How to Delete a Post on Facebook

That Facebook post you made yesterday just doesn't feel right today. Whether it’s a simple typo, an outdated announcement, or a photo you’d rather forget, you’re ready for it to disappear. This guide walks you through exactly how to delete a single post, get rid of multiple posts at once, and understand the difference between deleting, hiding, and archiving your content on Facebook.

Why You Might Want to Delete a Facebook Post

Most of us have been there. You hit "Post" and then second-guess yourself hours or even years later. There are plenty of good reasons to want to remove something from your profile or page, and doing so is a normal part of managing your digital presence. Common reasons include:

• Simple Typos or Errors: Even a minor misspelling in a major announcement can undermine your message. Sometimes a quick edit isn’t enough.
• Outdated Information: Sales promotions end, event dates pass, and company news becomes old news. Deleting old posts can prevent confusion.
• Rebranding or Shifting Strategy: If your brand is going in a new direction, old posts may no longer align with your message, visuals, or tone of voice. A clean slate can be a powerful tool.
• Improved Content Quality: Maybe your photography skills or video editing work have improved dramatically. You might want to remove older, lower-quality content to showcase only your best work.
• Privacy Concerns: You might rethink sharing a particular photo or personal update and decide you’d rather keep it private.
• Poor Performance: For business pages, a post that received zero engagement or negative feedback might be better off removed from the feed.

Whatever your reason, taking control of your content is a smart move. Let's get right into the steps for making it happen.

How to Delete a Single Facebook Post on a Desktop Computer

Deleting a post from your desktop or laptop is a quick and straightforward process. The interface is clean, and the options are right where you expect them to be. Follow these simple steps.

1. Navigate to Your Post: Go to your Facebook profile or page and scroll to find the specific post you want to delete.
2. Click the Three Dots: In the top-right corner of the post box, you'll see a three-dot menu icon (…). Click on it to open a dropdown menu of options.
3. Select "Move to Trash": In the dropdown menu, you’ll find an option that says "Move to Trash." Facebook has updated this from a simple "Delete" to give you a chance to recover the post if you make a mistake. Click on it.
4. Confirm Your Decision: A popup will appear asking if you are sure you want to move the post to the trash. It will inform you that posts in the trash are permanently deleted after 30 days. Click the blue "Move" button to confirm.

That's it! Your post is now out of public view and will be gone for good in a month. If you want to delete it permanently right away, you can visit the "Trash" folder in your Activity Log and choose to delete it from there immediately.

How to Delete a Single Facebook Post on a Mobile Device (iOS and Android)

The process for deleting a post using the Facebook mobile app on your iPhone or Android device is just as simple. The layout is a little different, but the core steps are virtually identical.

1. Find Your Post: Open the Facebook app and go to your profile, a page you manage, or the group where you made the post. Scroll down until you find it.
2. Tap the Three-Dot Menu: In the upper-right corner of the post, tap the three dots (…) to reveal a menu of options.
3. Tap "Move to Trash": Just like on the desktop, you'll see a "Move to Trash" option. Tap it.
4. Confirm the Deletion: A final popup message will ask for confirmation and remind of the 30-day window before permanent deletion. Tap the "Move" button.

Your post has now been removed from your timeline on all devices and sent to the trash.

Understanding Your Options: Delete vs. Hide vs. Archive

Deleting seems final, and it is. But Facebook provides a couple of other, less permanent options that might be a better fit depending on your goal. It's smart to know the difference before you commit to removing something forever.

Editing a Post

Before you delete, ask yourself: does it just need a quick fix? If you have a simple typo or want to update a sentence, you don't need to delete the entire post and lose all the likes and comments. Just click the three-dot menu and select "Edit Post" (or "Edit caption" for images). You can correct the mistake, and a small "Edited" note will appear on the post, but all engagement will remain.

Hiding a Post from Your Timeline

Hiding a post is like tidying up your digital living room. The post isn't gone - it's just put away so people visiting your timeline won't see it. It will still appear in other places it was shared, such as in the news feeds of friends who already saw it or in search results.

• When to use it: Hiding is great for cleaning up your profile's appearance without permanently removing content. For example, you can hide a dozen photos from one event so they don't dominate your feed, even if you don't want to delete them forever.
• How to do it: Click the three-dot menu (...) on a post and choose "Hide from profile."

