Delete a record or authority term

You can delete a record or authority term with the Authority Term Report/Replace tool, if your security group permissions allow it. If not, talk to someone at your organisation with Supervisor access.

Overview

How deleting records works

Deleting a record means that it will no longer exist anywhere in the system. It will be removed from all records and all fields that it is currently used in. No users will be able to use the record or term anywhere in the system.

The process is the same for deleting:

  • Object records

  • Person records

  • Place terms

  • Classification terms

  • Any other authority term

Alternatives to deleting a record

If you want to keep a record, but make it unusable, see Use Instead.

For historical Location terms, you should change their usage to Retrievable but not Usable, rather than delete them. This means the location terms will remain in your location history. See Control the use of an authority term.

Before you begin

Before deleting a record (or term), check where it is used with Authority Term Report/Replace tool. You can then choose to replace the term with a different one, or remove it altogether.

If you delete the term without following these steps, you will find the ID of the deleted term appears in fields throughout the system where the term was.

If you are deleting a term that is part of a hierarchy, make sure that you go to the term below it in the hierarchy, and edit the Next Higher Term field.

 Steps

  1. Go to Tools > Authority Tool > Authority Term Report/Replace.

  2. In Authority File, enter the file that contains the record. For example, enter Object.

  3. In Authority Terms to Report on or to be Replaced, enter the record. You can enter the name or System ID. For Object records, you can enter the accession number.

  4. Click the Report button to view a report that describes how and where the term or record may be used.

  5. In the top-right of the window, select the Replace option.

  6. If you want to replace the record with another record, then in Replace Current Terms(s) with, enter the replacement record. Otherwise, leave this blank to remove the record from anywhere it's linked.

  7. In Action on current term(s), select Delete.

  8. Click the Replace button.

  9. The report will appear again. If you are happy with what will be replaced or deleted, click OK when prompted to perform the replacement.

  10. Click Yes to delete the record.