# Tidy up records your zone no longer needs > Zones collect records nobody remembers: a verification code for a service you stopped using years ago, an address that stopped answering months ago, a second… Source: https://infranest.io/docs/tidy-up-leftover-dns-records Last updated: 2026-10-26 --- Over time, DNS zones fill up with records nobody remembers adding: a verification code for a service you stopped using years ago, an address that stopped answering months ago, or a second copy of a record that was already there. These make the zone harder to read and every change riskier — and an address nobody answers on anymore may already belong to someone else. This article is for anyone who manages DNS zones in InfraNest and wants to keep them clean and safe. ## Overview - InfraNest watches your zones and points out records that look left over. - You review each one and decide whether to remove it or keep it. - Nothing is removed automatically, and removals can be undone. ## Find leftover records 1. Go to the **DNS** page and open the **Overview** tab. Zones with leftover records are listed under **Tidy up and complete**, showing how many each zone has. Click **Review** to go to that zone. 2. Alternatively, open a zone's page directly. If it has leftover records, a card above the records list says how many records **look left over** and what kinds they are, such as old verification codes. Click **Tidy up**. If neither of these appears, there is nothing to tidy up in your zones. ## Review and remove records 1. Click **Tidy up** on the zone's card. Every candidate record is listed with the reason InfraNest thinks it is left over. 2. Tick the records you want to remove. Nothing is ticked for you by default. 3. Click **Remove**, then confirm with **Yes, remove**. The records are removed from your DNS provider right away, just like a delete you'd make by hand. ## Undo a removal 1. Right after removing records, look for the **Undo** option on the card — it puts the records back. 2. Later, open the zone's **History** tab, find the removal entry, and use **Undo all** to do the same thing. > [!NOTE] > A second copy of a record can't be "put back" while the first copy still exists — nothing was lost, so History shows it as already back. ## Keep a record on purpose 1. In the tidy-up review, click **Keep** beside any record you want to hold on to. 2. InfraNest will not suggest that record again. ## Set up a weekly reminder 1. Go to **Automations**. 2. Start from the template **Weekly reminder to tidy up leftover DNS records**. 3. Choose where the reminder should be sent. 4. Click **Save**. Every Monday morning, InfraNest checks your zones. If it finds leftover records, it sends a short message with the count and a link to each zone's review. If there's nothing to tidy, you won't hear anything. > [!TIP] > The reminder only points the way — it never removes or keeps anything on its own. You still decide, record by record, in each zone's review. ## What InfraNest looks for - **Old verification codes** — a code a service once asked you to add to prove you own the domain, when nothing else in the zone still uses that service (for example, a Microsoft 365 code with no Microsoft 365 mail or other related records left). One-time codes from a certificate order are suggested once they're more than a month old. - **Addresses that stopped answering** — a name that InfraNest's daily checks and your monitors have tried to reach for 90 days, failing on many separate days, without answering once in that time. - **Second copies** — the same name, type, and value appearing twice. The oldest copy is kept. ## What InfraNest never suggests - **Records kept up to date by a dynamic IP.** A home or office connection often doesn't answer from the outside on purpose, so a quiet address there means nothing. - **Codes that services keep checking for**, such as Google Search Console, Facebook, and Atlassian. Removing these would quietly un-verify your domain, and nothing else in the zone shows whether you still use them. - **An address you no longer have.** If a record points at a server address you've given up, InfraNest already flags it as its own problem on the zone's Mail & security tab, since someone else could take that address over. - **Anything without enough evidence** — an address nobody has checked, or a record that changed recently. When InfraNest isn't sure, it doesn't suggest it. ## Who can remove records Anyone can see the tidy-up review. Removing or keeping records requires permission to edit DNS records — without it, the review explains this and hides the buttons. If a zone's provider doesn't let InfraNest change records directly, remove them in the provider's own dashboard instead.