Archiving a Post

Archiving is a private storage option. When you archive a post, only you can see it. It's completely removed from public view - from your timeline, search, and your friends' feeds. Unlike hiding, it truly vanishes for everyone else.

• When to use it: Archive is perfect when you're not sure you want to delete something permanently but you want it gone from public view right now. You might archive old personal photos or posts that you want to keep for sentimental reasons but don't want displayed on your main profile.
• How to do it: Click the three-dot menu (...) and select "Move to Archive." You can access your archive and restore posts at any time.

Deleting a Post

As described above, deleting sends a post to your trash for 30 days, after which it’s permanently gone. No friends, no public, and not even you can see it again after that window.

• When to use it: Use this option when you are 100% sure you never want to see that post again and are ready to lose any engagement it received. This is the choice for incorrect data, off-brand messaging, or anything you're certain has no future value.

The Efficient Way: How to Bulk Delete Facebook Posts

What if you want to remove more than one post? Maybe you're cleaning up your profile from your college years, or you're a business page owner removing an entire outdated product line. Deleting posts one by one would be tedious. Luckily, Facebook provides a tool to manage and delete posts in bulk.

It's called Manage Posts. Here’s how to use it:

1. Go to Your Profile: On your Facebook profile page, look just below the post composer box. You'll see a button labeled "Manage Posts."
2. Open the Manage Posts Tool: Clicking this will turn your timeline into a gallery view where you can select multiple posts at once. Each post will have a checkbox in the corner.
3. Filter Your Posts (Optional but hugely helpful): At the top of the page, click the "Filters" button. This opens up options to narrow down what you see. You can filter by:
   • Year or Date: Quickly jump to all posts from a specific year.
   • Posted By: See content YOU posted versus content posted BY OTHERS on your timeline.
   • Tagged Posts: View only content you were tagged in.
   Using filters makes finding the posts you want to remove so much faster than scrolling endlessly.
4. Select Your Posts: Check the box for every post you want to get rid of. You can select up to 50 posts at a time.
5. Take Action: Once you've made your selections, click the "Next" button at the bottom of the screen. You'll be presented with three choices: Hide Posts, Remove Tags, or Delete Posts.
6. Confirm and Complete: Select "Delete Posts" and confirm your choice in the popup. All the selected posts will be moved to the trash at once.

What If I Can't Delete a Post? (Common Hurdles)

Occasionally, you might run into a situation where you can’t delete a post. Here are a few common reasons and what you can do about them.

• It's not your post: You cannot delete a post you didn't create. If someone else posted something on your timeline or tagged you in their own post, you don't have the option to delete it for them. You can, however, use the three-dot menu to "Hide from profile" or "Remove tag" to disassociate yourself from it and remove it off your own timeline.
• Are you the page administrator? If you’re trying to delete something from a business page, you need to have the right permissions. Only Admins and Editors can delete posts. If you are a Moderator or Analyst, you won't have this capability. Check your Page Role in the settings.
• It's just a share: If you've only shared someone else's post, deleting your share only removes it from your timeline. The original post will still exist on the original poster's account. This is normal behavior.
• Technical glitches: Sometimes, things just don’t work right. If you’re positive you should be able to delete a post but the option isn't there or isn't working, try refreshing the page, updating your app, or clearing your browser's cache. If that fails, try switching from mobile to desktop or vice-versa.

Final Thoughts

Deleting a post on Facebook is simple, but knowing when to delete, hide, or archive gives you more control over your online presence. Whether you’re tidying up a single typo or performing a full digital declutter, use the 'Manage Posts' tool and timeline filters to make the process efficient and pain-free.

Regularly reviewing your content strategy helps prevent post-and-regret moments from happening in the first place, but that takes planning. Instead of wrestling with disorganized notes or complicated spreadsheets, we built a tool to make planning simple. With our visual calendar, we make it easy to see your entire content plan across platforms, spot gaps in your schedule, and get a big-picture view of everything you're publishing. When you can schedule content with confidence using a tool like Postbase, you spend less time cleaning up old mistakes and more time creating stuff you're excited to share.