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How To Permanently Uninstall Any WordPress Plugins

Keeping a healthy blog is better than a misused blog because a misused blog can never drive you that much traffic. On this post, we are going to be optimizing our databases for faster blog experience.

wordpress databases optimization

Ok! Let me start off this way… You were recommended by a friend to use some certain plugin and after like 2 to 3 days later, you uninstall the plugin because it did not gave you what you wanted. Now I’d like to tell you that when you click the uninstall button, you uninstall the plugin but you did not uninstall the entire codes of that plugin and for your “wow” information, there are still parts of that plugin remaining in your database. Don’t worry I’ll explain further so you’ll understand me clearly

When you install a new plugin, it automatically creates a table in your database and when you uninstall that plugin, the database table remains there. Now these tables causes unnecessary load, space and it also goes as far as using up your database so the best thing I’ll recommend you to do is to uninstall it permanently.

But how do we completely uninstall our plugin? There are only two ways in which you can successfully uninstall your plugin completely

1. Either by the manual way.

2. Or by the automatic way.

HOW TO PERMANENTLY UNINSTALL ANY WORDPRESS PLUGIN AND OPTIMIZE YOUR DATABASES

Must Read: 10 Killer Ways Of Getting 2000 Visitors Per Day: Traffic Study 2

Please as we proceed deeper to this post, I’d like you to read and pay attention to the post so you won’t miss a word of what I’m writing 😉 ok let’s move to the main show

1. The manual way: You’ll have to go to your control panel and click on “phpMyAdmin” and click on your databases, search for the orphaned plugin table that you have uninstall and delete it. That’s how to do it manually.

But the above process is difficult for people that don’t like messing with their blog’s technical parts. So if you are afraid of technicalities, we are going to make the tutorial as simple as possible by showing you guys the automatic way.

2. The automatic way: First off you will need to download a plugin called “clean option”,you can download it here. What the plugin does is, it Finds orphaned options and allows you (the power user) to remove them from the wp_options table. Now tell me how awesome is that?

After you must have uninstalled the plugins you don’t need any more, go to “tools” and click “CleanOptions” are you there?

Now click on “find orphaned options

After it must have completed the search, below “Possibly Orphaned Options” you’ll see all your databases tables like the image below

optimizing your wordpress databases for a better performance

In case you’re confuse on which table to delete, just click the *Google it by the right and Google will give you the right info about that particular table

Now select the tables you want to delete and click “view selected options information

Now clicking the “view selected options information” will take you to a place like the image below

optimize your wordpress database for a faster browsing experience
click to enlarge

Make sure you tick “Yes, Remove ALL of these options from the wp_options table.” Now click the “Submit” button to successfully delete the remaining of the uninstalled plugin.

Now you have more options to free up your database and make your blog a fast one. Now let’s kick those unnecessary tables that have been eating our databases out.

Please note that before playing with any technical part of your blog, it is best to run a backup.

Must Read: Optimizing Your WordPress Database For A Better Performance

Now how do you see the post? Was it super simple or just simple? Do you have questions and thoughts that you would love to share with us? Then please do by using the comment box below. Remember that your comments and thoughts are highly welcomed and appreciated.

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35 thoughts on “How To Permanently Uninstall Any WordPress Plugins”

  1. Hi bro,
    That’s another good tut. The only danger is with those who don’t have an idea what’s going on in the db. Some plugins too give you the option to completely remove all database tables when uninstalling them. I think the real issue lies with poorly analysed and poorly coded plugins.

    Thanks for putting this up and I’m sure it will be of great help to many readers

    1. Hey Enstine,
      Yea… things are real going on with our database that most of us don’t know. All power user plugins creates a table in your database even the plugin that are constructed well and even if you uninstall these plugins, the tables will still be in your database. you can try it out your self and see. Thanks for the comment bro and do have a great week

  2. A very handy post indeed Babanature,
    I didn’t know that such a thing happens, i thought that ones I’ve uninstalled, its all over.

    But then, after uninstalling, i normally click on the delete option, does mean that even after deleting it too, the files still remains?

