# How to delete private messages?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [Outubro 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202 "2016-10-07T00:25:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bek](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bek)
#### Post date: [Outubro 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/1 "2016-10-07T00:25:22Z")
Hey
Can we delete private messages? I can archive private message but cannot delete it.. May be I miss something..
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### Author:  [@meglio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/meglio)
#### Post date: [Outubro 7, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/2 "2016-10-07T01:23:19Z")
From what I understand, you cannot technically entirely delete a topic. Only admin can delete PMs, yet they are still recoverable (I guess there’s just a flag in database).
Also, it would be incorrect to delete a PM thread if the other side does not want it deleted. That’s probably why the only option for you is to archive it.
Later, if they reply into your archived topic, it will be automatically moved to inbox. If it was deleted, what would happen instead?
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### Author:  [@Vanina\_Yordanova](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Vanina_Yordanova)
#### Post date: [Novembro 1, 2017, 7:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/3 "2017-11-01T07:59:52Z")
But then how the Admin can delete private messages? I would like to delete just welcome messages sent by the Discobot. Is that possible?
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### Author:  [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [Novembro 1, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/4 "2017-11-01T08:17:21Z")
As an admin, you can mark topics as deleted by hitting the trashcan below the first post, hidden behind the … button:
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### Author:  [@Vanina\_Yordanova](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Vanina_Yordanova)
#### Post date: [Novembro 1, 2017, 8:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/6 "2017-11-01T08:44:41Z")
I understand what do you mean, but can I do that for all topics?
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### Author:  [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [Novembro 1, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/7 "2017-11-01T08:48:56Z")
Doing that for many topics requires a lot of patience, or some fiddling around in the Rails console.
[Given that you recently imported](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-email-verification-with-sso-and-discobot-messages/73191), I’d recommend that you disable these messages and re-import instead, just as @pfaffman recommended [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disable-email-verification-with-sso-and-discobot-messages/73191/3) 🙂
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [Dezembro 18, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/8 "2019-12-18T15:21:53Z")
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [Outubro 7, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/9 "2023-10-07T19:26:31Z")
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [Outubro 7, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-delete-private-messages/51202/10 "2023-10-07T19:28:21Z")