Overview
The Bulk Record Delete functionality was introduced to the CU Anschutz instance of REDCap on February 28th, 2025. This feature allows users to delete full records or partial record data (specific form/survey data) in bulk through the REDCap user interface.
Please note that all deletions through the Bulk Record Delete feature are irreversible, and REDCap Administrators will, in most cases, be unable to recover deleted data. Please be cautious when using this functionality.
Jump to:
- Navigating to the Bulk Record Delete Interface
- Permissions Related to Bulk Delete
- Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Partial Record Data
- Bulk Deleting Records
- Bulk Deleting Partial Record Data
Navigating to the Bulk Record Delete Interface
Users can access the Bulk Record Delete interface from two locations in a REDCap project: the "Other Functionality" page or the "Multi-record actions" dropdown on the "Record Status Dashboard".
Other Functionality Tab
The "Other Functionality" tab appears on the "Project Home" and "Project Setup" pages in a user's project.
Clicking on this tab opens a page with several large-scale actions for the project, including the option to Bulk Record Delete. Selecting the "Bulk Record Delete" button directs the user to the Bulk Record Delete interface.
Record Status Dashboard
Alternatively, the "Multi-record actions" dropdown menu appears on a project's "Record Status Dashboard".
Selecting this dropdown menu reveals an option labeled "Bulk Record Delete". Clicking this option takes the user to the Bulk Record Delete interface. If this option is missing, the user lacks the necessary permissions to use Bulk Record Delete. Refer to the Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Records section for details on the required permissions.
Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Records
Access to the Bulk Record Delete feature is impacted by multiple project-level configuration elements, including User Rights and e-Consent configuration settings.
To access the Bulk Record Delete page, a user must either have the "Delete Records" privilege or have the “Delete” checkbox selected under “Data Viewing Rights” for at least one instrument. These permissions can be granted through the “User Rights” page on a project.
If you are unable to modify user rights and believe you should have permission to delete records in bulk, contact your project manager for further assistance.
This permission grants users the ability to delete entire records and specific instrument data across records through the Bulk Record Delete interface. Partial record deletions (instrument-level data) may still be possible without record deletion permissions. Refer to the Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Partial Record Data section for more details.
If a user does not have record deletion or instrument-level deletion rights, the Bulk Record Delete button or dropdown option discussed in the Navigating to the Bulk Record Delete Interface section of this guide will not be visible.
Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Partial Record Data
User Rights can also affect a user's ability to bulk delete partial record data within a specific instrument.
To select an instrument within the Bulk Record Delete interface, a user must have the "Delete" Data Viewing Right enabled for that instrument.
Selecting the Delete permission will automatically enable the “View & Edit” permission for a given instrument. The Delete permission cannot be enabled without the View & Edit permission also being enabled.
The View & Edit permission can be granted without the Delete permission, as demonstrated in the following screenshot.
Selecting any Data Viewing Rights permission aside from View & Edit will automatically de-select the corresponding Delete checkbox.
The Delete permission will be automatically selected for all instruments when the Delete Records permission is granted. Selections for the Delete checkbox cannot be modified while the Delete Records permission is granted.
If a user does have the Delete permission for at least one instrument in the project, the instrument with these permissions will still appear on the Bulk Record Delete page, but other instruments will be hidden.
For example, if a user has the Delete Data Viewing Right for an instrument titled “Form 1” and no other instruments, as shown in the screenshot the following screenshot:
Using this same example, the “Partial delete (instrument-level data only)” radio button will automatically be selected in Step 1 of the Bulk Record Delete user interface and only the Form 1 instrument will appear. The following screenshot displays the user interface as it appears for a user with the described permissions.
Additional Delete Data Viewing Right selections will cause additional instruments to appear. All instruments will appear when the Delete Records permission is enabled.
A user's ability to delete instrument data also depends on whether they have the permission to "Edit survey responses" for a given instrument under Data Viewing Rights.
While a user without the “Edit survey responses” Data Viewing Rights for an instrument can delete data that has been entered from the data entry view of an instrument, this user will not be able to delete survey data (through Bulk Record Delete or other means). This also applies to instances where a user has the Delete Records permission but does not have the instrument level Edit survey responses permission. However, users can delete a record in its entirety if they have the Delete permission, including survey responses, without “Edit survey responses” permissions.
