### [Deleting Email Logs](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-delete-email-logs/)

**Published:** November 23, 2023
**Author:** Umair Majeed

**Excerpt:** Learn how to delete emails from your email log.

**Content:**

Do you need to delete some of your WP Mail SMTP email logs? Whether you have to remove user data from your site to stay compliant with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) or you just want to manage your logs better, being able to easily erase this information is important.

This tutorial will show you different ways to delete email logs from WP Mail SMTP.

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Before you begin, make sure WP Mail SMTP is [installed and activated](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-install-the-wp-mail-smtp-plugin/) on your site. You’ll also need to [verify your license](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-verify-your-wp-mail-smtp-license/) and [enable email logging](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-set-up-email-logging/) before you can proceed with the steps below.

### Deleting Individual Email Logs

To manually delete an email log, open **WP Mail SMTP » Email Log** and find the log you wish to delete. Hover over it, then click the **Delete** option.

![Deleting an email log from the Email Log page](https://wpmailsmtp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/delete-email-log.png)

Alternatively, you can delete logs from their individual pages by clicking on **Delete Log** in the bottom left corner of the **Log Details** section.

![Deleting an email log from its individual log page](https://wpmailsmtp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/log-details-delete-log.png)

**Note:** Once logs are deleted, they cannot be recovered. Make sure you no longer need the information included in a log or that you’ve [exported a backup](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-export-and-print-email-logs) before deleting it.

### Deleting Email Logs in Bulk

You can delete multiple email logs at once using the Bulk Actions dropdown on the Email Log page. First, select the checkbox next to the logs you want to remove.

![Selecting multiple email logs to delete.](https://wpmailsmtp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/select-bulk-action-email-logs.png)

Then select **Delete** from the Bulk Actions dropdown at the top of the screen and click **Apply**.

![Bulk deleting email logs](https://wpmailsmtp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bulk-delete-email-logs.png)

### Setting a Log Retention Period

When you [enable email logging for WP Mail SMTP](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-set-up-email-logging/), you’ll have the option of setting the log retention period.

![Log Retention period](https://wpmailsmtp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/log-retention-period-2.png)

The log retention period setting allows you to choose how long to store your logs in your site’s database before deleting them. By default, this setting will be set to **Forever**, but you can change it to however long you’d like.

Once a log reaches the end of the retention period, it will be deleted automatically. This is an easy way to manage email logs without having to manually delete them every so often.

Just make sure to [export your email logs](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-export-and-print-email-logs) as a backup if you set a retention period but also want to keep records of the emails your site has sent.

That’s it! Now you know how to delete WP Mail SMTP email logs.

Next, would you like to learn more best practices for being compliant with the GDPR? See our full guide to [WP Mail SMTP and GDPR compliance](https://wpmailsmtp.com/docs/how-to-be-gdpr-compliant-within-wp-mail-smtp/) for all the details.

**Categories:** Email Logging

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