Delete entities#

Manually delete redundant or unnecessary entities to limit unwanted data noise.

For example, this can occur when the real-world information an entity models has become obsolete, or when it does not exist any longer.

Caution

You can delete a published entity only if it has no existing relationships with any other objects in EclecticIQ Intelligence Center.

If you try to delete a published entity with relationships, the action fails and an error message is displayed.

Deleting an entity fails in the following cases:

  • The entity is available only as draft, that is, it has not been published yet.

    To delete it, first publish it.

  • The entity is included in one or more datasets.

    To delete it, first remove it from the datasets it belongs to.

  • The entity is included in at least a workspace.

    To delete it, first remove it from the workspace(s) it belongs to.

  • There are open or pending user tasks referring to the entity.

    To delete it, first either complete and close, or delete the tasks that refer to the entity.

  • Another user copied the entity, and the entity data is currently stored in the user’s clipboard.

    To delete it, the copied entity data must be removed from the user’s clipboard.

First, find an entity to work with. Go to Search Search icon > GO TO SEARCH AND BROWSE > Entities.

Delete a single entity#

  1. On the active view, browse to the entity you want to delete.

  2. Click the dotted menu icon More corresponding to the entity you want to delete.

  3. From the drop-down menu select Delete.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, click Delete to confirm the action.

  5. If the entity is in draft status or if it is a published entity without any relationships to other objects in the Intelligence Center, the entity is successfully deleted.

Alternatively:

  1. On the active view, browse to the entity you want to delete.

  2. Click anywhere in the row corresponding to the entity you want to delete.

    The entity detail pane slides in from the side of the screen.

  3. On the bottom half of the detail pane, click Actions.

  4. From the pop-up menu select Delete.

  5. On the confirmation dialog, click Delete to confirm the action.

  6. If the entity is in draft status or if it is a published entity without any relationships to other objects in the Intelligence Center, the entity is successfully deleted.

Delete multiple entities#

  1. On the active view, select the checkboxes corresponding to the entities you want to delete in bulk.

  2. Click the dotted menu icon More on the top-right-corner of the table view, above the table header row.

  3. From the drop-down menu select Delete.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, click Delete to confirm the action.

  5. If all entities are in draft status or if they are all published entities without any relationships to other objects in the Intelligence Center, they are successfully deleted.

What happens to entity versions and to data sources on deletion?

Entity versions and deletion

If you delete an entity the previous versions of that entity are automatically removed from EclecticIQ Intelligence Center.

EclecticIQ Intelligence Center does not allow manually deleting older/previous versions of an entity.

Entity data sources and deletion

Entity deletion and incoming feed purge actions trigger a database reindex process, because they involve dropping any data sources referring to the deleted incoming feed content and entities:

  • When you delete an entity, you also detach from the deleted entity any data sources referring to it.

  • When you delete or purge an incoming feed, you also remove it as a data source from the entities that refer to it.