Title: DELETING PLUGIN WITHOUT DEACTIVATING FIRST
Last modified: August 23, 2018

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# DELETING PLUGIN WITHOUT DEACTIVATING FIRST

 *  [drkfuture15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drkfuture15/)
 * (@drkfuture15)
 * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/)
 * Hello, is it OK to DELETE PLUGINs DIRECTLY WITHOUT DEACTIVATING them FIRST, deactivating
   and then deleting is a tardy task.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [Davood Denavi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/binarywc/)
 * (@binarywc)
 * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/#post-10619347)
 * If you mean via FTP yes. This is okay but not advised because there is a record
   in the database that tracks what plugins are active… so if you just delete it
   from FTP it will not get removed from that record and could cause other problems
   later on.
 * Generally, you want to remove the plugin by deactivating it first so that any
   database records it adds are tagged as inactive. Depends on the plugin though.
   Some plugins do not actually add anything of importance to the database.
 *  [Dion](https://wordpress.org/support/users/diondesigns/)
 * (@diondesigns)
 * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/#post-10619355)
 * WordPress has hooks for when a plugin is deactivated and when the Delete link
   for a plugin is clicked. Many plugins use these hooks for important things. Deleting
   a plugin manually without deactivating and then clicking the delete link can 
   lead to disaster.
 * For example, many plugins add their own code to .htaccess files and to the wp-
   config.php file. If you manually delete such plugins, the code they added to 
   these important files will not be removed. That could result in a site broken
   so badly that you will need to pay someone to fix it!
 *  [te_taipo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/te_taipo/)
 * (@te_taipo)
 * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/#post-10620079)
 * [@diondesigns](https://wordpress.org/support/users/diondesigns/) is correct. 
   The disable function is also used to remove stuff from the database, so manually
   removing can leave lots of junk in your database. However that said, if a plugin
   is preventing you from logging in, you may have no other option but to manually
   remove it. Other than those circumstances, deactivate first.
 *  Thread Starter [drkfuture15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drkfuture15/)
 * (@drkfuture15)
 * [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/#post-10624818)
 * I meant DELETING from WORDPRESS DashBoard, not from FTP but I guess there is 
   noway to do it while a plugin is active
    -  This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by [drkfuture15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drkfuture15/).

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘DELETING PLUGIN WITHOUT DEACTIVATING FIRST’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [drkfuture15](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drkfuture15/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleting-plugin-without-deactivating-first/#post-10624818)
 * Status: not resolved

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