If an instrument has e-Consent configured, additional selections in the e-Consent configuration are required to delete submitted survey data. To delete instrument-level survey data when e-Consent is enabled for an instrument, the "Allow e-Consent responses to be edited by users?" option must be enabled within the e-Consent framework configuration.
If a user attempts to delete instrument-level survey data without adequate User Rights to do so, no notification will be provided through the user interface.
Bulk Deleting Records
If a user has the necessary permissions (see Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Records) and has accessed the Bulk Record Delete tool from one of its available locations (see Navigating to Bulk Record Delete), the interface shown in the following screenshot will be available. This interface presents three steps for the bulk deletion process.
If a user has adequate permissions, the "Delete entire records" option is selected by default in Step 1. This option can be used to delete multiple records entirely, while “Partial Delete” is used for the deletion of instrument-level data (see Bulk Deleting Partial Record Data).
Step 2 determines how records will be selected for deletion and affects the available options in Step 3. The default selection, "Enter a custom list of records", generates a large text box underneath Step 3.
Within this text box, users may enter the Record IDs of the records they wish to delete, separating them with either commas or new lines. An example of a comma-separated list where records 1 through 10 would be deleted is displayed in the following screenshot.
An example of a return-separated list where records 1 through 10 would be deleted is displayed in the screenshot below.
In either case, if all listed records exist within the project, the user will see a "Valid list entered" message below the text box in Step 3, along with a green checkmark icon.
If a listed record is not present within a project, a message will appear, listing all the invalid Record IDs. A warning symbol (a red circle with an exclamation point inside) will replace the green checkmark icon that appears in the previous screenshot.. Additionally, the "Delete" button will remain disabled until invalid Record IDs have been removed.
Alternatively, users may select the "Select records from a list" radio button in Step 2. This will cause a series of checkboxes, paired with all Record IDs in the project, to appear under the Step 3 heading.
Selection of a checkbox will mark the associated Record ID for deletion. In the following screenshot, records 1-10 would be deleted.
Users may click "select all" text to select all records currently displaying.
To clear all current selections, users may click the "deselect all" text.
Users may also use the "Search records..." text bar to find specific records.
Regardless of the method used in Step 3, the user must click the red "Delete" button at the bottom left of the page to initialize the deletion process.
Once the "Delete" button is selected, a pop-up menu will appear. The user will be prompted to write “DELETE” in the text box provided to confirm this action for “x” records.
Users may also select the “Delete Records using a background process?” checkbox at this point.
This option is recommended when users are deleting a large amount of data. If this checkbox is not selected, the user must remain on the page while the request is processed.
After typing "DELETE" into the provided text box and the desired selection for the “Delete records using a background process?” checkbox has been made, users will need to click the "Delete" button in the pop-up menu to finalize the request.
If the "Delete records using a background process?" checkbox was not selected, users must wait for the page to reload while the Bulk Record Delete request processes. If a user leaves the page before the page reloads, records may not be deleted.
Once the request is completed, a confirmation message within a green banner will populate across the page with the text, “Deleted x record(s)”.
If the "Delete records using a background process?” checkbox was selected, users will be redirected to the “View Background Deletions” page, with a pop-up message notifying them that the request was successfully submitted.
Users will remain on the View Background Deletions page after the “Close” button on bottom right of the pop-up window is clicked, or if the “x” icon is selected in the top right. This page will display details about the Bulk Record Delete process as it occurs in the background.
This page can also be accessed by clicking on the View Background Deletions tab that appears on the Bulk Record Delete page.
Once the background deletion process has been completed, users may review a summary of the process on this page.
The page may also be refreshed by clicking the “Refresh table” button.
Users will receive an email once the deletion process has been completed. This email will have the subject line, "[REDCap] Your bulk record deletion has completed! (PID XXXXX)", where “XXXXX” is the Project ID number of the project the request originated from. The body of the email will contain a brief description of the request and outcome, along with a link to the View Background Deletions page.
If you encounter an error message during the Bulk Record Delete process and are unsure how to interpret the message, you may contact your REDCap Administrators by submitting a ticket in the Help Center.
Bulk Deleting Partial Record Data
If a user has the necessary permissions (see Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Partial Record Data) and has accessed the Bulk Record Delete tool from one of its available locations (see Navigating to the Bulk Record Delete Interface), the interface shown in the following screenshot will be available. This interface presents three steps for the bulk deletion process.
