Answers.Body: <p>Go to Advanced Search, tick the box, 'search in trash'. hit 'enter/search' - that should give you all those in Trash (and ONLY those in Trash) and from Actions you can then choose 'permanently delete'</p>
  <p>EDIT - can also be done via API Explorer: <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/45452/permanently-delete-more-than-100k-trashed-records#45455">Permanently delete more than 100k trashed records</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-10-17T18:23:13.440Z
Answers.Text: Oh right, so Search In a Trash will *only* return contacts from trash, not all contacts *including* trash?
Answers.UserDisplayName: artfulrobot
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-10-17T20:22:54.480Z
Answers.Text: Correct, it only returns contacts in the trash.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Andy Clark
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-10-17T18:21:23.790Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-08-24T19:57:38.110Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-08-24T19:57:38.110Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Body: <p>I know you can permanently delete a deleted contact from the contact's screen, but <strong>how can you en-masse delete all the deleted contacts</strong> or "Empty Trash"?</p>
  
  <p>Ideally delete all things trashed over 30 days ago would be fab.</p>
  
  <p>It's especially needed for my client because <a href="https://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-20545" rel="nofollow noreferrer">deleted contacts still show up in Constituent Summary and other reports</a></p>
  
Tags: <4.7><delete>
Title: How to empty the trash? (permanently delete)
ThreadText: # How to empty the trash? (permanently delete)
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-17)
  
  I know you can permanently delete a deleted contact from the contact's screen, but **how can you en-masse delete all the deleted contacts** or "Empty Trash"?
  
  Ideally delete all things trashed over 30 days ago would be fab.
  
  It's especially needed for my client because [deleted contacts still show up in Constituent Summary and other reports](https://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-20545)
  
  **Tags:** 4.7, delete
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-10-17. Score: 2
  
  Go to Advanced Search, tick the box, 'search in trash'. hit 'enter/search' - that should give you all those in Trash (and ONLY those in Trash) and from Actions you can then choose 'permanently delete'
  
  EDIT - can also be done via API Explorer: [Permanently delete more than 100k trashed records](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/45452/permanently-delete-more-than-100k-trashed-records#45455)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Oh right, so Search In a Trash will *only* return contacts from trash, not all contacts *including* trash?  
  > **username_2**: Correct, it only returns contacts in the trash.  
  
  ---
  
  