Instructions to delete unused tables (tables) in the database of WordPress website.
In an article a long time ago (2014), I showed you how to delete unused records in WordPress database (in table options to be exact ) right? However, many plugins not only create more records in the table options , but also create their own tables. Today, we will learn how to simply remove these tables in case the owning plugin has been deleted before.
Explore more:
- Clean up WordPress database with WP-Sweep . plugin
- Advanced Database Cleaner – the best database cleaning plugin
Why delete unnecessary tables in the database?
By default, WordPress has only 12 tables, including:
- wp_options
- wp_users
- wp_links
- wp_commentmeta
- wp_term_relationships
- wp_postmeta
- wp_posts
- wp_term_taxonomy
- wp_usermeta
- wp_terms
- wp_termsmeta
- wp_comments
However, new tables are automatically created when you install additional plugins. Over time, the number of tables will increase. Even if you delete unused plugins according to the correct procedure, the tables they create will continue to exist. This makes the database cumbersome and your website will load slower. To ensure the database is clean and tidy, you should regularly clean up to remove the tables that are no longer in use.
Delete unused tables with Plugins Garbage Collector
1. First, you need to install and activate a plugin called Plugins Garbage Collector .
2. Go to Tools => Database Cleanup => select Search none-WP tables then click the Scan Database button .
3. Wait a moment for the scan to finish. Fast or slow time completely depends on the capacity of the database as well as your hosting configuration. The result you get will look similar to the image below.
In there:
- Green: are the tables being used by the plugin (see the plugin name in the Plugin Name column ).
- Red: are tables that are no longer in use.
The Garbage Collector plugin fairly accurately identifies tables that are no longer in use. However, to be safe, you should copy the table name (remove the prefix) and search on Google to see which plugin it relates to before deleting.
Tick select the tables in red (in the Table Name column ) then click the Delete Tables button to delete them.
4. After deleting, click the Scan Database button again. If you receive a message that looks like the image below, it means that the database has been cleaned of tables that are no longer in use.
It’s simple, right? Good luck!
Some other plugins
In addition to Plugins Garbage Collector , you can use the Advanced Database Cleaner plugin to do this. This can be seen as the most comprehensive WordPress database cleaning and optimization plugin available today.
For more reference: Advanced Database Cleaner plugin user guide
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