Hi all,
I'm trying to delete some donor records from a NB database.
I see that when I go into the individual profile for a donor and go to edit, the "Delete [PERSON NAME]" button that usually appears in the bottom right corner does not.
I tested this with Batch Delete by creating a list of donors and trying to Batch Delete them and it basically went through the motions, telling me it was deleting them, but didn't. That definitely comes off as a glitchy.
I presume this has to do with these people being linked to their respective donations, if they were deleted the donations would have no host record. So this leads me to a bigger question that started this, how do I Batch Delete donations from my database?
We do not recommend deleting donation records from a nation. This will make the nation's financial history incomplete and can cause problems when doing financial reporting for an organization.
Some customers inadvertently deleted donations from their nation by deleting the people associated with those donations. To prevent this from happening, the Delete button is not available on a user profile if donation records are attached to that profile. Similarly, if you batch delete a list of people, any people on that list who have donation records will not be deleted.
While we do not recommend it, if you truly want to delete people and their donation history, you will need to use the following process:
1. Manually delete each donation record associated with the person (you can do this in their profile > finances > click on the pencil to 'edit' the donation > at the bottom you will see 'delete donation')
2. The person record can then be deleted individually or through a batch delete process
If you imported a lot of donations, or have another large set of donations that you would like to delete, please contact your organizer. We can help on an individual basis.
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Would be helpful if how to “Manually delete each donation record associated with the person” was explained as I believe that’s the nature of the question to begin with. Alluding that the solution exists without providing it is not helpful.
Certified Expert
Still, I think it would be just fine if the donors get mass deleted and records are “incomplete.” In this case, that’s what we want, for non-nefarious reasons. People should always be encouraged to take a snapshot of their database before any mass deleting/updating.
Certified Expert
Unfortunately this makes for an awkward administration process if we have to contact our organizer to adjust our own data.
If you need help deleting donations added via import, please contact your organizer. We are happy to help ensure the quality of your data.
This is surprising, since the import process of donations, like everything else, is subject to error, and it would be great if users could mass-delete, in the same way we can mass-import.
http://nationbuilder.com/240050/improve_batch_delete_for_donors
http://nationbuilder.com/suggest
We do have some extensive help available on doing imports. You can find the information starting at
http://nationbuilder.com/preparing_for_your_import
If you need to have donations bulk deleted, feel free to email [email protected] – we can bulk delete the donations for you from here. For more on that, see:
http://nationbuilder.com/can_you_delete_everything_i_just_imported
You need to throw a warning like “xx of the yy people selected have donations associated. You will need to individually delete these donations, etc, etc: [link to this support issue]”
But, honestly, I think you should re-consider your decision. I set up a test account specifically to rehearse imports of people and donations. I’m getting things wrong repeatedly, and trying to improve the import. Now you’re telling me I will have to MANUALLY delete EACH RECORD, EACH TIME? I’m better off making an entirely new Nation! That, or please consider giving the user not only the ability to do a database snapshot, but to restore those snapshots themselves.
So if donation info. was imported incorrectly on a mass scale, the recommendation is to use donation_nationbuilder_id, so as not to create duplicate donation records in a follow up import correct?