    I love the post my man, thanks for sharing.

    1. Hello Theodore,
      yes! uninstalling a plugin from your admin panel does not mean you have successfully deleted its entire files. there are still some of that plugin files called orphaned piling in your database. so it is best to download the recommended plugin and use it to uninstall the entire orphaned…

  3. Another great post Babanature!

    Well, I recently learned about this one too with all the problems I was having lately. Yep, when you have a ton of these plug-ins still on your server over time it can drag your database speed way down and really tick your hosting service off.

    I had over 11,000 files that needed to be viewed but a good bit of those were beta tester links for a plug-in I was testing. You do have to be careful though and I was told to actually go in your database tables on your server and only delete a few at a time to make sure there isn’t any issues on your blog.

    Now I’m sure that if your blog isn’t that old then you probably won’t have that many problems but mine is almost four years old so I never realized that when you uninstall a plug-in that it doesn’t uninstall on your server. Yikes!!!

    Great post my friend and I hope people will pay attention to what you’re sharing. There is a lot to blogging that people don’t quite get and this is another one of those.

    ~Adrienne

    1. Thanks Adrienne,
      That’s actually the thing. it is bad for a novice who don’t know anything about database to stay off it, but i’ll advice all bloggers to learn about there databases. I presented the plugin above so it would be easy for those who are not experienced in the technical part of blogging.
      Thanks for sharing that with us. Thanks for the comment Adrienne and do have a good week ahead

  4. Hi babanature, This is very helpful! I always wonder why, when I reinstalled a plugin, that all of my information is preserved.

    So is this plugin available through the WordPress dashboard?

    Thanks for this great information!

  5. Another wonderful article. I haven’t heard of this plugin before. I went through all the process as explained above. One word, impressed!

    Many thanks.

    Seun

  6. Hi Babanature,

    Thanks for teaching us about the uninstalled problem.
    I really thought like many others that uninstalled took all of the plugin out!
    Ok I will go check for my orphans now.
    Thanks for explaining this and making it clear.
    Tonya

    1. Hello Tonya,
      When you uninstall a plugin, it might not have any effect at the initial stage but as time passes you’ll definitely get some databases issues. that’s why it is best to act fast now and delete all does orphans before it get’s out of hand.
      Thanks for stopping by Tony and do have a joyful week ahead

  7. HI Babanature,

    Awesome share!

    The danger really lies if some other table is deleted accidentally, very difficult to discover the logic of orphan tables.I tried writing the script for the same but it was ASP and SQL and really the logic doesn’t seem to be perfect because if the tables are really coded in the PHP(in my case it was ASP and some dll were used), very difficult to get the table.

    Thanks for this great share. keep rocking with your ideas.

    Sapna

    1. Hello Sapna,
      That’s why this plugin is super good to delete the orphaned options. because before you delete any table, you can Google it out so you wont make any mistake doing it.
      Thanks for the complement Sapna. You have a great week my friend

  8. Hi Babanature,

    Loved the information shared 🙂

    I for one would run miles off from doing things manually where the codes have to be touched!! For me, the new automatic plugin option you mentioned would be apt. You are so right, we install many plugins and uninstall them thinking that everything it all done and over with, but that’s not the end of the story.

    I guess that’s why our sites get heavy or take time loading. Even though I don’t use too many plugins but even the ones I’ve used over the past two, I don’t think I’ve gone into such details to remove all the temporary things attached to it too. I need to follow all that you shared and check it out on my own now.

    Thanks for sharing this useful information with all of us. Have a nice week ahead 🙂

    1. Hello Harleena,
      i know that most of you would love the automatic process that’s why i also include it 😉 The effect of the orphaned options wont come up immediately but as time or years proceed it will cause even more harm to your blog. You can take a good example of what Adrienne said. thanks for the comment and you too have a lovely week ahead 🙂

  9. I often do trial and error especially by trying certain plugins in order to run my WordPress blog installation perfectly.
    But often the plugins can not give me the service I want to work better for my blog. Of course I uninstall this plugins or delete them from my WordPress installation.
    In some cases I found that actually the uninstalled plugins are not completely removed from the database or my WordPress installlation.
    So this posting can give me better understanding and better solution how to overcome this problem.
    Thank you very much Babanature. Your article is very relevant and useful for me.

