Skip to main content

WordPress is one of the most popular and widely used Content Management Systems which is available for all users at no cost. With WordPress and domain name in hand, you can instantly create your website without an extra penny. It does not require any coding knowledge, as all the work can be done with simple drag and drop. If you having a blog or content-related website, you need to manage huge content at the same time. This management process involves editing, SEO Optimization, publishing, and deletion. The important reasons to delete posts in bulk in WordPress could be outdated content, change in method, discontinued products, unnecessary posts, and many more. Let’s see how to delete WordPress posts in bulk in all possible ways.

Ways to Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk

There are ways to delete WordPress posts in bulk and they are

  • Without Plugin
  • With Plugin
  • From Database

Related: How to Remove Date and Time from WordPress Comments. You can also try this solution if you want to get rid of the old posts from displaying to your users.

Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk Without Plugin

Let us see how to delete posts in bulk without using a Plugin.

[1] Go to your WordPress dashboard.

[2] Click on the Posts option from the left panel.

[3] Here in the All Posts section, check the box next to the titles you wish to delete.

Check Box - How to Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk

Note: To select all the posts on the All Posts page check the box next to the title heading.

Select All Posts - How to Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk
[4] Expand the Bulk Actions drop menu at the top of the content list.

[5] Choose Move to Trash and click on Apply.

Bulk Actions - Move to Trash
[6] Now all your selected content will be moved to trash immediately.

By default, the WordPress post section displays 20 posts on a page and these numbers can be increased by expanding the screen options from the top right corner. Hereunder pagination, Enter the number of items per page to any number you wish to display. Click on Apply to display the entered number of items.

To delete a video under some specific category, author, or tag, go to the specific section and delete in bulk just like we did before.

Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk With Plugin

Follow these steps to delete bulk posts with the help of a plugin.

[1] From your WordPress dashboard, go to the Plugin section.

[2] Click on Plugin and choose Add New.

Plugins - How to Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk
[3] Search for Bulk Delete plugin in the WordPress plugin store.

[4] Click on Install Now to install the plugin.

[5] After installation, click on Activate button to activate the plugin.

[6] Once the plugin is activated, the Bulk WP section will be added to your WordPress dashboard.

[7] Expand Bulk WP and choose Bulk Delete Posts.

[8] Filter to select and delete the posts in bulk based on various factors like Post Status, category, tag, custom taxonomy, custom post type, page status, user role, and user meta.

Filter
[9] Once the selection is done, click on Bulk Delete to delete posts in bulk.

You can also try using a plugin called WP Bulk Delete which also does the bulk deletion job perfectly from your WordPress dashboard.

Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk from Database

Delete WordPress Posts in Bulk from Database

If you have knowledge of handling databases, then you can also delete the posts directly from your WordPress database. Before proceeding with the process, it is best to backup your WordPress database in case if something goes wrong the backup will help to redo the process. Go to cPanel >> Databases >> Site folder >> wp_posts >> Select the specific file/whole post database >> Delete. If you can’t find the wp_posts file on your site folder, then you may probably have changed your WordPress database table prefix to something else for security purposes. The post folder contains the entire data of your posts, pages, and other post types. This also includes the author, creation date, modification date, text content, title, excerpt, and publishing status.

Conclusion

Hope this guide helps you with the deleting post in bulk on your WordPress website. This helps in organizing your website content simpler and faster. We suggest our users use the method without the plugin for bulk deletion as it is a default WordPress feature and does not involve much work to put through. If you opt for the plugin method, deactivate the plugin once the deletion process is done and this saves some server load. If you have any queries let us know in the comments section.

Leave a Reply