Delete all downloads

[DylanStr]

I think a way to delete all downloads and start fresh without reinstalling would be very nice to have. Also a way to delete a whole catagory with all downloads in it for example (delete the files and unpublish them).

Best regards,

Dylan

[Arno]

Please check at first that you have installed the newest version from jDownloads (3.2.44) and that you will lose all current stored Categories and Downloads when you use the instructions below.

To start again with an empty download area, you could try this:

1. go to the jD config and deactivate the auto monitoring

2. go via FTP to the jDownload root folder (as default: /jdownloads)

3. delete all subfolders from this folder - excluding the sub folders with an underscore at the first position

4. go to your phpmyadmin and open your database in it

5. make this jDownloads table empty (delete all data sets):
_jdownloads_files

6. execute this sql query: DELETE FROM prefix_jdownloads_categories WHERE id > '1'
but replace the 'prefix' part with the used prefix in your db.

When you will now import much files via the auto monitoring function:

1. after this could you now copy your folders (with files) again to the jDownloads root folder

2. when you have more then 500 files you should use a cronjob with the scan.php (so you should prevent timeouts).

When you get troubles please start again from scratch.

Please note that this hints are not really tested and can be wrong. 
Good luck!

(Another hint: It is better to delete the Categories and the Downloads in the backend. In this case are also delete all data sets from the Joomla assets table.)

[ColinM]

Hi
I have also thought about this issue.  Arno's last hint about using the Backend is I think essential in order to ensure that Joomla permissions are also handled properly.  Just deleting the downloads and their database tables will leave the permissions in an unknown state.  This could impede any restoration.
If Downloads are deleted from the backend it would be best to start at the lowest level category. Also of course ensure the the view is set to All as only those viewed are deleted.
This can be a bit tedious and I would do it in parallel with say answering emails, drinking coffee and so on.
Colin

[DylanStr]

Also of course ensure the the view is set to All as only those viewed are deleted.
This can be a bit tedious and I would do it in parallel with say answering emails, drinking coffee and so on.
Colin

I tried this before posting this topic. When I set the view to ''All'', I get a blanc page, probably because I have to many files and it fails to display the page properly because of that? When  I click return page a few times I can set it back to 100 for example and the page loads fine again.
So that is the reason I am not able to delete all the downloads from backend, because I can only delete max 100 at a time, it will take ages to delete all my 27k files...
However the post previous post of Arno did clean my downloads and i started fresh, but I understand that the permission are now incorrect? I hope i didnt trash my database now and made the scan go even slower than it already was.
Dylan

[ColinM]

Dylan
You could use the two tools in the jD Tools section that reset the permissions.
Colin