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In the early stages of a project you might create practice user accounts, have real users submit practice data, or use practice applications.
Before doing a real launch of your application you may want to clear out some of this test data so that it does cause confusion later. Issues with keeping practice data can include:
- test users in report filters
- old/fake data in exports
- old applications showing up in dropdowns
There are several tools that can help with clearing out data
Switching Project Spaces
The absolute definitive way to get rid of all data is to use a separate project space for practice and testing. If you have lots of data that you want to get rid of, this may be the best option.
Deleting Users
Data from deleted users is not available in any exports or reports.
- Forms: All forms that were submitted by that user are marked as deleted. If there are cases that are not deleted that reference a deleted form, there will be problems in that case's Case Detail view on HQ. You will still see a reference to deleted forms in the Case History, but you will not be able to view them.
- Cases: All cases that are assigned to that user are marked as deleted. If that case was modified by forms that are not deleted, you will not be able to click through to the Case from the "Case Changes" tab. Note that cases will still appear in the Message Log when deleting users, but now with a numerical username.
Note: If a case is reassigned to a user that is later deleted, forms submitted against that case will still appear under saved exports unless the original user is deleted.
An exception to this rule is if you are using case sharing. When you use case sharing, shared cases are NOT deleted when you delete either the user or the group. This behavior may change in the future for group deletion.
Deactivating Users
In general, deactivating users is not a useful method for getting rid of data.
Deactivated users are users that no longer use the mobile phone for the project, but have still submitted real data. Deactivated users' data remains in all exports and in the submit history and case list reports. Deactivating a user will remove them from Worker Monitoring reports, but can be displayed by using the Unknown Users filter option where applicable.
Archiving Forms
When a form is archived, it no longer appears in reports. The archived forms will also be removed from all exports, with the exception of Saved Daily Exports.
Picking the Right Tool
Here is a simple chart which indicates the best tool for each objective
| Goal | Approach 1 (warnings) | Approach 2 (warnings) |
|---|---|---|
| Get rid of cases | Reassign the cases to another a different user and then delete that user (it is not possible to reassign submitted forms) | Archive all of the forms that created the case (thi |
| Get rid of forms | Delete the user that submitted the form (you cannot undo this action; all data submitted by the user will be permanently deleted) | Archive the forms (forms will still show up in Saved Daily Exports) |
| Get rid of users | Delete the users (you cannot undo this action; all data submitted by the user will be permanently deleted) | - |
Other Suggestions and Notes
- If you just want to make sure that your users' case lists are clear you can Reassign Cases. However, forms are always associated with the user that submitted them, so if you reassign a case from User 1 to User 2 and then delete User 2, the case will no longer show up in any case list, but the forms will still show up when you search from User 1's submit history.
- It is not possible to directly delete a form.