    1. Hello Heru,
      Yes it is very important and relevant to always delete your plugins totally because once you are reluctant to clear your databases orphaned, it will surely cause serious harm to your blog and that’s a fact. Glad the post took your attention to make a lovely comment on my blog. Do have a great week ahead 🙂

  10. Hi babanature,

    Its a great pick brother.
    Keeping unnecessary things in your blog (either in the form of files, theme, plugin or in the database table) will lead to increase your load time and it eats your precious dis space as well.

    You have provided great solution (Manual and Automatic) both. I would prefer manual process as I am a software engineer and I like to do things technically.

    1. Hello Sandeep,
      it is nice to know that you’re a software engineer. It is of best idea to always do a blog cleanup and maintenance to keep your blog healthy and responsive. there is nothing greater than a healthier blog. So by cleaning your databases, checking your plugins, you are sure to keep a better blog. thanks for your lovely comment Sandeep

  11. that article is great .so the informative article which article share the uninstall process .above the two technique complete uninstall word press.
    ou are so right, we install many plugins and uninstall them thinking that everything it all done and over with, but that’s not the end of the story.

  12. Hi Babanature,

    Great informative and educational post!!

    I never realized that when you uninstall a plug-in that it doesn’t uninstall on your server. I didn’t know that such a thing happens, i thought that once uninstalled, its all over.

    Thanks for the eye-opener and I am sure as this post helped me realize that, it will definitely help so many others. It’s definitely worth sharing.

    Thanks Babanature for the heads up.

    Be Blessed,

    Neamat

    1. Hello Neamat,
      Many bloggers don’t really know about this and the problem doesn’t take effect until your site is getting old. I always advice all to do a proper uninstall when they know they are no more using a plugin. Glad the post is of help to your and do have a blessed week ahead.

  13. Hello Babanature, great post and very helpful. I was not aware of this so this is all new for me. I mean I knew about removing the plug-ins for my cpanel but I don’t really like messing with my data base files.

    But this will surely come in hand so thanks so much for sharing it with us. have a great day…

    1. Hello RobG,
      Yeah! many bloggers are on aware of this and thank goodness you’ve been enlightened 🙂 You need to know and implement this so your blog wont surfer the consequences in the near future. Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment. do have a peaceful week ahead 😉

  14. Ok, looks like i have lots of work to do right now. I always press Uninstall to all the plugins that i don’t like. I have pretty much of such thing. Thanks. I didn; t even know that such things may take place. Will follow your advice from now on.

  15. Hi
    Very Good Tutorial!! This kind of Post will really help new bloggers to continue their blogging journey without any difficulties thanks for sharing!!
    @Srikanth

    1. Hello Srikanth,
      This will even help the older bloggers using wordpress. Because it’s not everybody that knows about this so when they start getting problem, they’ll have no choice but to learn it the hard way…

  16. One funny question came to mind. How can I then automatically get rid of the clean option plugin completely without having to do it manually? Hahahah

  17. Babanature,you have just reveal an awesome code. I use to imagine when some newbies run their blog,it occured to me when one newbie invited to look up sth for him and i asked to uninstall few plugins that are not relevant to him. The way he uninstall it,if it were to be human being he would have murdered the person . Little things matters alot and cannot be over looked. ,this would be very helpful to everyone.

  18. Hi Babanature,
    Its a good post and your recommendations are clear. However, it seems like the automatic option is more technical than the manual option ( at least from your explanation). Well, thanks for sharing this post, the “Clean Option” plugin is revealing!

    Sunday

  19. Never tried uninstalling a plugin in my WordPress account ever. But then, I guess, others will find this revealing. Those bloggers who were frustrated with some plugins that they’ve installed. Good share!

    This comment was left in kingged.com where this post was already “kingged” and shared for Internet marketers.

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