If you mistakenly imported bad data or simply want to start anew with your import, this article will teach you how to delete records in bulk. A System Administrator can mass delete data in two ways, depending on the type of records they are.

Mass Delete Records is a native Salesforce tool which can be used to mass delete records in standard Salesforce objects such as Companies, Contacts, Activities, and Reports.

(For instructions on how to mass delete records in custom objects like Properties, Spaces/Units, Deals, and Comps, skip ahead to the section titled Data Loader.)

Recommendations: If you imported Contacts and Companies and need to mass delete both types of records, then delete Companies first. This will also delete all Contacts associated with those Companies.

Limitations: Undoing an import with Mass Delete Records is based on the creation time of the new records and the alias of the user who conducted the import. Due to this, Mass Delete Records tool may also find records that were manually created by that same user during the same time period. You can mass delete 250 records at a time. For larger imports, you will need to run multiple batches.

1. Go to Setup

search for Mass Delete in the Quick Find box select Mass Delete Records

2. Select your record of choice. In Rethink you will only focus on Accounts (which is Companies), Activities, Contacts, and Reports as your primary options to delete. For Company/Contact imports, remember to mass delete Accounts first).

3. Once your record of choice is selected, please review
​ Step 1: Review what will happen when you mass delete your [...]
​ Step 2: Recommendation prior to mass deleting

4. Step 3 will allow you to create filters around the type of data you want to delete. This step is optional if you simply want to delete all. If you do, or do not, create your criteria, you will need to click Search afterwards:

5. You can disregard Step 4 and Step 5 that follows on your page, as Rethink does not use Opportunities.

6. Once you scroll down the page you will see the records you imported. Selecting the Permanently delete [...] checkbox is optional. If you want to delete all of your records, and still reference them in your Recycle Bin at a later time, then you do not need to select the checkbox.

7. At this point, if you are ready to delete the records, you can check the Select All box at the top of your list and proceed by clicking the Delete button:

Now that we understand how to mass delete records for Companies, Contacts, Activities, and Reports, then let's move onto how we can delete other records using Data Loader.

Data Loader is an external tool from Salesforce that will allow you to mass delete records in custom objects like Properties, Spaces/Units, Deals, and Comps. You can access Data Loader by clicking here, or by going into Setup > Data Loader. If you have more than 10,000 records to process, you will need to install the client version by going into Setup > Data Loader and following the instructions to install the application.

There are three main steps in performing a mass delete through Data Loader:

Step 1: Export the data you want to delete

Step 2: Review your exported data

Step 3: Delete the data

Log in to Data Loader using your Rethink credentials, then under Task, click Export.

You will see a list of all objects in Rethink - this refers to the type of records you want to delete.

In this example, we will be deleting some Properties in the database that we mistakenly imported:

Next, we will choose ID and Name, then select Finish
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You can also choose to add filters to the export - such as by 'Created Date', in this example, to select only those property records with a created date of XXXX (the date of the bad import). Otherwise, you can follow the instructions in step 2 to filter the records on the export spreadsheet.

Review the file you just exported and remove any records (rows) from the spreadsheet that you do not want to delete, so that all records you do want to delete remain. After that, delete the entire Name column from your spreadsheet (so that only the Id column remains), then save your CSV file. Any properties that remain on the spreadsheet will be deleted in the next step, so ensure the spreadsheet is correct before proceeding.
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In Data Loader, click on Task and choose Delete, then select the object again. In this example, we will select Property since we are deleting properties. Next, upload the edited CSV file from the previous step. Click Next > select Create or Edit a Map > select Auto-Match Fields to Columns in the popup window.

Finally, click OK > Next > Finish. Review the Output file if any errors exist.

Please reach out to Product Support (rethinkcrm@buildout.com) if you have any questions about mass deleting records.