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Remove an unused PlaceholderAPI expansion without breaking displays

Applies to: PlaceholderAPI; match the linked maintainer documentation to your installed platform and release.
Documentation checked .

An expansion that looks unused in chat may still supply a shop menu, hologram or staff scoreboard. Build a reference list before retiring it so the cleanup does not leave raw tokens in player-facing text.

Prepare the test

Keep the original placeholder text beside the result during diagnosis. The expansion supplies the data; the scoreboard, menu or chat plugin decides where and how to display that result.

Make the change

  1. Record the expansion’s exact identifier and current jar filename. Search your text configurations for its expression prefix, including disabled menu files and scheduled announcements that run less often than normal gameplay.
  2. Map every match to its owning display or command. Decide whether to remove that line, replace its value, or retain the expansion; do not assume that an infrequently opened staff menu is irrelevant.
  3. On a test copy, use the documented unregister operation with the precise expansion filename when that operation applies. Keep the jar outside the active expansions folder so a restart cannot silently register it again.
  4. Open the affected menus and inspect each listed scoreboard, hologram and announcement. Check an ordinary player and a staff account, including conditional displays that become visible only after a requirement succeeds.

Check the result

Cleanup succeeds when no active configuration depends on the retired identifier and normal displays contain no raw expressions. Restart the test server once to confirm that the remaining registry and displays still agree.

If the test fails

Restore the saved expansion file and supported registration state if a missed dependency appears. Repair the reference list before retrying removal; keep the rollback local to this expansion rather than replacing the whole PlaceholderAPI directory.

Built-in registrations belong to their owning plugin rather than a standalone downloaded file. Do not remove another plugin merely because its integration appears in the registered expansion list.

References and related help

Check the official PlaceholderAPI documentation against your installed release before using a command or setting from another version.

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