About deleting and purging
Contents
About deleting/spiking
You can mark content "as deleted" or "spiked". The terms spiking and deleting are synonyms.
The deleted content remains in the system until expired. Then it is purged from the system – i.e. physically removed. Note: this requires some actions to be properly scheduled. If such actions are not schedules, the deleted content will remain in the system forever.
You can consider the deleting as "moving" items in the recycle bin. While an item is in the recycle bin, you can undo deleting and restore the item. Consider purging as emptying the recycle bin. When an item is purged, it is gone forever, and no undo is available.
Note: Have in mind that if you archive an entire edition, all its content gets copied in the archive part of the database, including PDF of the page. The archive is under no circumstances affected by the purge procedures. Even when an edition is purged from the production part of the database, it still remains available (in a different form) in the archive part of the database. This applies to any archived content, not only on editions.
Where you can delete/spike?
You can perform deleting from the Web interface, using cmd4, in GN4 client applications, from a workflow, or by Back4.
Note: Generally speaking, you cannot delete content that is linked to a page, or published on Web or elsewhere - you need to unlink it first, or delete the edition with the page where the content is published, or unpublish it from Web.
When you try to delete a container (e.g. folder, publishing destination, or collection), you have to empty it first. To delete a title, you need to delete all its sub-elements first: regions, zones, sections, etc.
About undeleting/unspiking
While the content is in the "recycle bin", you can undelete it / unspike it. When it is purged, it's gone forever.
Where you can undelete/unspike?
You can undelete items on:
•The File menu, by the command Undelete (if present).
•The Trash can main tab.
•By command line, run on a client computer.
•By command line, run on a server.
•From the Web interface
About purging
Purging can be performed from either srv4, cmd4, from a workflow or by Back4.
The purge criteria are simple:
•Time elapsed since deleting (e.g. purge all objects deleted more than 7 days ago)
•Use delete code (e.g. purge all objects deleted more than 1 days ago with code ‘Normal’, purge objects deleted more than 7 days ago with all other codes etc.)
About purging of publishing destinations
See Purging publishing destinations.
See also
How to check if purging works?
And also