Privacy by default: how to make sure privacy display settings are disabled by default?

Hi Irene

It is possible to force those profile settings (such as Show in search results, Allow private messages from connections only, etc.) to be unchecked/off by default — however, this would require customizing the code for the “Settings” widget, as these options are not fully configurable through standard admin settings.

Out of the box, the only settings you can easily control on the front end for the Settings widget are the two options shown in the screenshot you referenced. Beyond those, the widget does not provide native OOTB controls for default checkbox states.

If you want those options to default to unchecked, the path forward would be to add some custom code to the Settings widget to override the default values. Depending on your platform setup, this could involve modifying the widget’s initialization logic or injecting script to force certain fields to load as off/false.

Alternatively, if setting the defaults proves too complex or high-effort, another customization approach would be to remove those checkbox options entirely from the widget using a small code adjustment. This would prevent users from enabling them at all.

So in summary:
 ️ It’s possible
 ️ But it requires custom widget modifications
 ️ And you could either (1) force them off by default or (2) remove them from the UI altogether with custom code

Let us know if you’d like guidance on the customization approach!

Irene van der Zanden 

Irene van der Zanden