How to Bulk Delete WordPress Posts and Pages: A Quick Guide

Anything in excess is harmful. Same goes for your WordPress posts and pages.

It is important to keep your site clean and updated by deleting/removing outdated and no longer selling posts and pages. Search engines love new, updated and converting content.

However, deleting posts one by one is very time consuming and frustrating. So how do you bulk delete posts/pages in WordPress and WooCommerce?

Without wasting time, let us dig in a little deeper and know the exact way of bulk deleting posts and pages in two simple ways – the default WordPress way and by using an advanced WordPress bulk edit plugin.

Why to delete posts and pages in WordPress?

Whether you are a blogger or marketer using WordPress or running a WooCommerce store, here’s why you need to say goodbye to some posts and pages:

• When content becomes outdated due to tech or other changes.
• Previously developed sales pages and blogs for products that are out of inventory permanently.
• Posts and pages do not attract traffic or have very fewer clicks.
• Merging similar content, removing duplicate content and redirecting them for SEO purposes.
• Pages or posts that are created primarily for testing purposes.

I know it takes a lot of efforts to write content. But for SEO and better conversions, some need to face the axe. I did it too for my content with a heavy heart.

Now the reasons being clear, let’s dig into deleting posts and pages using two ways.

Deleting WordPress posts and pages the default way

Follow these quick steps to delete a few posts and pages using the WordPress default way:

Deleting posts in WordPress

1. Once you have logged in to your WordPress account, go to the Admin dashboard.
2. On the dashboard, you will see a lot of menu options on the left side panel of the screen.
3. Navigate to Posts > All Posts and hover over the post you want to delete. Out of all the options including Edit, Quick Edit, Trash and View, click on Trash.
4. The post will be automatically moved to the trash section, from where it can either be restored or permanently deleted.

Deleting pages in WordPress

Repeat the same steps above for pages, just that ‘Posts’ will be replaced with ‘Pages’.

As you can see, this way, you could delete only one post or page. If you have hundreds and thousands of them, it will be a nightmare.

So, WordPress also provides an option to bulk delete WordPress posts and pages but with a few drawbacks.

Deleting WordPress posts in bulk

1. If you notice, on the left side of every post on the dashboard there is a check box.
2. Check the boxes next to the posts you want to bulk delete.
3. In the header bar, click the dropdown with the options Bulk actions, Edit, and Move to Trash.
4. Select Move to Trash and click on Apply.
5. The posts are then automatically moved to the trash section, from where they can be restored or permanently deleted if needed.

Deleting WordPress pages in bulk

Similar steps apply to bulk deleting pages. The only thing is that ‘Posts’ will be replaced with ‘Pages’.

Drawbacks of the default WordPress way

In spite of its many practical advantages, the WordPress bulk delete feature can be time-consuming and complex:

• You will find it tedious and frustrating if you have to delete hundreds of posts and pages in bulk.
• Limited filtering options and difficult to edit/select.
• Site loading is slow if there are many posts, and the user experience is not great.
• It’s nearly impossible to manually process hundreds of posts.

In order to take advantage of this method, you must either have less content, fewer posts or pages, or have the time to select and delete each one individually.

So if you are wondering how to bulk manage, edit or delete hundreds of posts, pages and WooCommerce products and also remove/assign categories in bulk within minutes from one place, here’s an awesome solution for you.

Bulk delete WordPress posts and pages using Smart Manager plugin

Another way to delete thousands of posts and pages is using the Smart Manager plugin. Smart Manager is a powerful plugin that lets you easily manage your WooCommerce store with an Excel-like spreadsheet.

It helps you manage posts, pages and edit them in bulk – adding, deleting, or updating them.

Additionally, you can bulk edit products, orders, coupons, users, and any other WordPress post type. Each post type has its own dashboard where details can be edited, filtered and deleted.

It is also possible to delete all products in WooCommerce if you wish to revamp the collection or upgrade your store by removing dead stock.

Bulk delete posts using Smart Manager

1. Go to WordPress Admin panel > Smart Manager and select Posts dashboard from the drop-down.
2. Tick the header checkbox to select all the posts. Or select only those posts that you want to delete. Use advanced search to find your desired posts quickly. For example, search for posts based on categories, tags, keywords, status and other filters. Smart Manager will fetch exact results for you.
3. Click on the Delete icon. It will show two options – Move to Trash and Delete Permanently. Choose your desired option.

It’s that simple! Following these simple steps will save you hours of work and ensure that you delete unnecessary posts in a matter of seconds.

Try the live demo and see for yourself.

Bulk delete pages using Smart Manager

You can bulk delete pages using the similar steps mentioned above. All that you need to do is to replace ‘Posts’ dashboard with ‘Pages’ dashboard.

If you wish to revamp or polish up your amazing online store, you now know how to delete posts and pages now. Work smarter to save time!

Additional benefits of Smart Manager

There’s more to Smart Manager than bulk edits and bulk deletions:

• The advanced search feature simplifies 50% of the task.
• Use inline editing to edit fields easily in the spreadsheet.
• Using the duplicate feature, you can make a copy of all records or selected records.
• Easily export CSV data based on date, search, or columns.
• Set up custom views with data that you want to manage and edit frequently.
• Control dashboard access based on user roles.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, this article has cleared up any confusion you may have had regarding deleting posts and pages with the default WordPress way versus deleting hundreds of posts and pages at once with a smart plugin.

In case you have simply started up your online business and would like to get rid of unnecessary posts and pages that occupy the space and create confusion, you can use the default WordPress way with ease.

Additionally, if you are an organization with a lot of post and page variations that need to be managed, removed, or edited, you should definitely use the Smart Manager plugin

Now is the time to get Smart Manager plugin for your smart store.