Delete a topic

This feature is only available to organization owners and administrators.

We generally recommend against deleting topics, but there are a few situations in which it can be useful:

  • Clearing out test messages after setting up an organization.

  • Clearing out messages from an overly enthusiastic bot.

  • Managing abuse.

In most other cases, renaming a topic is often a better idea, or just leaving the topic as is. Deleting a topic can confuse users who come to the topic later via an email notification.

Note that deleting a topic also deletes every message with that topic, whereas archiving a stream does not.

Delete a topic

  1. Hover over the topic in the left sidebar.

  2. Click the ellipsis ().

  3. Click Delete topic.

  4. Approve by clicking Confirm.

Note that deleting all of the individual messages within a particular topic also deletes that topic. Structurally, topics are simply an attribute of messages in Zulip.