How to Delete Steam Games (2026 Guide)

To delete Steam games, open your Library, right-click the game, choose Manage → Uninstall, and confirm. That frees the disk space but keeps the game in your library forever, so you can reinstall it any time; if you want it gone from your account entirely, you have to use a separate Steam Support request that is permanent and non-refundable. This guide covers uninstalling, bulk-deleting from the Storage Manager, hiding games you no longer want to see, clearing leftover files, and removing a game from your account for good.

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How to Delete Steam Games From the Library

The standard method takes about ten seconds and works identically on Windows, macOS, Linux and Steam Deck in desktop mode.

Method 1: Right-Click Uninstall

Open Steam and click Library. Find the game in the left-hand list, right-click it, hover Manage, then choose Uninstall. A confirmation dialogue appears; click Uninstall again. Steam deletes the installed files and the game’s entry turns grey with an Install button, meaning it stays in your library permanently at no cost. This is the correct method 95% of the time, because nothing about owning a game requires it to be installed.

Method 2: The Storage Manager for Bulk Deletion

If you are reclaiming serious space, this is far faster. Go to Steam → Settings → Storage. You will see each drive Steam knows about with a colour-coded bar showing what every installed game occupies, sorted by size. Tick the checkbox next to multiple games and click the Uninstall button (or the three-dot menu) to remove them all in one operation. The same screen has a Move option, which relocates a game to another drive without redownloading it — often the better answer if you have a second drive with room. If your primary drive is constantly full, our SSD upgrade buying guide explains capacity versus speed for game libraries.

Method 3: Uninstall From Windows Settings

Steam games also appear in Windows under Settings → Apps → Installed apps, listed as “GameName” with Valve as publisher. Clicking Uninstall there hands off to Steam and performs the same operation. It is useful when Steam itself will not launch, though it is otherwise no different from the in-client route. If you are constantly juggling a small laptop drive, our gaming laptop buying guide covers models with upgradable storage bays.

Method 4: Uninstalling on Steam Deck

In Game Mode, highlight the game, press the menu button (or hold A), choose Manage, then Uninstall. For bulk clearing, go to Settings → Storage, where you can see internal storage and any microSD card and uninstall multiple titles. Deck owners should note that moving games to a microSD card is usually smarter than deleting them; see our microSD and portable storage buying guide for cards fast enough not to bottleneck load times.

How to Delete Steam Games From Your Account Permanently

Uninstalling and removing are completely different actions. Removing a licence from your account is irreversible, forfeits any refund, and means repurchasing if you ever want the game back.

The Steam Support Removal Process

Open Help → Steam Support in the client, choose Games, Software, etc., find the title in your recent products or search for it, then select I want to permanently remove this game from my account. Confirm the warning. Steam will not do this for games that are part of a bundle or that came with hardware in some cases, and it will not do it for games with an active refund request. Use this only for genuine mistakes, such as an accidental purchase of the wrong regional edition, or to clear an offensive title from a shared family library.

Hide Games Instead of Deleting Them

For most people, hiding is the better answer. Right-click the game, choose Manage → Hide this game, and it disappears into a Hidden category that does not show in your normal library view. You keep ownership, achievements and playtime, and nothing is lost. To find hidden games again, use the library filter dropdown and enable Hidden. You can also create custom collections to organise a large library without deleting a thing.

Removing Non-Steam Shortcuts

Games you added yourself with “Add a Non-Steam Game” are not owned licences, just shortcuts. Right-click and choose Manage → Remove non-Steam game from your library. This deletes only the shortcut; the actual game files stay wherever you installed them and must be uninstalled through their own installer or through Windows.

Clearing Leftover Files After You Delete Steam Games

Steam’s uninstaller is good but not perfect, and a few gigabytes often linger.

Check the steamapps Folders

Navigate to your Steam directory, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps. Look inside common for a folder still named after the deleted game and delete it manually. Also check workshop for downloaded mod content, shadercache for compiled shader data, and downloading for interrupted partial installs. On a second library drive the same structure lives under SteamLibrary\steamapps. Deleting these folders is safe as long as the game is already uninstalled in the client.

Save Games and Cloud Data

Uninstalling does not remove save files. Local saves usually sit in Documents\My Games, AppData\Roaming or AppData\LocalLow depending on the developer. Steam Cloud saves live on Valve’s servers and can be reviewed or deleted through the Steam Cloud page in your account settings. Leaving them alone is usually wise: they are tiny, and they mean a reinstall picks up exactly where you stopped. A fast drive makes those reinstalls painless, and our NVMe drive buying guide covers which interfaces actually improve load times.

Deciding What to Delete First

Sort by size in the Storage Manager and start with anything over 100GB you have not launched in six months — modern shooters with high-resolution texture packs are the usual culprits. Multiplayer games you play weekly should stay. Single-player games you have finished are the easiest wins, since your saves and achievements persist regardless. If you find yourself deleting and reinstalling the same titles repeatedly, that is a storage problem, not a library problem; our gaming PC upgrade buying guide and external SSD buying guide both address it directly.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Delete Steam Games

Does uninstalling a Steam game delete it from my library?

No. Uninstalling only removes the installed files from your drive; the game stays in your library permanently and shows an Install button so you can redownload it whenever you want. Ownership, achievements and playtime statistics are all unaffected by uninstalling.

Can I get a refund by deleting a Steam game?

Deleting is not the same as refunding. Refunds are requested through Steam Support and generally require the purchase to be under fourteen days old with less than two hours of playtime. Permanently removing a game from your account actually forfeits any refund eligibility.

Will deleting a Steam game remove my save files?

Usually not. Local saves typically remain in your Documents or AppData folders, and Steam Cloud saves stay on Valve’s servers, so reinstalling later normally restores your progress. If you specifically want a clean slate, delete the local folder and clear the title’s Steam Cloud storage.

How do I hide a Steam game without uninstalling it?

Right-click the game in your library, choose Manage, then Hide this game. It moves into a Hidden category that does not appear in your default library view, while keeping the game installed and fully playable if you launch it from the hidden list.