How to delete downloaded chapters in Tachiyomi

If you have been using Tachiyomi for a while, you already know how fast the storage fills up. One manga series alone can eat several gigabytes, and if you have a full library going, things get out of hand quickly. Some users on Reddit have reported Tachiyomi taking up 60 gigabytes or more on their phones. That is a lot of space for something you have already read.

The good news is that deleting downloaded chapters is simple, and it does not touch your reading progress or remove anything from your library. You just lose the offline copy, which you can always download again later if you need it.

Let me tell you how can you do this.

How to Delete a Single Chapter

This is the quickest way if you only want to remove one or two chapters from a specific manga.

Open Tachiyomi on your Android device and go to your Library. Tap on the manga you want to clean up. You will see all the chapters listed there. Downloaded chapters have a small download icon next to them so you can easily spot them.

Now long press on the chapter you want to delete. A menu will pop up with a few options. Tap Delete and confirm. That chapter is now removed from your storage. Your reading progress for that chapter is still saved, so if you ever want to read it again you can just download it fresh from the source.

Open Tachiyomi -> Library -> Select the chapter -> Delete. 

How to Delete Multiple Chapters at Once

If you want to clear out a bigger chunk of storage, doing it one chapter at a time would take forever. Tachiyomi has a bulk delete option that makes this much faster.

Open the manga in your library. Tap the three dot menu in the top right corner of the screen. You will see a Manage Downloads option there. Tap it and you will get a list of all downloaded chapters for that manga. Select the ones you want to remove, then tap Delete. All of them will be gone in one go.
1. Open the manga in your library.
2. Tap the three dot menu (⋮) in the top right corner.
3. Select ‘Manage Downloads’.
4. Check all the chapters you want to remove.
5. Tap ‘Delete’ to remove them all.

This method is really useful when you have finished a long series and want to clear all the chapters but keep the manga in your library for future reference.

How to Delete All Downloaded Chapters From Your Entire Library

This one is for when you really need to free up space fast and you are okay removing downloads from everything you have already read.

Go to your Library tab. Tap the filter icon at the top. Use the Downloaded filter so only manga with downloaded chapters shows up. Now long press on any manga to enter selection mode, then tap Select All. Once everything is selected, look for the Delete Downloaded Chapters option. This clears offline copies across your whole library at once.

1. Go to your Library tab.
2. Tap the filter icon at the top.
3. Select the Downloaded filter so only manga with downloaded chapters shows up.
4. Long press on any manga to enter selection mode.
5. Tap Select All to select everything.
6. Tap Delete Downloaded Chapters to remove all offline copies at once.

One thing to keep in mind here. Some users have noticed that even after deleting chapters through the app, there are leftover files sitting in the storage folder. If your storage still looks full after deleting through Tachiyomi, go into your phone file manager and search for a folder named Tachiyomi or .tachiyomi. You might find cached or orphaned files there that did not get cleaned up automatically. You can delete those manually without any risk to your library or reading progress.

Also Clear Your Cache. A lot of people forget about this one. When you read chapters online without downloading them, Tachiyomi still stores temporary files in its cache. Over time this cache can grow surprisingly large.

To clear it, go to your phone Settings, find Apps, look for Tachiyomi, and tap Clear Cache. This is separate from downloaded chapters but it can recover a decent amount of space, especially if you have been reading a lot online.

Will Deleting Chapters Affect My Reading Progress

No, it will not. Tachiyomi stores your reading progress and library data completely separately from downloaded files. Deleting a chapter only removes the offline copy from your storage. Your library stays intact, your progress stays intact, and you can download that chapter again any time you want from the original source.
The only thing you lose is the ability to read that chapter offline until you download it again.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

If you switched from Tachiyomi to Mihon, the process is almost identical since Mihon is built on the same foundation. The menus and options look the same so everything in this guide applies there too.

Also, if you use the auto delete after reading feature in settings, Tachiyomi can automatically remove a chapter from storage once you finish reading it. This keeps things clean without you having to manually manage downloads at all. You can find this in Settings under Downloads. It is one of those settings that is easy to miss but saves a lot of headache in the long run.

FAQs

Will deleting chapters remove them from my library?
No. Deleting a downloaded chapter only removes the offline copy from your phone storage. The manga stays in your library and your reading progress is fully saved. You can download that chapter again anytime from the source.

Does deleting chapters affect reading progress?
No it does not. Tachiyomi tracks your reading progress separately from downloaded files. So even if you delete every downloaded chapter you have, your progress stays exactly where you left off.

How do I delete all downloaded chapters at once?
Go to your Library, use the Downloaded filter, long press any manga to enter selection mode, tap Select All, then choose Delete Downloaded Chapters. This removes offline copies from your entire library in one action.

Can I re-download deleted chapters?
Yes. As long as the manga source is still available in Tachiyomi, you can download any chapter again at any time. Just go to the manga, find the chapter, and tap the download icon.

Why is Tachiyomi still taking up storage after deleting chapters?
There might be leftover cache files or orphaned downloads in your storage folder. Go to your phone file manager, search for the Tachiyomi folder, and delete any remaining files manually. Also clear app cache from phone Settings to free up extra space.

Does this work the same way in Mihon?
Yes. Mihon is built on the same foundation as Tachiyomi so the steps are identical. All the methods in this guide work the same way in Mihon.