# Are images and other attachments also deleted after permanently deleting a post? **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/399315 **Category:** Support **Tags:** uploads, permanently-delete **Created:** [March 26, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/399315 "2026-03-26T11:51:36Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 6
### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin) #### Post date: [March 26, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/399315/6 "2026-03-26T20:04:09Z")
I found this from 2017 > [@Is there a way to delete old/irrelevant uploads?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-delete-old-irrelevant-uploads/49284/16): > > Enabling the following site setting will clean up uploads from deleted topics. > > ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/d/ed6cf7402a48363f7ca0befc160a05472121b7b8.png) But I think that refers to soft deletes, because #permanently-delete was added in [2021](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-permanently-delete-post-functionality/207109) There is a little more information about the setting in > [@Cleaning up uploads and purging uploads from S3](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cleaning-up-uploads-and-purging-uploads-from-s3/248343): > > bookmark This is a reference guide describing how orphaned and deleted uploads are automatically purged from a Discourse site. This guide applies to both self-hosted and hosted Discourse sites. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator Have you ever wondered what happens to files and images that were uploaded to a Discourse site but are no longer referenced, or how to remove uploads from a site? You’re in the right place! You may need to delete files and images that are upl… Though I think if I really needed to delete an upload I’d use the legal compliance plugin, too. There are some topics about auto delete not working as expected [Auto purge uploads from old deleted posts - #7 by markersocial](https://meta.discourse.org/t/auto-purge-uploads-from-old-deleted-posts/51306/7) --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic/399315)._