection and JavaScript that intercepts the context menu, drag events and common copy shortcuts. Load that JavaScript through WordPress’s front-end script system rather than hard-coding a script tag in the theme header. WordPress documents wp_enqueue_script() for this purpose and wp_add_inline_script() for adding code to an enqueued script.

Put custom code in a child theme or a maintained snippets tool, not directly in the parent theme. The manual route is fine when you only want a light deterrent, but it is easy to over-block buttons, galleries, embedded players or accessibility features. Users can also disable JavaScript, use browser tools or copy text from page source.

Do not apply copy blocking blindly to every element. Leave form fields, search boxes, checkout controls, navigation, code samples and any area where users need to select text working normally.

Check pages with page builders, sliders, video players, translation tools and keyboard navigation. A common Friday failure is that a global right-click handler stops a gallery menu or media player from working; if that happens, narrow the selector or exclude that component instead of disabling the whole site.

Test in an incognito window on desktop and mobile. Try selecting text, copying with the keyboard, dragging an image, opening the context menu, using forms and operating the site with a keyboard. Then temporarily disable JavaScript to understand what remains accessible.

Also check performance, cache behaviour and consent or security tools. Browser blocking is a deterrent, not access control, so keep backups, retain evidence of original publication and report substantial infringement through the relevant platform or legal process.

If you want one settings screen for right-click blocking, shortcut blocking, selection and dragging controls, plus image watermarks, install and activate UnGrabber from the WordPress dashboard. Configure only the protections you need, then exclude forms, checkout fields, galleries or other interactive areas if the plugin provides exclusions.

This is the faster route when you do not want to maintain custom JavaScript or combine separate tools. It still cannot make public web content impossible to copy, so use proper access control for private files and test the site after activation and after theme or page-builder changes.