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Running a purge

A purge walks you through four stages: build the scope → review the pre-flight → confirm → monitor. Nothing is deleted until the final confirmation.

1. Build the scope​

  1. Go to Purge in the sidebar and click to create a new purge.
  2. Pick the Salesforce org.
  3. Build the scope with the visual scope builder: choose a root object, attach related objects if needed, and add a filter per object. The scope builder works the same way here as in Restore and Archive — see Building a scope.
  4. Click Review & delete. Your scope is saved as a draft and you land on the pre-flight page. Drafts don't appear in the purge list and nothing has been deleted yet — you can safely leave and come back.

[SCREENSHOT REQUIRED: Purge builder with a root object, one related object, and a filter]

Filters apply per object

Each object in the scope is matched by its own filter only — child objects are not limited to the parents in scope. A child object with no filter means every record of that object is deleted. The pre-flight counts show you exactly what each object's filter matches, so review them carefully.

2. Review the pre-flight​

The pre-flight page computes, from your live org:

  • Record counts per object — exactly how many records each object's filter matches right now.
  • Backup coverage — for each object, the most recent successful backup that captured it. Objects captured only partially are flagged as filtered; objects that have never been backed up raise a prominent warning with a shortcut to capture them first.
  • Relationship impacts — how the deletion affects related records: relationships that block deletion, deletions that cascade to other records (with live counts of the records referencing yours), and lookups that will be left empty.

[SCREENSHOT REQUIRED: Purge pre-flight page showing counts, backup coverage, and relationship impacts]

Take your time here. If the numbers don't match your expectations, go back to the builder and adjust the scope — the draft keeps your work.

3. Confirm​

The Confirm & launch card asks you to:

  1. Name the job.
  2. Choose the delete mode:
    • Recycle bin — deleted records stay recoverable in Salesforce's Recycle Bin for 15 days.
    • Permanent — skips the Recycle Bin and reclaims storage immediately. Irreversible, and requires the org's Bulk API Hard Delete permission.
  3. If you chose Permanent and any object in scope has never been backed up, tick the extra acknowledgement confirming those records cannot be recovered by anyone.
  4. Type the org's name to confirm you're targeting the right environment.

Then click Delete records. The deletion runs in the background — children are deleted before their parents, so dependent records go first.

4. The result​

Back on the Purge list, the job's row shows its status and outcome: the org, the number of objects, how many records were deleted, and how many failed — plus a permanent tag when the run bypassed the Recycle Bin.

  • Success — everything in scope was deleted.
  • Warning — the purge completed, but some records failed (for example, Salesforce refused them because of blocking relationships).
  • Error — the purge could not complete. Launching it again is safe: records already deleted are not deleted twice.

[SCREENSHOT REQUIRED: Purge list showing a completed job with deleted/failed counts]