Deleting versions

Transactional and historical versions can be deleted when they are no longer needed. For example, if a transactional version was created for edits made on a certain project, all edits that were made in that transactional version have been reconciled and posted to a target version, and the project is over, you can delete the project transactional version. Similarly, if you had created a set of historical markers for a presentation to stakeholders or management to show the progress made on a project over the last month, you might want to delete those historical markers after the presentation is done.

Deleting unneeded versions simplifies version management (the fewer versions there are, the shorter the list and the fewer to manage). In the case of transactional versions, it also keeps the version from potentially blocking the DEFAULT version from being compressed to state 0.

Only the owner or the geodatabase administrator can delete a transactional version. Anyone can delete an historical version.

You should be aware of the following important information before you delete any versions:

• If you delete a transactional version that has child versions that you own (or, if you are connected to the geodatabase as the geodatabase administrator), the version and all it's descendent versions will be deleted.
• If you are not connected as the geodatabase administrator and the version you want to delete has any descendent versions that you do not own, you will not be able to delete your version.
• If you delete a transactional version that contained edits that had not been reconciled and posted to a target version, you will lose all those edits.
• If you delete an historical marker that is currently in use in another ArcMap session, that ArcMap session will lose its data sources that pointed to that historical marker.
• You cannot delete the DEFAULT version; it is required for your geodatabase to function.

To delete a version that you are sure is no longer needed, do the following:

1. Start ArcMap or ArcCatalog and connect to the geodatabase that contains the version you want to delete.
2. Right-click the database connection, point to Administration, click Geodatabase Administration, then click the Versions tab.
3. Choose the version to delete.
   • If deleting a transactional version, click the Transactional subtab and choose a version from that list.
   • If deleting an historical marker, click the Historical subtab and choose a version from that list.
4. Right-click the version and click Delete Version.

   If you are deleting a transactional version, you will be prompted to be sure you want to delete the version and all of its children (if any exist). Click OK if you want to delete the transactional version and all its children.