The ability to delete a Discord chat is one of the platform's most requested features. Yet, after years of requests, we still don't have the ability to easily delete old chats or mass delete newer ones. However, there are options and I will explain them to you.
If you run a Discord channel, housekeeping is one of your main duties. You can do it manually or use robots to help you. If nothing else works, you can clone your channel and close the old one.
Delete Discord Chat Manually
This is obviously the long and boring way to clear Discord chat. It does, however, give you much more control over what gets deleted. If you have useful chats that you want to keep for a little longer, manual deletion is helpful.
A good tip for manually deleting chats is to hold down the Shift key while you do so, as this will skip the annoying confirmation box that pops up every time you delete.
Here's what you can do to delete a chat using Discord's built-in deletion process.
- Navigate to the channel you wish to erase.
- Hover over each message while holding down the Shift button.
- Click the red trash can icon to delete the message.
Discord will not ask you for any confirmation that you want to clear the chat, the message will disappear instantly. It's best to start at the top if you're going to use this method. Because the next message will soon take its place, you can save a lot of time by keeping your cursor in one position, using the Shift button, and clicking the trash can icon.
Clear Discord chat with a bot
By far the easiest way to clean up your channel is to use a bot. There are bots for everything on Discord, and maintenance tasks like this are a classic way to use them. There are a few chatbots but the most common is to use the Mee6 Bot.
To add a bot to Discord, you must be an administrator or have Manage Server permissions in your role. If you don't, you won't be able to add bots. To check if you have permissions, follow these steps:
Step 1
Select the server to which you are adding a bot.
Step 2
Select Server Settings from the menu on the right (the arrow to the right of your server name).
Step 3
Select Roles and make sure Administrator or Manage Server is enabled.
If you don't see server settings or can't switch between Administrator or Manage Server, you don't have sufficient permissions and will need to talk to the server owner. If you have permissions and one of these settings is enabled, you can add the bot.
Adding the bot
For the purposes of this article, we will be using the Mee6 bot. This versatile and reliable bot can be used to perform many administrative tasks in Discord. Including, erasing a cat.
To add the bot, follow these steps:
Step 1
Go to this website and select Add to Discord. Keep the page open.
Step 2
Authorize the bot in your channel.
Step 3
Select the server you want to delete.
Step 4
Authorize the bot for this server.
Step 5
Return to the MEE6 web page.
Step 6
Select the server you just added the bot to in the upper right corner if it isn't already, then click the "Moderator" option and select "Yes" when prompted.
Step 7
Go back to your server and type '!clear', '!Clear10', '!Clear100' or whatever works best.
You can also clear individual chats if you need to. This is useful if someone has become toxic or had a rant that no one wants to see. Use the '!clear @NAME' command to clean up the previous hundred messages from the user whose name you are changing to NAME.
There are other robots that can clean up the cat. Another useful and popular Bot is CleanChat. it works a bit the same way
Clear Discord chat by cloning and closing
If the bot isn't doing enough for you, it's possible to clone a server and shut down the original. This way you keep your primary users and settings, but get rid of chat history and clutter. It's a convoluted way to clear the chat, but it works. You can manually clone your server or use a bot.
To manually clone a server, follow these steps:
- Select the server you want to clone in Discord.
- Right-click and select Clone.
- Name or rename the clone.
- Delete the original.
You can also use a bot to do this if you prefer. There are a few around that will clone servers. DiscordServerCloner on GitHub has been recommended a few times, as has Cloner. Both bots will save a copy of your server for you to recover if needed.
Whichever method you use, you'll need to re-add any bots you had on your original server, but everything else should be exactly as you want.
Of all these, chat permission bots are probably the easiest. They are limited in that they can only clear chat for the previous 14 days, but only do a quick job of clearing chat and general upkeep. If you're lucky enough to have a dynamic server, I highly recommend having one of these bots handy anyway.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have more questions about moderating a Discord chat, we have the answers here!
Can I remove someone from the server?
If you are an administrator, you may need to ban or kick someone who consistently violates your server's standards. By visiting the offender's profile, you can click on the option to block that person.
Can I have multiple Bots on a server?
Absoutely! Bots make it easy to customize and manage your servers on Discord. You can add more than one, each with different roles and tasks, for a smoother experience.
Can I delete a single message?
Yes, locate the message and click on the three horizontal lines on the far right. Select "Delete Message" and it will disappear.
