PostCleaner

Bulk delete WordPress posts and their featured images by category. Multi-category selection, preview before delete, batch processing with progress bar and stop button.

Built for news sites and content-heavy WordPress installations where you need to clean up thousands of posts at once without crashing your server.

Features

• Multi-Category Selection — Pick one or many categories at once with search and select all/none
• Preview Before Delete — See every post (with thumbnail, title, category, date, status) before confirming
• Batch Processing — Deletes 5 posts per request to avoid server WAF/timeout blocks
• Progress Bar — Real-time progress with percentage and post count
• Stop Button — Pause deletion at any time, keep what's already deleted
• Image Cleanup — Automatically removes featured images (attachments) along with posts
• Safe & Secure — WordPress nonce verification, capability checks, confirmation dialog

Screenshot

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Upload the postcleaner folder to /wp-content/plugins/
3. Activate PostCleaner in WordPress Plugins
4. Go to PostCleaner in the admin sidebar

Usage

Step 1: Select Categories

• Search categories by name
• Check the ones you want to clean up
• Optionally include posts without featured images
• Click Preview Posts

Step 2: Review & Delete

• Browse the post list with thumbnails
• Uncheck any posts you want to keep
• Click Delete Selected Posts & Images
• Confirm the permanent deletion dialog
• Watch the progress bar — click Stop anytime

How It Works

• Posts are deleted in batches of 5 via AJAX to avoid server 403/timeout errors
• Featured images (WordPress attachments) are force-deleted along with their posts
• Failed batches auto-retry once after a 2-second cooldown
• All operations require manage_options capability (admin only)

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.4+
• Admin access (manage_options capability)

License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Author

Yemen TV Media — yementv.tv