How to permanently delete a term?

[nitin-cfg]

It looks like Canvas retains the sis id even after deleting the record. We have built some integrations and would be re-running the same data few times as part of testing. I am unable to re-create the terms with sis id which i already deleted. I do not see any reports to run for Terms. Pls advise how to permanently delete terms or any other record for that matter so that it allows to re-create the record again with same sis id.

[melodyc_lam · Accepted solution]

@nitin-cfg Welcome!

Yes, Canvas does retain the SIS ID after deleting records, so that you are able to restore the record by SIS ID if needed.

Just FYI, to run a report for Terms that come from a SIS import or integration, you'll want to go to your root account, then go to Settings -> Reports tab and run the SIS Export report, making sure that you check the box for "Include Deleted Objects" if you want to see any deleted terms. 

To re-create the term again with the same SIS ID you'll need to run a  Change SIS ID CSV file to change the term's SIS ID (we recommend using the current SIS ID and append "_delete" as your new SIS ID) to change the SIS ID then make the term again with the right SIS ID.

Hope this helps!

[melodyc_lam · Accepted solution]

@nitin-cfg Welcome!

Yes, Canvas does retain the SIS ID after deleting records, so that you are able to restore the record by SIS ID if needed.

Just FYI, to run a report for Terms that come from a SIS import or integration, you'll want to go to your root account, then go to Settings -> Reports tab and run the SIS Export report, making sure that you check the box for "Include Deleted Objects" if you want to see any deleted terms. 

To re-create the term again with the same SIS ID you'll need to run a  Change SIS ID CSV file to change the term's SIS ID (we recommend using the current SIS ID and append "_delete" as your new SIS ID) to change the SIS ID then make the term again with the right SIS ID.

Hope this helps!

[nitin-cfg]

thank you for your response, it helped!!

[nitin-cfg]

@melodyc_lam really appreciate your quick response, thank you! will try that and let you know how it goes.

[dbrace · Accepted solution]

While I have not had a need to delete a term and reuse its SIS ID, before I delete a Canvas course I change the course's SIS ID and integration ID before I "delete" it. I would recommend doing similar steps for anything that has an SIS ID (or integration ID) before deleting (or as I describe below, moving) it.

Technically I move the Canvas course to a "Trash" sub-account and "Trash" term) so that I can (potentially) (a) reuse the (because of standardization for how they are formatted) SIS ID or (b) do not have to restore the course if there was any content in it.

[nitin-cfg]

thank you for your response, it helped!!

[chriscas]

Hi @nitin-cfg,

In addition to the great comments from @melodyc_lam and @dbrace, I thought it might be good to quickly discuss deletions overall in Canvas.  In my 12 years of experience as a Canvas admin, I basically have the expectation that as of right now, almost nothing is ever permanently removed/deleted from Canvas.  As you're discovering, most delete actions are really more of a "soft-delete" where the items don't show up in the UI (or API) anymore, but they do still exist in the database and will prevent you from reusing some of their ID info (as that's what can sometimes be utilized to restore items in the future if needed, especially through SIS processes).  If I ever do need to delete a course or user from production Canvas, I take similar action as @dbrace and remove (or alter) the sis_id first to avoid future issues.

For your situation where is sounds like you're doing some development work, I'd recommend using your beta/test Canvas environments if possible.  I make that recommendation just so you don't have a lot of deleted things in production that will basically never fully go away.  I know it's not always feasible to do all development work in beta/test, but when possible I'd highly encourage it.

Hope this helps!

-Chris