https://community.databricks.com/t5/databricks-free-edition-help/how-to-purge-the-soft-deleted-schema-and-tables-manually-quota/m-p/158012#M807 <P>Hi&nbsp;<a href="https://community.databricks.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/197716">@woodymo</a>,</P> <P data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Dropped Unity Catalog tables remain recoverable with UNDROP for roughly 7 days, and SHOW TABLES DROPPED lists dropped tables that are still within that retention window. This is expected behaviour as per the&nbsp;<A href="https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/delta/vacuum" target="_blank">documentation</A>.</P> <P>For the actual delete path, the public docs say DROP TABLE deletes tables within 7 to 30 days, and after the recovery window, the underlying data is marked for deletion during regular maintenance operations rather than being purged immediately.</P> <P>So, based on the current public documentation, there does not appear to be a documented self-serve/public command to immediately purge an already soft-deleted Unity Catalog table or schema. If the metastore quota is still blocking new table creation even after cleanup, the practical next step is to open a Databricks support case and include the metastore ID and the exact QUOTA_EXCEEDED error.</P> <P>For future workflows, if the pattern is "drop and recreate the same table name," Databricks recommends using CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE instead of DROP TABLE + CREATE TABLE, because drop/recreate can lead to unexpected results in production pipelines and concurrent operations.</P> <P>Hope this helps.</P> <P class="p1"><FONT size="2" color="#FF6600"><STRONG><I>If this answer resolves your question, could you mark it as “Accept as Solution”? That helps other users quickly find the correct fix.</I></STRONG></FONT><I></I></P> Sun, 31 May 2026 19:58:49 GMT Ashwin_DSA 2026-05-31T19:58:49Z https://community.databricks.com/t5/databricks-free-edition-help/how-to-purge-the-soft-deleted-schema-and-tables-manually-quota/m-p/158006#M805 <P>got quota exceeded error. I have deleted 150 tables and related schemas, and it shows only 350 tables, but it seems the tables in catalog have 7-days retention. is there any way to purge the soft-deleted tables immediately?&nbsp;<BR /><BR />[RequestId=595819c3-ad31-463e-92e6-fd683398862f ErrorClass=QUOTA EXCEEDED. UC RES0URCE _0U0TA_EXCEEDED] Cannot create 1 Table(s) in Metastore e61252b0-8f27-427b-b356-f717deoc2515 (estimated count:504,limit: 500).</P> Sun, 31 May 2026 17:44:29 GMT https://community.databricks.com/t5/databricks-free-edition-help/how-to-purge-the-soft-deleted-schema-and-tables-manually-quota/m-p/158006#M805 woodymo 2026-05-31T17:44:29Z https://community.databricks.com/t5/databricks-free-edition-help/how-to-purge-the-soft-deleted-schema-and-tables-manually-quota/m-p/158012#M807 <P>Hi&nbsp;<a href="https://community.databricks.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/197716">@woodymo</a>,</P> <P data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Dropped Unity Catalog tables remain recoverable with UNDROP for roughly 7 days, and SHOW TABLES DROPPED lists dropped tables that are still within that retention window. This is expected behaviour as per the&nbsp;<A href="https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/delta/vacuum" target="_blank">documentation</A>.</P> <P>For the actual delete path, the public docs say DROP TABLE deletes tables within 7 to 30 days, and after the recovery window, the underlying data is marked for deletion during regular maintenance operations rather than being purged immediately.</P> <P>So, based on the current public documentation, there does not appear to be a documented self-serve/public command to immediately purge an already soft-deleted Unity Catalog table or schema. If the metastore quota is still blocking new table creation even after cleanup, the practical next step is to open a Databricks support case and include the metastore ID and the exact QUOTA_EXCEEDED error.</P> <P>For future workflows, if the pattern is "drop and recreate the same table name," Databricks recommends using CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE instead of DROP TABLE + CREATE TABLE, because drop/recreate can lead to unexpected results in production pipelines and concurrent operations.</P> <P>Hope this helps.</P> <P class="p1"><FONT size="2" color="#FF6600"><STRONG><I>If this answer resolves your question, could you mark it as “Accept as Solution”? That helps other users quickly find the correct fix.</I></STRONG></FONT><I></I></P> Sun, 31 May 2026 19:58:49 GMT https://community.databricks.com/t5/databricks-free-edition-help/how-to-purge-the-soft-deleted-schema-and-tables-manually-quota/m-p/158012#M807 Ashwin_DSA 2026-05-31T19:58:49Z