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I am configuring my new WP site and testing a bunch of plugins.
After I uninstalled a few of them I noticed they leave behind database tables:
one left 3 tables with **ngg** as a secondary suffix – probably NextGen Gallery,
another left 11 tables with **bwg** as a secondary prefix – some other gallery I tried, not sure which one.
Is this a “proper” plugin behavior? I think plugin should clean up after itself completely. They did delete the files, so why not tables in the database?
Will it be OK to delete tables in the database manually?
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Yes it happens and once I identified the tables I carefully deleted them (make sure you don‘t accidentally select anything that shouldn‘t be removed).
IDK why they stay though.
Just make a backup if anything happens.
Edit:Sometimes plugins have an additional checkbox to remove all data after deletion in the settings.
Many plugins have a ‘delete data on deactivate / uninstall’ option. If this isn’t selected they won’t – because you may be just deactivating to test something. Others leave crap behind anyway – which is poor practice, but there you are. A lot of these plugins are free so… get what you pay for and all.
It can get messy and annoying – as you’ll also find MANY entries in the wp_options table. If you’re sure the tables are for the plugin you can delete them. Some DB optimising plugins will also do this for you.