Deleting Documents

If there are documents that no users in any project within the database need access to, you can delete them. This article covers the consequences of deletion, how to delete documents, and includes suggestions for when you might want to delete documents.

Deleted documents are removed from all projects that contain them, even if you are not a member of those particular projects. 

If you incorrectly delete documents, the only way to restore them on the platform is to re-upload them, and there will be no review work associated with them anymore.

 To remove documents from a partial project rather than deleting them, please review this section of our help article on projects.

Requirements

Database Admins or users with Delete permissions in database settings can delete documents from the database.

Delete documents from the results table

To delete from a results table:

1. Access a results table that has the documents you want to delete.
2. Select the documents you plan to delete by using the selector column in the left side of the table. By default, all documents in the table are selected.
3. Then, select Batch > Delete from database.
   
   This opens a dialog asking you to confirm the deletion.
4. If any documents in your selected set have duplicates within the project that are not selected for deletion, the Duplicates are not included dialog opens.
   
   To include duplicates in the deletion, select Cancel and adjust your selection to include duplicates. To proceed without deleting the duplicates, select Continue to move on to the Confirm document deletion dialog.
5. Select Continue to continue with the deletion. Choosing to delete documents will permanently and immediately remove them from Everlaw.
   
   Additionally, the documents are removed from all other projects on the database that contain them, even if you are not a member of those particular projects. Document deletion cannot be undone and all associated review work will be deleted permanently. The dialog describes the documents and work product that will be deleted. It will also suggest that you add to or remove from project, in case you prefer to do that over deleting all documents from the database.
6. Type in a reason for permanent and immediate deletion. Then, select Delete.

Delete documents by upload

Required permission: Upload and Delete permissions, or Database Admin permissions.

You can delete an entire dataset from the Uploads page. To do so:

1. Go to Data Transfer > Uploads.
2. Select Native Data or Processed Data on the left to access the upload card for the dataset you wish to delete.
   
   Once you're on the correct tab, you can filter by name or date to find the upload card for the upload you plan to delete.
3. Select the three-dot menu on that card and select Delete from Database.
4. This opens a confirmation dialog that describes the documents and work product that will be deleted. Document deletion cannot be undone and all associated review work will be deleted permanently. You cannot choose which documents in that set to delete; you delete all documents in that upload.
   
   To move on to the next step, select Continue.
5. Type in a reason for permanent and immediate deletion. Then, select Delete.
   

Delete documents by production

Required permission: Both Production Admin permissions and Delete or Admin in database settings.

You can delete produced documents from the Productions page. This deletes the produced versions of the documents, but not the original (source) documents. To delete a production:

1. Go to Data Transfer > Productions.
2. On the production card for the produced documents you wish to delete, Select the three-dot menu .
3. Select Delete Production and you are prompted to confirm deletion. 
   
4. Select Continue.
5. Type in a reason for permanent and immediate deletion. Then, select Delete.
   

Purge 

There is a setting to allow Organization Admins and Database Admins to delete documents without temporary backups. This option should be used with caution, and only when you are required to immediately delete documents in all locations.

In addition to purging the selected documents, this option deletes any parent or container document for that document. It also deletes exact duplicates of the selected documents and those documents' parents and containers. If a natively uploaded document is purged, the source document for the native upload is deleted from the upload card to prevent users from being able to download or reprocess it. This ensures that when sensitive documents are purged no remnants remain accessible anywhere in the system, such as via export.

Requirements:

• You must be an Organization Admin or Database Admins to use this document deletion option. Unlike typical document deletion, users with the Delete database permission do not have access to this option.
• You must also be in a complete project and have full document access. This ensures Everlaw can identify all related duplicates and ancestor/container documents that may also need to be purged.

Before you start: The ability to delete documents without backups is not available by default, even for Organization Admins and Database Admins. First, you must contact your Everlaw representative or support@everlaw.com for them to switch on the Allow Org Admins and Database Admins to delete documents without creating backups option for your organization. This must be turned on by an Everlaw representative before it is enabled for your document deletion.

Once the setting is on, Organization Admins and Database Admins have Advanced settings available when they delete documents, which allows the option to purge. This option is present when deleting:

• Documents from a results table
• An upload from its card the Uploads page
• A production from its card on the Productions page

To purge:

1. Start a deletion from any of the above locations:
   From the results table, select Batch > Delete from database.
   For an upload card or production card, select the three-dot menu, then Delete from database.
   This opens the dialog to the Confirm [document set name] deletion step.
2. Once you have confirmed the information, select Continue to move on.
3. On the Permanently delete [document set name] step of the deletion process, select Show advanced settings to expand the options.
4. For Deletion method, select Without storing backups.
5. Select Next.
6. [Optional] Before you finalize purging your documents, you can view a results table of documents-to-be-purged in the following step. This is useful to see the additional documents that were captured for the purge.
   

7. To complete the deletion, select Purge.

   Important

   Only use this option when you are confident that the documents you are deleting must be deleted immediately from all locations. There is no way to undo the action once you select Delete.

Once the purge is completed, you will be able to download a CSV report of all purged documents from the Batches & Exports column of the homepage.

Timing your document deletion

You may want to delete documents to reduce data size. Export speed is roughly 1.5 million docs a day and deletion speed is roughly 1 million docs a day. Please account for download speeds to your local machine as well, or contact Everlaw Support for a managed export. 

If you start deleting documents in a given month and the deletion completes after the end of the month, part of the documents deleted will account for billable data size at the start of the new billing period before the deletion completes. If this happens, a platform message and email will be sent to you notifying you how much total data was deleted and how much was deleted after the end of the previous billing period.
 

Learn more about billing and pricing in our FAQ.