One of the most requested features of Discord is the ability to mass delete channel messages. However, no such feature is still available on the platform.
But don’t lose heart. The community faced the same challenge and created bots to do it.
This article shows you how to clear Discord chat history quickly and what you need to know while doing it.
There are a few ways to delete messages in bulk, and we’ll cover them all.
⚡ What to Know ‣ You cannot select multiple messages in a channel and delete them. It has to be done one by one. ‣ Bots can only bulk delete messages sent in the last 14 days. Messages older than that would have to be removed one by one. ‣ A single Direct Message (DM) can be deleted the same way as a channel chat message, but bots cannot mass delete direct messages.
How to Clear Discord Chat Manually
This is the method to delete messages one by one.
It is a manual and tedious method but helpful if you only want to delete a few inappropriate messages.
Step #1: Locate the message you want to delete and click on the three-dot icon that appears on the right.
You might have to click on the message if you don’t see the three-dot first.
Step #2: In the menu that pops up. Select ‘Delete Message’.
Step #3: Confirm the deletion by clicking on ‘Delete’ in the pop-up dialog box.
📋 Note: If you want to delete the message without the confirmation dialog, hold the shift key while clicking on the 'Delete Message' menu option.
On a mobile device, you need to long-press the message to bring up a menu. Then, tap ‘Delete’ in the menu and confirm the deletion.
As you can see, using the platform’s native function to delete a few messages is ok, but if you want to delete messages in bulk, this becomes painfully slow.
Luckily, we can use bots to speed up the process.
How to Clear Discord Chat with a Bot
The easiest and quickest way to delete messages in bulk is to use bots.
Bots help with various administrative tasks on the server, and many of them have the function to remove messages in bulk.
One of the most popular bots is the MEE6 bot, which is jam-packed with useful features.
📋 Note: Only the server owner or admins can add bots to a server and use its command to mass delete messages.
Step #1: Go to the MEE6 bot site to get the bot added to your server.
If you are prompted to log in, then go ahead and do that first.
Step #2: Authorize the MEE6 bot to access your account details.
This is required so that the bot can get the name of the servers where you are the server owner or administrator, and check your permissions.
Step #3: Select the server on which you want to add the bot.
If you do not see any server listed, that means you do not have privileges to add the bot.
Step #4: In the pop-up window, click on ‘Continue’ and then select the permissions you want to give to the bot. Click on ‘Authorize’ to finish.
Step #5: With the bot now added to your server, you need to enable the moderator plugin.
Click on the ‘Moderator’ option in the left sidebar of the MEE6 dashboard for your server. It would be under ‘Server Management’.
Step #6: Click on ‘Yes’ in the pop-up to enable this plugin.
Step #7: Now go back to the server where MEE6 was added and select the channel where the messages have to be deleted.
The command to remove messages is ‘!clear’ followed by the number of messages.
!clear 100
You can change the number as you wish, but the maximum number of previous messages you can delete is 1000 at a time.
If you want to delete more than 1000, you’ll have to execute the command multiple times.
Keep in mind that the bots can only delete messages sent in the last 14 days. There is no way to mass delete channel messages older than 14 days.
How to Remove all Messages From a Discord User
You can also use the MEE6 bot clear command to delete messages sent from a user.
To do that, type ‘!clear’ followed by the number of messages to be deleted and the user name.
!clear 50 @Speeder
If you do not provide a number, then by default, the last 100 messages of the user are removed.
How to Delete all Channel Messages
As you now know, bots are limited in their function as well. For example, MEE6 can only delete 1000 messages at a time and cannot delete messages older than 14 days.
If your Discord channel has a large history, then the quickest option is to clone the channel and then delete the original channel.
Cloning a channel creates a new channel with the same settings and members as the original channel, but without the message history.
Again, you need privileges to do this, so make sure you are either the server owner or an admin with permission to delete and create channels.
Step #1: Find the channel you want to clone and right-click on it to bring up a menu.
In this menu, select ‘Clone Channel’.
Step #2: Give the new channel a name and click ‘Create Channel’.
Step #3: Right-click on the original channel again to bring up the menu and select ‘Delete Channel’ this time.
Step #4: Confirm the deletion by clicking on ‘Delete Channel’.
That’s it. You have created a new Discord channel identical to the original one, and all the message history is gone.
This is the only way to delete all messages, regardless of who sent them and when.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can Deleted Discord Messages be Recovered?
The Discord platform does not provide any native function to recover deleted messages, but some plugins and bots can help.
Discord removes the deleted messages from their servers. Still, these plugins and bots keep a copy to help you recover the messages.
You can read our article on how to see deleted Discord messages to find out more.
Can I Select Multiple Discord Messages at one Time?
No, there is no way to select multiple messages at once. Instead, you’ll have to choose and perform the action one by one.
If you want to perform an action on multiple messages, you’ll have to use a Discord bot.
Can you Delete Direct Messages in Discord?
You can delete a direct message by holding the shift key and clicking the delete icon that appears. This is the same as deleting a channel message.
If you click on ‘X’ next to the user name in the Direct Message list, it just closes the window and does not delete the messages sent by that user.
There is no way to delete all direct messages.
Can you Have Multiple Bots on a Discord Server?
Yes, you can have as many bots as you like on a server. There is no limit imposed by Discord.
You can even add bots with similar functions, but assign different roles, permissions, and tasks to each of them.
👋 We cover more Discord Tricks in our guide.
Final Words on Clearing Discord Chat and Channel Messages
Discord lacks functions to perform mass actions, but luckily we have bots to help us with it.
Of all the methods listed, using a bot to clear a Discord chat history is the quickest way. However, it still has some limitations (14 days history only).
MEE6 is just one of the helpful bots that can clear Discord channel and chat history. There are many other bots with similar and better functions.
