Sometimes that time comes along when you just don't need a particular record anymore. There are two different ways to get rid of the offending information:
- Archive the record
- Delete the record
These have some crossover, and some distinct differences which we'll cover below.
- What is archiving?
- What is deleting?
- Archive or delete single records
- Archive or delete multiple records
- Viewing and restoring archived records
- Related records pointing to an archived record
link What is archiving?
Archiving is your go-to first step for removing information. It makes the information invisible to you, and to your filtering/exporting/searches. It can however still be accessed if you ever need to reference it again, and brought back to life if you need to reinstate it one day. Think of it like putting a file in the trash on your computer - it's gone for all intents and purposes, but you can still get at it if you ever need it.
Archived records will also not be effected by any app integrations and vice versa. See our FAQs for examples
link What is deleting?
It is what you'd likely expect; deleting removes the records completely from your database, and they can't be restored or recovered. Records must be archived first before you can delete them.
Be careful when choosing to delete a record. Any other records which currently point to it will lose that information/link, and it cannot be undone.
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Archiving or deleting single records
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Archive
On each record there is a handy Archive button in the top right of the individual record.
You'll be greeted with a confirmation window...
...and a success message upon completion.
link Delete
To delete a record, it must first be archived. Once archived, use the Delete button on the record in the top right.
To find your archived records, see here.
Be careful when choosing to delete a record. Any other records which currently point to it will lose that information/link, and it cannot be undone.
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Archiving or deleting multiple records
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Archive
You can archive or delete records in bulk using your list view. First, use the checkboxes to select the records you would like to archive.
Next, open the Actions menu (the three dots!), and click Archive.
You can use filters and views to narrow the current records in view. Using the 'Select all' checkbox at the top of the list selects only those records currently visible.
Records archived!
link Delete
To delete records in bulk, they must first be archived. To permanently delete them, select the records you would like to delete from the archived records list, open the Action menu, and then click Delete forever. Ominous!
To find your archived records, see here.
Be careful when choosing to delete records in bulk. Any other records which currently point to them will lose that information/link, and it cannot be undone.
link Viewing and restoring archived records
To see the archived records of any record type, open the Views dropdown, and click Archived.
You'll now be looking at any records of this type previously archived and hidden from your database. This is the recycling bin of Beacon!
From here you can view the records, sort and filter them, etc. just like you can with live records. If you would like to restore a file, it's virtually the same process as archiving:
There's a Restore button on the individual record in the top right.
Or for multiple records from the list view you can select the record or records, open the tri-dot Action menu, and click Restore.
link Related records pointing to an archived record
If another record points to one that has been archived, it will still show the link information but will mark it as archived. Clicking through will take you to that archived record.
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Frequently asked questions
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I removed email from someone's contact preferences. Why haven't they been unsubscribed in Mailchimp?
Archived records are not effected by any app integrations and vice versa. You should essentially think of the archived record as non-existent. Mailchimp is a really clear example of this with the following being expected behaviour:
Person archived or deleted in Beacon ➜ Contact NOT unsubscribed in Mailchimp (remove 'Email' before archiving if you want to unsubscribe them)
link Here are some other examples of expected archived record behaviour:
App ➜ Beacon
Person unsubscribes in Mailchimp ➜ No change to their archived record.
Person subscribes in Mailchimp ➜ No change to their archived record & New Person record created in Beacon with 'Email' in contact preferences
Person makes a donation through JustGiving ➜ No change to their archived record & NEW Person record created in Beacon with new related Payment
Beacon ➜ App
"Email" is removed from the "Contact Preferences" field of an archived record in Beacon ➜ No change in subscriber status in Dotdigital
Person archived or deleted in Beacon ➜ Contact NOT unsubscribed in Dotdigital (remove 'Email' before archiving if you want to unsubscribe them)