Simple question, how do you hide or remove a button from the ribbon in SharePoint?

In my case, I needed to remove the Upload Document and Open with Explorer buttons for my Form Library.

Open your site using SharePoint Designer.  Once opened, navigate to your Library and edit your default view.  (All Files -> Your Library -> Forms -> Your View.aspx, right click and select Edit File in Advanced Mode)

At the bottom of the screen, you will see three options Design, Split, and Code.  Select the Split option.

In your code window, locate the <asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId=”PlaceHolderMain” runat=”server”>  tag.

Now, enter the code below in a line after the PlaceHolderMain tag.

<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () 
{
    setTimeout(HideRibbonButton, 10);  
});
 
function HideRibbonButton()
{
    $('a[id*="OpenWithExplorer"]').hide();   
    $('a[id*="AddDocument"]').hide();     
    setTimeout(HideRibbonButton, 10);
}    
</script>

Click save, then refresh your page.  The Documents tab should now be missing the Upload Document button and the Library tab should be missing the Open with Explorer button.

How I’m finding the items that I want to hide.
using this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee537543(v=office.14).aspx
Find the item you want to hide (open with explorer).
Ribbon.Library.Actions.OpenWithExplorer

Then use the last part of the string OpenWithExplorer in your jquery.

*NOTE*

The Library I’m working with is locked down and users are not able to create their own Views. If someone creates a new View, the buttons will be available on that page.