At times, you may need to reset your WordPress website for various reasons. Resetting can be done either manually or through plugins.
By default, this plugin deactivates themes and plugins; however, you can click the Delete All button to permanently delete them all – including their files as well as their settings.
1. Delete the Theme
Resetting your WordPress theme could be necessary for various reasons, whether that means trying multiple themes during development or starting from scratch with client projects. Resetting can be done either with or without plugin support depending on your expertise and preference.
To delete a theme, first you’ll need to access your hosting account’s cPanel, which most providers offer as part of their dashboards. After signing in, navigate to the wp-content folder and locate themes – this contains your current active theme as well as any additional ones installed – then navigate into it to locate where your desired theme resides and rename its folder accordingly; doing this will prevent its activation once WordPress resets.
Once your theme is deleted, use the cPanel utility to continue purging items from your database. For instance, use it to delete users or content items like blog posts, store products or portfolio items; it can even help clean out uploads folder by deleting all files located in wp-contentuploads directory – to ensure that when creating your new website everything will go smoothly and without hassles.
2. Delete the Plugins
Resetting WordPress may be necessary for several reasons. Perhaps you are working on a client site and require updating certain plugins or themes; or you have been compromised and need to remove all unwanted code; or simply want a change.
Utilizing a plugin makes this process more streamlined and speedy, though you could do it manually as well – however, this would take significantly more time since you would need to delete both the database (by logging into cPanel and clicking “Databases”) as well as all theme and plugin files manually.
This plugin makes your job of clearing away unwanted content easy by allowing you to easily select individual boxes for deletion and then click a button that resets everything at once. Please be aware that there’s no undo button; so before taking any actions be certain that they can completely rebuild your website before moving forward.
Uninstalling a plugin aims to completely eliminate it from your website, as though it had never existed in the first place. This differs from disabling it which doesn’t delete files but only removes them from your list of plugins – slowing down the website in the process. Furthermore, while uninstalling may remove some database entries created by it as well – but some might remain.
3. Delete the Uploads
Resetting WordPress to default may not be enjoyable, but sometimes you need to undo all the customizations and start from scratch. Perhaps you are redesigning a client site or working on your own project and require a fresh slate for work – or perhaps you are using a staging site and are gradually importing data for testing purposes – whatever the case, resetting your database can quickly clear away all that clutter.
WP Reset, for example, provides toggles that make this easier – for themes and plugins as well as additional CSS, settings, comments, pingbacks and trackbacks – as well as options to reactivate them all after the reset is completed. This plugin offers some great benefits and should definitely be considered!
Once you’ve selected which components of the database need resetting, click Reset Options and let it do its thing. It should only take a few seconds before returning to Posts and Pages to make sure everything has returned as expected – for instance, the default WordPress “Hello World!” post should have returned along with any sample pages you created previously. Just be sure that before proceeding with any tasks like these a backup has been created in case something goes amiss!
4. Delete the Database
WordPress stores all its data and settings in a database, likening it to an enormous library filled with books (known as tables) containing particular pieces of information like comments or site settings. By resetting all tables back to their initial values – or “deleting them all” – WordPress would revert back to its initial state; however, this won’t delete the themes, plugins, or uploads that you may have added since this point in time.
To manage databases on your hosting account, usually through cPanel. Locate your database, delete it and create a new one – taking care to select a unique name for this one as well as assigning different users.
Resetting a WordPress installation may not be an easy feat, but it can be an efficient and timesaving way to quickly get things up and running again. Resetting can help speed up debugging on test installations, revamping client sites for redesign or solving security issues; simply make sure that if you decide to reset, always take backup copies first! If resetting is necessary then use an automated plugin instead of doing it manually!