This is how you remove cloneworx Backup from your website. Beforehand you decide whether settings, targets and the list of backups stay in the database. Your backups are kept in any case.
Deactivate or delete
| What you do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Deactivate the plugin in the plugin list of WordPress | The plugin removes its scheduled tasks from WP-Cron. Everything else stays as it is. As long as the plugin is deactivated, no scheduled backups run. |
| Delete the plugin in the plugin list of WordPress | WordPress removes the files of the plugin. In doing so, the plugin cleans up as the uninstall switch says. |
Step 1: Finish an open restore
After a restore, the plugin keeps the previous state of the website ready for the rollback. Deleting the plugin does not touch this state: it stays in the database and in the folders of the website. Only the plugin can keep or undo it. So decide beforehand: Keep or undo a restore.
Step 2: Set the uninstall switch
Open the Settings page and switch to the Extended view. The tile Uninstall is at the very bottom.
- Scheduler
- Performance
- Retention
- Exclusions
- Log
- System and support
- Licenses
- Uninstall contains the switch.
- Compact switches back to the view with fewer tiles.
Click the title row of the tile Uninstall.
- When the plugin is deleted, remove all settings and the index. Backups are kept. is off by default.
The switch saves immediately. The page reports Saved. The index is the list of backups that the plugin keeps in the database.
| When the plugin is deleted | Switch off | Switch on |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled tasks of the plugin in WP-Cron | removed | removed |
| Work folder of the plugin; it contains only leftovers, never a backup | removed | removed |
| Settings and backup plans | stay | removed |
| Targets with their encrypted credentials | stay | removed |
| List of backups (index) | stays | removed |
| Logs | stay | removed |
| Access of a target of the type Dropbox at Dropbox | stays valid | revoked, see below |
| Access of a target of the type Google Drive at Google | stays valid | stays valid |
| Backups at local and remote targets | stay | stay |
| Previous state of an open restore | stays | stays |
- Switch off: If you install the plugin again later, it finds settings, targets, plans and the list of backups in place. The plugin revokes no access.
- Switch on: The plugin first revokes at Dropbox the access of every target of the type Dropbox. After that, settings, targets, plans and the list of backups are removed from the database. A new installation starts empty.
Step 3: Deactivate and delete the plugin
In WordPress, open the list of plugins. Deactivate cloneworx Backup and then delete it. Only deleting applies the switch.
With the switch, the credentials of the targets are lost
If the switch is on, deleting also removes the targets with their credentials and the logs. None of this can be brought back. Keep the credentials of your targets at hand if you still need the backups later. You set up a target in Google Drive or Dropbox again afterwards with a new sign-in at the provider.
Targets in Dropbox and Google Drive
If the switch is on, the plugin first asks Dropbox when deleting to revoke the access of every target of the type Dropbox. Only then does it remove settings, tables and logs. The backups stay in your Dropbox. Other websites that you have connected with the same Dropbox account have their own access and stay connected.
The revocation never holds up the deletion. If it does not succeed, the access stays valid at Dropbox until you disconnect the app in your Dropbox account. This happens
- when the plugin can no longer read the stored credentials, for example after a changed database password,
- when PHP lacks the extension cURL,
- when Dropbox or the sign-in service cannot be reached at that moment. The plugin needs the sign-in service when the access has expired: then it fetches a new one first.
- for a target whose turn would only come later: a revocation only begins as long as no ten seconds have passed since the first one.
For a target that you removed beforehand, the plugin sends no further revocation when deleting: it tried that when removing the target. More on this: Store backups in Dropbox.
At Google, the plugin revokes nothing, not even when deleting. The access of a target of the type Google Drive stays valid at Google, and the consent stays listed in your Google account, in the Security area under third-party apps and services. Remove it there if you no longer need it. Whoever removes it there disconnects every website that is connected with this Google account.
If the switch is off, the plugin revokes nothing. The targets stay in the database with their accesses, and a new installation finds them in place again.
What happens to your backups
When uninstalling, the plugin never deletes a backup: not in the uploads directory, not in a local folder and not at a remote target. The backups stay at every target in the folder cloneworx-backup-<code>.
- You want to keep the backups: There is nothing to do. If the switch was on, you bring them back into the list after a new installation: Find backups again after a total loss.
- You also want to remove the backups: Delete them with the plugin before uninstalling: Delete a backup or Remove a target. After uninstalling, your own access to the storage remains: delete the folder there.
Good to know
- The switch only takes effect when deleting. When deactivating, settings, targets, plans, logs and backups are kept, and the plugin revokes no access.
- The logs are stored in their own folder in the uploads directory:
cloneworx-backup-log-<code>. Without the switch, it remains after deletion.
See also
- The “Settings” page
- Download a backup
- Find backups again after a total loss
- Keep or undo a restore
- Remove a target
- Store backups in Dropbox
- Store backups in Google Drive
- Settings and scope with WP-CLI
On the command line
WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.
You also set the switch with WP-CLI. Deleting itself belongs to WordPress; the plugin has no command of its own for it.
# Show the uninstall switch wp cloneworx-backup settings get remove_all_on_delete # Remove settings and index when deleting wp cloneworx-backup settings set remove_all_on_delete on # Keep settings and index when deleting wp cloneworx-backup settings set remove_all_on_delete off # Show whether a restore is still pending wp cloneworx-backup restore status