With this posts, I will show you how to define screen options across all users. It’s kinda troublesome because I use phpMyAdmin, since there is no known plugin yet for doing this (AFAIK ^_^)

All screen options are stored in table “wp_usermeta”. The important columns are

• user_id,
• meta_key,
• meta_value.

I will explain briefly about valid meta_key here.

Meta Key: screen_layout_post
Description: Number of columns in POST (valid value: 1, 2)

Meta Key: closedpostboxes_post
Description: This determines widgets in POST (New Post / Edit Post) with CLOSED state, i.e. not expanded.

Meta Key: metaboxhidden_post
Description: This determines widgets in POST (New Post/Edit Post) which were hidden.

Meta Key: wp_metaboxorder_post
Description: [I am not quite clear what this defines. Maybe it has something to do with the order of widgets in POST]

Meta Key: manageeditcolumnshidden
Description: Determines which columns are hidden in POSTS EDIT.

Meta Key: managecategoriescolumnshidden
Description: Determines which columns are hidden in CATEGORY EDIT.
In the example, I hide column Description because if you enter a lengthy description in a category, it will be shown which is quite annoying.

Meta Key: edit_per_page; categories_per_page; edit_pages_per_page; edit_comments_per_page
Description: self-explanatory

Meta Key: screen_layout_dashboard
Description: Number of columns in DASHBOARD (valid value: 1-4)

Meta Key: closedpostboxes_dashboard
Description: This determines widgets in DASHBOARD with state CLOSED, , i.e. not expanded.

Meta Key: metaboxhidden_dashboard
Description: This determines widgets in DASHBOARD which were HIDDEN.

The SQL script that you see here can helps to speed up loading in WordPress Admin.

• Remove unnecessary widgets in POST
• Remove unnecessary widgets in DASHBOARD
• Hide column description from Category management
• Hide column tags from Posts management

How to use?

1. Open phpMyAdmin for your blog,
2. get the user_id of the user you want to define
3. Change the value of [USER_ID] in the script, e.g.

   (NULL, '1', 'screen_layout_post', '2'), 

4. Run your query.

INSERT INTO `wp_usermeta`
(`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`)
VALUES

(NULL, [USER_ID], 'screen_layout_post', '2'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'closedpostboxes_post', 'a:7:{i:0;s:16:"tagsdiv-post_tag";i:1;s:12:"revisionsdiv";i:2;s:11:"postexcerpt";i:3;s:10:"postcustom";i:4;s:13:"trackbacksdiv";i:5;s:11:"commentsdiv";i:6;s:11:"sfforumlink";}'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'metaboxhidden_post', 'a:7:{i:0;s:16:"tagsdiv-post_tag";i:1;s:11:"postexcerpt";i:2;s:10:"postcustom";i:3;s:13:"trackbacksdiv";i:4;s:7:"slugdiv";i:5;s:11:"commentsdiv";i:6;s:11:"sfforumlink";}'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'wp_metaboxorder_post', 'a:3:{s:4:"side";s:65:"submitdiv,categorydiv,authordiv,commentstatusdiv,tagsdiv-post_tag";s:6:"normal";s:69:"revisionsdiv,postexcerpt,postcustom,trackbacksdiv,slugdiv,commentsdiv";s:8:"advanced";s:11:"sfforumlink";}'),

(NULL, [USER_ID], 'manageeditcolumnshidden', 'a:2:{i:0;s:4:"tags";i:1;s:0:"";}'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'managecategoriescolumnshidden', 'a:2:{i:0;s:11:"description";i:1;s:0:"";}'),

(NULL, [USER_ID], 'edit_per_page', '10'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'categories_per_page', '10'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'edit_pages_per_page', '10'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'edit_comments_per_page', '10'),

(NULL, [USER_ID], 'screen_layout_dashboard', '2'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'closedpostboxes_dashboard', 'a:5:{i:0;s:11:"sf_announce";i:1;s:24:"dashboard_incoming_links";i:2;s:17:"dashboard_plugins";i:3;s:17:"dashboard_primary";i:4;s:19:"dashboard_secondary";}'),
(NULL, [USER_ID], 'metaboxhidden_dashboard', 'a:2:{i:0;s:17:"dashboard_primary";i:1;s:19:"dashboard_secondary";}');