I installed plugins a while back and subsequently deleted the plugins. Each time that I write a post and see the Custom Fields, it reminds me that I need to remove these extra custom fields. So today I opened up PHPMyAdmin and started to look for them in the SQL and couldn’t find them. I tried to search the full database and it didn’t work. Thankfully with a few searches I found references that helped.
Where are the Custom Fields?
On WebNots.com, it explained where the custom fields are stored. I thought they would have their own table, but they are added into the Post Metadata table (wp_postmeta table) in the meta_key field. (One of my friends referred me to a Ralph Kimball book regarding Data Warehousing and I believe that is why these fields are in a table with their values and not separate fields.) Source: https://www.webnots.com/how-to-delete-unused-custom-fields-in-wordpress/
What is the Correct Search Argument?
t first I tried the term “ast” in the Value with the LIKE operator and was not successful. I was looking for fields that started with “ast-” or “ast_” which wee installed with the Astra Theme. I learned from the SQL LIKE Operator article on the W3Schools.com site that the % acts as the wildcard character in the value when using the LIKE operator.
I totally didn’t take screenshots of all of the “ast” searches so I started again. 🙂 Boldgrid had installed custom fields when I moved my site to Dreamhost and used their installer. I removed their theme and a lot of other plugins but the remnants remained.
Once I found them I CHECKED ALL and then clicked DELETE.
When did I start using WordPress?
Recently I saw a question: When did you start using WordPress? I couldn’t really remember. But I have seen the Blogger custom fields in my posts. Since I was in the database, I thought I might find the answer. This time I searched for “blogger%”.
First Blogger Post
It turns out my first Blogger post was in November 2006.
Last Blogger Post
My last Blogger post appears to be in January 2013.
WordPress Start
My guesstimate is that my first WordPress experience was in 2013.
Comments
10 responses to “WordPress: Removing Custom Fields”
@tmichellemoore Following because I could also use some recommendations on a database cleaner.
@scottbrim I totally don’t have any recommendations on a database cleaner. 😊 But I did examine the tables to see if any tables “seemed” extra. Once I figured out how to find those custom fields, I started looking for other plugins I removed. It’s tedious. I found a plugin that lists ALL custom post types, not just CPTs the plugin created, so I am sure there has to be one that can show all custom fields.
@tmichellemoore This is also a simple query to show the metakeys with the most records, so you can clean up more if you don’t use them anymore:SELECT meta_key, COUNT(meta_id) AS records FROM wp_postmeta GROUP BY meta_key ORDER BY records DESC
@JosKleverWebSupport Thank you! I will try this! This is more intuitive!
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