Sometimes that time comes along when you just don't need a particular record anymore. There are two steps to deleting a record:

Beacon has the equivalent of the recycle bin on your computer, so if you want to make sure that a record is gone forever, you'll need to do both of these steps.

There's more information about deleting records in Beacon below.

Deleting a record 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.

It is what you'd likely expect; deleting permanently removes the records completely from your database, and they can't be restored or recovered. You must first delete a record, and then you can delete it forever.

On each record there is a handy Delete button in the top right of the individual record.

You'll be greeted with a confirmation window...

Click OK and your record will be deleted.

To delete a record permanently, it must first be deleted. Once deleted, use the Delete Permanently button on the record in the top right.

Note: To find your deleted records, see here.

You can delete records in bulk using your list view. First, use the checkboxes to select the records you would like to delete.

Next, open the Actions menu (the three dots!), and click Delete.

Records deleted!

To permanently delete records in bulk, they must first be deleted. To permanently delete them, select the records you would like to permanently delete from the deleted records list, open the Action menu, and then click Delete permanently. Serious business!

To see the deleted records of any record type, open the Views dropdown, and click Deleted.

You'll now be looking at any records of this type previously deleted 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 deleting:

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.

If another record points to one that has been deleted, it will still show the link information but will mark it as deleted. Clicking through will take you to that deleted record.

Once a record is deleted permanently there will no longer be a link to that record, and the field would be blank.

Deleted records are not affected by any app integrations and vice versa. You should essentially think of the deleted record as non-existent. Mailchimp is a really clear example of this with the following being expected behaviour:

Person deleted in Beacon ➜ Contact NOT unsubscribed in Mailchimp (remove 'Email' before deleting if you want to unsubscribe them)

Person unsubscribes in Mailchimp ➜ No change to their deleted record.
Person subscribes in Mailchimp ➜ No change to their deleted record & New Person record created in Beacon with 'Email' in contact preferences

Person makes a donation through JustGiving ➜ No change to their deleted record & NEW Person record created in Beacon with new related Payment

"Email" is removed from the "Contact Preferences" field of a deleted record in Beacon ➜ No change in subscriber status in Dotdigital
Person deleted in Beacon ➜ Contact NOT unsubscribed in Dotdigital (remove 'Email' before deleting if you want to unsubscribe them)