Whether you set up a Facebook page for a business that, well, went out of business or for a hobby that you are not involved with anymore, you may want to delete that old Facebook page.
It seem’s easy enough to do.
- Verify that you are an admin of the page (which you will be if you are the one that set it up).
- Log into your page
- Click “settings” in the white bar at the top next to “help”
- On the general settings tab (the first page you land on), scroll down to the second option from the bottom that says “remove page”
- Click “Edit”
- Click “delete *page name*
Note: I think Facebook puts things different places for different people so hopefully your page works like mine but I can’t guarantee it.
After clicking “delete page” in the settings, you receive a message that says the page will be deleted in 14 days (at least I did – Facebook is always changing things), and forget about it. A month later you get an email notification that someone liked your page and are confused because you thought you deleted it. You go to “manage your pages” and, sure enough, it is still there. You are wondering why your Facebook page wasn’t removed.
It’s happened to me and, unfortunately, I don’t have an easy answer for you.
It’s pretty much impossible to get a hold of Facebook to ask for help. I found a couple of questions regarding this issue posted in the Facebook Help community a few years ago but no one followed up with helpful solutions, including Facebook themselves.
The solution for me was: I visited my page and went through the “delete page” process above again. Instead of getting a message that my page would be deleted in 14 days, it instantly disappeared. I can only assume it was some kind of Facebook glitch.
I know it’s frustrating that 1) your page won’t delete and 2) I can’t provide you with a “miracle cure” here. However, here are a couple of suggestions that might help.
- Check to see if you are the only admin of the page. If there is another admin, it’s possible they canceled the page deletion before the 14 days was up.
- Go through the process of trying to delete the page again. Maybe you didn’t complete the process like you thought you did. Or maybe, like with me, it will disappear after your second attempt.
- Try unpublishing your Facebook page for now. Unpublished Pages are only visible to the people who manage the Page so, although it is not deleted, it’s not visible to anyone but the admins anymore.
- Although Facebook says that a page will automatically be deleted after 14 days if you don’t reactivate it, I did find a sliver of potentially conflicting information. According to these instructions (step 5), after waiting 14 days, a “permanently delete” link will become enabled. These instructions make it sound like you have to actually visit the business page settings menu again after the 14 day period and confirm that you want the page removed.
I hope some of my suggestions help. If you find an easier or more direct solution to getting rid of a Facebook business page that seems to want to hang on, please let me know.
Thank you for this tip! I have several pages I’d asked to be deleted that never were. Will go back and try that delete page request again.
I don’t have the “delete page” option. Where do I find it? It’s not in settings, security, etc.
So what’s the point of this article if it doesn’t give any type of solution at all ???
The point is I’m asking for help!
Hi Suzy. I think Facebook puts things different places for different people. For me, I can find the option to delete a page if: I’m on my page and go to settings in the white bar at the top next to help. Then, on the general settings tab (the first page you land on) I can scroll down to the second option from the bottom that says “remove page”. If I click “Edit” I am given an option to delete my page. I hope that helps.
i dont even get a notice saying that it will be deleted in 14 days. I get nothing. it doesnt do anything when i click ‘remove page’. no spinning pinwheel, no notice, no nothing. it just sits there and doesnt delete my g** d*** page!
Frustrating I know. I just kept trying and they eventually deleted it. Have you been successful yet?
THANK YOU!
I go into settings. Theres no word deleat page. I went to my facebook profile page. And they ;say to push more”i dont have.i t
thank you! it worked! what was bugging me most was the icon still showed on my personal page, and fb would always send ads about advertising my page. i think they do it on purpose!
Thanks, came across this post when a page didn’t delete and like you suggested, after 14 days when it was still live, requesting deletion again, instantly deleted it.
Now they won’t let me publish the pages to delete them ,nor show that page to delete the page.
It has been over 30 days now since I sent a request to delete my page. For the last 2 weeks, I can see the message that the page is being deleted. Don’t know what does it mean BEING DELETED 🙁
I am having an issue with TWO pages, one was those automatically created pages I want gone and another one was supposed to be automatically deleted after 14 days.
I have deleted a pager several times. At one time is was saying pending delete but is still there . Now when I try to delete it ….Delete canceled pops up.