# How to delete EVERYTHING from my forum and just leave the users?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 7, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083 "2022-12-07T02:25:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/21 "2022-12-08T14:17:14Z")
> [@xebiyen](#):
>
> but would they be invited?
That’s the fastest and easiest way, from far.
Download your user list as @JammyDodger suggested, from `/admin/users/list/active`, download the CSV file, clean it up to keep only the email addresses, and do a bulk invite from your admin interface from a new Discourse installation. Your users will have to create an account again.
> [@xebiyen](#):
>
> I wanted to keep them the same, no invitations.
If you want to delete all data except some users, there is no easy way to do that and I can only think that trying could easily lead to a broken forum.
If you want to export most data of your users (their own settings and stuff), it will also be difficult and will require creating a ruby on rails script. Also, you could face issues that I didn’t think about. If you’re not sure how to do that, I’d suggest you stick to the first solution or post in #Marketplace if you have a budget.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/22 "2022-12-08T14:58:23Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> there is no easy way to do that and I can only think that trying could easily lead to a broken forum.
That’s true. But if you want to live dangerously, you can try this:
```plaintext
./launcher enter app
discourse backup
rails c
Topic.where("user_id > 1").destroy_all
Upload.where("user_id > 1").destroy_all
exit
exit
```
I think that deleting topics should delete posts, but you could also add a
```
Post.where("user_id > 0").destroy_all
```
The `> 1` will leave topics created by the first user. If you want to delete those as well, change it to `> 0`,which will leave topics created by `@system`. I think you’ll be very sorry if you delete those.
That makes a backup in case it destroys everything.
This is almost certainly a bad idea, but it’s what you asked for.
---
### Author:  [@leonardo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/leonardo)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/23 "2022-12-08T17:29:48Z")
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> This is almost certainly a bad idea
Indeed! There’s the `PostDestroyer` class for that, which does a lot of necessary extra cleanup.
@xebiyen you can use this rake task to destroy all topics across all categories, but leave categories and users intact:
```bash
$ ./bin/rake destroy:topics_all_categories
```
---
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/24 "2022-12-08T22:42:05Z")
Awesome, I didn’t know this rake task. Will it remove the “About” topics, which would be an unwanted side effect?
---
### Author:  [@leonardo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/leonardo)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/25 "2022-12-08T22:50:20Z")
No, the method it uses leaves those alone by default, and the rake task does not change that default:
>
🌈
---
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/26 "2022-12-08T23:16:53Z")
Thank you for confirming this. I wanted to be sure, because one or two of the recommended methods for other things listed on [Administrative Bulk Operations](https://meta.discourse.org/t/administrative-bulk-operations/118349) had unwanted side effects the last time I used them.
I used one to move topics from one category to another but it moved the about topic along the regular topics. I might have used a rails script instead of the rake task though. I’m not sure. 🤔
I also used the “[move all topics with a specific tag to a single category](https://meta.discourse.org/t/administrative-bulk-operations/118349#move-all-topics-with-a-specific-tag-to-a-single-category-15)” rake method, which [didn’t populate properly some tags-related tables](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bulk-tagged-topics-then-moved-topics-into-another-category-but-the-category-tag-selector-doesnt-show-tags/213136) in the database.
* * *
edit: oh, it’s my Cake Day! If only [the cake was real](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)… But maybe it is though?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/27 "2022-12-09T00:54:03Z")
> [@leonardo](#):
>
> There’s the `PostDestroyer` class for that, which does a lot of necessary extra cleanup.
Thanks! I’d forgotten about that class and didn’t know about the rake task (or don’t remember forgetting it!)
---
### Author:  [@xebiyen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xebiyen)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/28 "2022-12-09T13:00:38Z")
what command do i use before this command?
---
### Author:  [@xebiyen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xebiyen)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/29 "2022-12-09T13:01:47Z")
@pfaffman @Canapin is his command @leonardo the best solution then?
---
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/30 "2022-12-09T13:52:24Z")
You can try by yourself, but do a backup first.
Go to your discourse folder in command line.
Enter the container with `./launcher enter app`.
Then write `rake destroy:topics_all_categories`.
See it in action (my test instance is very slow):
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-everything-from-my-forum-and-just-leave-the-users/248083/31 "2023-01-08T13:53:18Z")
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