Deleting batches of records

About this task

For the specific entity or link type, you can delete:

• All records.

• All the records in a particular set (the set itself is not deleted).

• All the records of the specific type that are found by a particular query.

Note: You might not have access to the Batch Delete command; contact your system administrator if you need access to it.

If soft delete is enabled on your database, then deleted records can be restored if necessary, that is until a purge operation makes the deletion permanent.

Attention: Deleting an entity also deletes any link that has that entity as one of its ends. However, if a link is subject to data access control or database restrictions, you might not be able to delete the entity at either end of that link. For more information, see the section on Batch Delete and Data Access Control in Batch delete.

Procedure

To delete batches of records:

1. Select Edit > Batch Delete.

2. Select the entity or link type of the records that you want to delete.

3. In the Source area, specify the source of the specified entity or link type records.

4. Click Delete.

5. Click Yes.

   Tip: To cancel the delete, press Esc. The delete stops and a message displays how many records have already been deleted. The behavior when canceling a batch delete is different depending on the type of database you are using and the Audit Level set:

   Database type and Audit level	Behavior when canceling delete
   SQL Server - 1,2, or 3	No records are deleted.
   SQL Server - 4 or 5	Records up to the point when the batch delete is canceled are deleted.
   Microsoft Access - Any	Records up to the point when the batch delete is canceled are deleted.

   If you are deleting a large number of records the deletion can take a while to complete. When the deletion completes, you are shown the number of records that have been deleted.