Please explain me the proper way to remove the test orders in Magento2 website.I removed all records from 'sales_order' table but still the orders exist in the backend.
Tested in Magento 2.1.0
Be safe : make a backup of your sql first.
Use the sql below according to your needs :
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;
# Clean order history
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_bestsellers_aggregated_daily`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_bestsellers_aggregated_monthly`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_bestsellers_aggregated_yearly`;
# Clean order infos
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_creditmemo`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_creditmemo_comment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_creditmemo_grid`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_creditmemo_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoice`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoiced_aggregated`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoiced_aggregated_order`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoice_comment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoice_grid`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_invoice_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_address`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_aggregated_created`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_aggregated_updated`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_grid`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_payment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_status_history`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_tax`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_order_tax_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_payment_transaction`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_refunded_aggregated`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_refunded_aggregated_order`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipment_comment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipment_grid`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipment_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipment_track`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipping_aggregated`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `sales_shipping_aggregated_order`;
# Clean cart infos
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_address`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_address_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_id_mask`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_item`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_item_option`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_payment`;
TRUNCATE TABLE `quote_shipping_rate`;
# Reset indexes (if you want your orders number start back to 1
TRUNCATE TABLE sequence_invoice_1;
TRUNCATE TABLE sequence_order_1;
TRUNCATE TABLE sequence_shipment_1;
TRUNCATE TABLE sequence_creditmemo_1;
SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1;
DO NOT TRUNCATE / EMPTY THE FOLLOWING :