What is a cut-off date and how do I choose one?

The cut-off date is the most important setting in WipeAway. It determines which events are affected by the deletion — and which ones are left completely untouched.

What the cut-off date does

When you set a cut-off date, WipeAway removes all events that occur before that date. Events on or after the cut-off date are not affected in any way.

For example, if you set a cut-off date of 1 January 2024:

• Events from 31 December 2023 and earlier — removed
• Events from 1 January 2024 and later — untouched

How to choose the right cut-off date

The right cut-off date depends on what you are trying to achieve:

• Cleaning up a personal calendar — a date 1–2 years ago is usually a good starting point. Count the events first to see how many will be removed before confirming.
• Resetting a school timetable — use the last day of the previous academic year, so everything before that date is cleared for the new year.
• Post-migration clean-up — use the date your migration completed, to clear all pre-migration events from the old system.
• Clearing a project calendar — use the project end date, so the calendar is clean and ready for the next project.

Can I set a cut-off date in the future?

The cut-off date can be set to any date in the past or future. If you set it to a future date, all events up to and including that future date will be included in the deletion count. Be careful when doing this — you could accidentally remove events you still need.

Can I remove events after a date instead of before?

WipeAway currently removes events before a cut-off date. If you need to remove events after a specific date (for example, clearing all future events from a calendar), set the cut-off date to a date well into the future that captures all the events you want to remove. See our article on deleting events after a certain date for more detail.