We have a large number of products (17k+) on sage50 but don't encounter this issue - if you have dead/obsolete codes for products, you can clear the audit trails, make sure no units are in stock and no users are logged in, then from there you can remove them from your file. 

You would be wise to do a backup prior and a company archive to be sure and once the records are removed and deleted, run the maintenance tools to compress and reindex to help with sage running smoothly.

This is how it works for us and we haven't had any issues by doing this method to date.

Clear audit trail only removes transactions, not product codes or stock transactions.

Delete stock will remove products >> How to delete product records (sage.com)

Clear audit trail only removes transactions, not product codes or stock transactions.

Delete stock will remove products >> How to delete product records (sage.com)

You are right for that part, I didn't remember before but I think it is on (Tools> Period End) where the other parts are, I was replying from memory at the time so didn't want to 100% commit but from what I have found using those parts, as long as there is 0 stock, no allocations, no outstanding, no links to open PO's etc, then those stock/product codes can be removed.

You might have to make use of a few of the tools in effect, but in summary with those bits mentioned - you should be able to get the desired result.

Some companies out there may offer bulk action options too!

Hi Ian & Antony, Unfortunately Ive tried all those methods. Sage crashes. It will not search by description, supplier or any other method in products, clear stock or delete stock. Or even delete everything. It just crashes. I guess because we have significantly more than the 17k product codes you mention.  I cant do reindex & compress or rebuild & compress as not only does Sage 50 crash at the compress stage, but it corrupts as well. So you cant even get into the program at all & have to set up the company again & restore a backup pre reindex or rebuild.

A Plugin tool would be great. But i havent found one.