Deleting Records

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Deleting Records

You may need to delete records if there are duplicate records or opposing counsel unintentionally produced privileged documents.  Reviewers can flag records for deletion, but they are not permanently removed from the database until the database is packed.

Once records are flagged for deletion, you can run a query to review those flagged documents and create a back-up of those records. This is your only fail-proof means of restoring a record after it is removed from the database. If you find that you later need to restore the deleted records, the only way to restore a record permanently deleted from a database is to import the deleted records back into the database.

Packing a database permanently deletes the records from the database, and there is no undo function for this process, therefore it should only be available to administrators.

Deleting Records Overview:

Mark records for deletion

Review the records marked for deletion

Back-up records marked for deletion by exporting them to another Concordance database

Remove tags from the records marked for deletion

Pack the database

You can also permanently delete all records in the current database using the Zap menu command on the Administration menu. When you zap a database, all documents and search files are erased and free space is returned to Concordance.  

Mark Records for Deletion

See Deleting Records for more information about marking records for deletion.

Search for Deleted Records

1.On the Search menu, click Search for documents marked for deletion.

2.A query is run for the records currently marked for deletion in the database.

3.Using the Browse or Table view, review the records in the query results to confirm whether they should be permanently removed from the database.

4.See instructions in Deleting Records if you need to unmark a document for deletion.

Back-Up Records Marked for Deletion

After reviewing the records marked for deletion, make sure your query is updated to reflect the final list of records to delete.  You can now export the records to another database.  See Exporting Database Records for more details.

Warning

Always export your deleted records before you pack the database, just in case you need to retrieve them later. Once you pack a database, any records marked for deletion are permanently removed. There is no undo function for this process.

Pack the Database

See Packing for details on how to Pack a Database.

Zap a Database

Zapping a database permanently deletes every record in the active database. All documents and search files are erased and free space is returned to Concordance. If databases are concatenated, only the documents and search files in the primary database are erased when you zap a database in a set of concatenated databases.

Warning

Zap is permanent and cannot be undone.  It is recommended that Zap should only be available to administrators

1.On the File menu, select Administration, and click Zap.   If prompted, enter your Administrator user name and password.  

2.A confirmation dialog displays.  Click Yes to confirm you want to Zap the database.

3.After the Zap process completes, No documents in query is displayed on the Status Bar.