How to Delete Tumblr Posts

In our last lesson, we showed you how to create posts on Tumblr.  But what if you want to remove a post from your Tumblr blog, if (for example) you have second thoughts about it and decide that it's too private or controversial to share on Tumblr?  Fortunately, deleting posts on Tumblr is quick and easy (not that using Tumblr in general isn't), and you can even delete multiple posts at once!  This tutorial will show you how.

Note that you can only delete posts on Tumblr that you have created yourself (including ones that you have reblogged; see our How to Reblog on Tumblr tutorial for more about what "reblogging" is and how it works).  You cannot delete posts that other Tumblr users have reblogged from one of your blogs; they are in control of those posts, even though the content was originally yours (or someone else's, if you yourself reblogged the posts in question).  As we mentioned in our article on Tumblr safety, the best way to avoid embarrassing posts getting out of control is to think carefully before you create them in the first place.

To delete Tumblr posts:

There are two ways to delete a Tumblr post.  The first is to find it on the blog that it's published on, click the "Post Options" icon, and then click "Delete".  The second is to access the mass post editor of the blog that it belongs to.  Once there, you can click on the post to select it, and then click "Delete".

That's the quick version; now, it's time to get to the juicy details.  Below is a set of complete instructions — including screenshots — for how to delete single or multiple Tumblr posts.

Detailed instructions on how to delete a post on Tumblr

  1. Open your web browser, go to www.tumblr.com, and log in.

  2. Click the Accounts icon, and then click on the blog that contains the post that you want to delete.

  3. To delete a single post, simply find it on your blog and click the Post Options icon (the gear) in the bottom-right corner.  Then click Delete.  (Click OK to confirm that you really want to delete it.)

  4. If you want to delete multiple posts from your blog at once, scroll to the top of your blog, and in the main blog menu in the upper-right section, click Mass Post Editor.

  5. Once you're in the mass post editor for your blog, click on the posts that you wish to delete (they will be highlighted blue and have a checkmark beside them).  Then click Delete.  (Click OK to confirm that you really want to delete these posts.)

Presto!  You now have one (or more) fewer posts on your Tumblr blog.  Plus, you now know how to get rid of any more that you wish to remove in the future!