Description
Most WordPress plugins don’t clean up fully after themselves. Deactivate and delete a plugin, and it often leaves behind:
- Custom database tables
- Settings rows in
wp_options - Meta keys attached to your posts or users
- Scheduled cron jobs that fire forever into the void
- Transients that never expire cleanly
Over months and years, this debris accumulates and quietly bloats your database. Elevoire Orphaned Data Cleaner scans for exactly this kind of leftover and lets you remove it, one confirmed item at a time.
How it works
The plugin cross-references everything it finds against your currently installed plugins (active or not). If nothing installed matches a table, option, or meta key by name, it’s flagged as orphaned — with a confidence level so you know how sure the plugin is:
- High confidence — no installed plugin has ever existed with a matching name. Very safe to remove.
- Medium confidence — a loose name match wasn’t found, but naming conventions vary; worth a quick look before deleting.
- Low confidence — flagged conservatively; verify manually first.
Every deletion is logged with a snapshot of what was removed, so there’s always an audit trail.
Features
- Scans 6 categories: tables, options, post meta, user meta, cron jobs, transients
- Confidence-rated findings — never blind guesses
- One-click delete per item, with a confirmation dialog
- Step-by-step scan with a progress bar — safe even on large databases
- Every delete logged with a snapshot for manual recovery
- No settings to configure, no bloat — just scan and clean
Installation
- Upload the plugin files to
/wp-content/plugins/elevoire-orphaned-data-cleaner, or install directly through the WordPress plugins screen. - Activate the plugin.
- Go to Tools Orphaned Data and click Scan My Site.
FAQ
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Will this delete data from plugins I’m still using?
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No. Every finding is cross-referenced against your installed plugins (even inactive ones). If a plugin folder exists for it, it’s never flagged.
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Is this safe to run on a live site?
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Yes, but as with any database operation, we recommend taking a full database backup first, especially before deleting medium/low confidence items. The plugin logs a snapshot of everything it deletes, but that’s not a substitute for a real backup.
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What if I accidentally delete something I needed?
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Check Tools Orphaned Data — every deletion is logged with a snapshot of the original value, which a developer can use to manually restore it via phpMyAdmin.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Elevoire Orphaned Data Cleaner” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “Elevoire Orphaned Data Cleaner” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release.
