Delete Components

After you delete a component, it's stored in a Deleted Items folder. The deleted component remains in this folder until you explicitly remove it permanently.

From the Deleted Items folder you can:
  • Export components to save a copy outside of Inspire.
  • Restore components to their original folder if it still exists.
  • Permanently delete a component to completely remove it from inspire.

The Update and Delete component permissions are no longer tied together.

  • If you want to move a component between folders, you must have the Update permission for the component. The Update permission no longer lets you also delete the component by default. You must explicitly have the Delete permission to send the component to the Deleted Items folder.
  • If you have permission to delete a component, you can no longer also move the component between folders by default. You must explicitly have the Update permission to move a component.

You can't delete a component if it's:

Locked by another user.

First, View a component without locking it. The read-only viewer will tell you who has locked it.

Next, ask the user to unlock the file.

Locked by you

First, Unlock a component.

Next, in the Components browser, click Refresh.

Locked by the system

Inspire locks a component if it's being used in a review or for another internal process.

First, See details and relationships.

Next, do all of the following that apply:

  • Remove this component from any active reviews.
  • Remove this component from any assignments.
  • Complete or cancel associated translation jobs.
  • Unapprove the component

Used in a Project

First, View projects that reference a component.

Next, remove this component from the project.

Used in a publishing profile

A publishing profile lets you specify a component, an export configuration, filters, and XML validation options once so that you can use it repeatedly.

If you try to delete a component that's included in a publishing profile, you see the following message:

  • Cannot delete components because one or more are used in a publishing profile. Clear all publishing profile references to these components or remove them from your selection and try again.

You also see this warning if you try to delete a folder that contains a component included in a publishing profile.

You see this warning and you can't delete the component(s).

Do one of the following:

Referenced by another component

If you want to delete a component that's referenced by another component, you must remove the references in the other components first.

Forcing the deletion of referenced components

Components can contain references to other components, such as in a map. By default, when you try to delete a component that is referenced in another topic, Inspire does not allow it because those link references will become invalid. If you don't want to remove references to a component before deleting it, or you are having issues and just need to delete a component and break the links anyway, you can allow an administrator to force Inspire to delete the component. For more details, Administrators can read: Allow forced deletions.

If an administrator allows the forced deletion of components:

  • Only administrators see the option
  • It is shown after you try to delete a component that is referenced in another topic
  • You see the option after you select Close on the Application Error screen
  • You are asked if you want to force the deletion of the component and break links

Restrictions when forcing a deletion

  • You cannot force the deletion of a topic if it is referenced by a locked component.
    • An administrator sees an error explaining that they cannot force delete the component because it is referenced by a locked component.
    • To force the deletion, you must unlock the component that references it first, and then try again.
If you select Yes:
  • The component is moved to the Deleted Items folder.
  • Link relationships are broken.
  • Components that reference the deleted topic are marked as invalid.
  • If you are not also deleting the component that referenced the deleted one, you can use Rebuild all relationships to help resolve linking errors.

If you select No:

  • You must manually remove links from other components that reference the one you want to delete.