Removing Order Status no longer in use

How can I remove an order status I no longer use?

In Localization->Order Status I try to delete a status but Im getting the error message:
"Error: This order status is currently used in the order status history."

I have deleted all orders with the status Im trying to delete; but still Im getting this error message.

DML73:

How can I remove an order status I no longer use?

In Localization->Order Status I try to delete a status but Im getting the error message:
"Error: This order status is currently used in the order status history."

I have deleted all orders with the status Im trying to delete; but still Im getting this error message.How did you delete the orders?
In the admin or via phpmyadmin?

It sounds that whatever method you used has left some records with those "statuses" in the order status history table.
You may have to delete those records directly via phpmyadmin

btw: Its NOT just the current status of orders that matters
If you have ever used those statuses at any time in an order it will still be in the history

I deleted them in Admin. I have now deleted the statuses in the order status history table in phpmyadmin and now I can delete the status from the status list. Thanks.

gilby:

How did you delete the orders?
In the admin or via phpmyadmin?

It sounds that whatever method you used has left some records with those "statuses" in the order status history table.
You may have to delete those records directly via phpmyadmin

btw: Its NOT just the current status of orders that matters
If you have ever used those statuses at any time in an order it will still be in the history

Hello, would this mean that I need to delete the individual orders with the old order statuses? Or can I just delete the order status from my database to get rid of both the orders and the old order status that I no longer use? Thank you.

I believe that your best approach, if you are "retiring" some orders-status values, is to rename them using Localization->Orders Status to something like Unused (was xxx) where xxx is the status's current name. That way, you'll know not to use it and if it shows up in any old orders, you'll know what the status was.

lat9:

I believe that your best approach, if you are "retiring" some orders-status values, is to rename them using Localization->Orders Status to something like Unused (was xxx) where xxx is the status's current name. That way, you'll know not to use it and if it shows up in any old orders, you'll know what the status was.

Thank you for the response. I've changed credit card processors a few times and each payment modules comes with it's own order status updates. I just have an excessive amount of order statuses that I would like to reduce. It's not a matter of helping with any confusion.

But in any regard, if I were to delete an order status would I have to delete the orders through my database or can I just remove the order status from the database? Thank you.