If a user has the “Delete Records” permission, the "Delete entire records" radio button is selected by default in Step 1. If a user only has instrument-level deletion privileges, the “Partial delete” radio button will be the only radio button that appears, and it will be selected by default.
To delete data for specific instruments within the project instead, the user must select "Partial delete (instrument-level data only)" in Step 1 process.
The selection of this radio button will produce a list of instruments from which data can be partially deleted by the current user. If an instrument you wish to delete partially is missing from this list of checkboxes, refer to the Permissions Required to Bulk Delete Partial Record Data section of this guide to confirm if you have adequate permissions.
Users may use the checkboxes under the "Instruments" heading to select instrument-level data deletion.
Additionally, "select all" or "deselect all" options are available, which allows users to select or clear all listed instruments.
In a longitudinal project, users will receive additional checkboxes per event, which allows for the selection of entire events or specific instruments within an event to delete data from.
The selection made in Step 2 determines how records may be selected for partial deletion and affects the user interface options in Step 3. The default selection, "Enter a custom list of records", causes a large text box to appear under the Step 3 heading. Within this text box, users may enter the Record IDs of the records for partial deletion, separating them with either commas or new lines.
Below is an example of a comma-separated list where partial submissions for records 1 through 10 will be deleted.
Below is an example of a return-separated list where partial submissions for records 1 through 10 will be deleted.
In either case, if all listed records exist within the project, a "Valid list entered" message will appear below the text box in Step 3, along with a green checkmark icon.
If a listed record is not present within the project, a message indicating which records are invalid will appear, which will list all invalid Record IDs. A warning symbol (a red circle with an exclamation point inside) will replace the green checkmark that appears in the previous screenshot. Additionally, the "Delete" button will remain disabled until the invalid Record IDs have been removed.
Alternatively, users may select the "Select records from a list" radio button in Step 2. This will cause a series of checkboxes, paired with all Record IDs in the project, to appear under the Step 3 heading.
Each checkbox will be paired with the Record ID of an existing record. This allows users to select specific records to delete instrument-level data from. Selection of a checkbox will indicate that instrument-level data should be deleted from the related records.
Users may click "select all" to select all records.
User may also click the “deselect all” text to remove all existing selections.
Users may also use the "Search records..." text bar to find specific records.
Regardless of the method used in Step 3, the user must click the red "Delete" button at the bottom left of the page to finalize the deletion process.
Once the "Delete" button is selected, a pop-up menu will appear. The user will be prompted to write “DELETE” in the text box provided to confirm this action for “x” instruments across “y” records.
Users may also select the “Delete Records using a background process?” checkbox at this point.
This option is recommended when users are deleting a large amount of data. If this checkbox is not selected, the user must remain on the page while the request is processed.
After the desired selection has been made for the “Delete records using a background process?” checkbox, users will need to type “DELETE” in the provided text box, and then click the "Delete" button in the pop-up menu to finalize the request.
If the "Delete records using a background process?" checkbox was not selected, users must wait for the page to reload while the Bulk Record Delete request processes. If a user leaves the page before the page reloads, records may not be deleted.
Once the request is completed, a confirmation message within a green banner will populate across the page with the text, “Deleted forms". This will be followed by a list of the forms data has been deleted from, and the number of records impacted.
If the "Delete records using a background process?” checkbox was selected, users will be redirected to the “View Background Deletions” page, with a pop-up message notifying them that the request was successfully submitted.
Users will remain on the View Background Deletions page after the “Close” button on bottom right of the pop-up window is clicked, or if the “x” icon is selected in the top right. This page will display details about the Bulk Record Delete process as it occurs in the background.
This page can also be accessed by clicking on the View Background Deletions tab that appears on the Bulk Record Delete page.
Once the background deletion process has been completed, users may review a summary of the process on this page.
The page may also be refreshed by clicking the “Refresh table” button.
Users will receive an email once the deletion process has been completed. This email will have the subject line, "[REDCap] Your bulk record deletion has completed! (PID XXXXX)", where “XXXXX” is the Project ID number of the project the request originated from. The body of the email will contain a brief description of the request and outcome, along with a link to the View Background Deletions page.
If you encounter an error message during the Bulk Record Delete process and are unsure how to interpret the message, you may contact your REDCap Administrators by submitting a ticket in the Help Center.
Reminder: All deletions through the Bulk Record Delete feature are permanent and irreversible. The REDCap Support team will not be able to access the lost data. Please be very careful if you choose to use this feature.