How to purge

The DAMS user interface allows purging of assets in different locations.

Purging individual assets

On the "Manage" tab of any asset, irrespective of asset type/content model, the "Properties" sub-tab contains a link labeled "Permanently remove object". Use this link with caution, as it could result in assets being orphaned.

Purging collections and publications

When trying to purge collections, publication assets, books or serial issues (paged content), the DAMS purging functions will check if these assets have children. This is the case if a collection contains assets, a publication contains issues, or if an issue or a book contains pages. The DAMS "Purge objects" function available from the "Tools" menu will automatically offer to delete children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc. Other methods to permanently remove/purge assets from the DAMS could result in orphaned assets, which are difficult to retrieve and manage. Always use the "Purge objects" function available from the DAMS "Tools" menu to purge collections, publications, books or serial issues.

Purging lists of assets

The DAMS "Tools" menu contains an entry labeled "Purge objects". If you navigate to the "Purge objects" form, you can enter a list of PIDs for deletion. If any of the PIDs refer to assets which have children or grandchildren, the DAMS will list these and ask for confirmation before deleting all related assets.

Purging pages from paged content

On the "Manage" tab of a Book or Publication Issue asset, the "Book"/"Issue" sub-tab contains an option to delete pages. Selecting this option will list all page assets associated with the Book or Publication Issue, with check boxes to mark pages for deletion.

Consider the following results of purging individual pages from a Book or Publication asset with this method:

• Purging will NOT automatically update an asset published to the Collections Portal. Unpublish and re-publish the asset to populate the . 
• It will NOT impact remaining page numbers nor the sequence in which remaining pages are presented. For example, given pages 1, 2, 3, if page 2 is purged, page 3 will remain page number 3 and will appear sequentially after page 1.
• It will NOT automatically regenerate a PDF at the parent book/issue level. The PDF datastream may be regenerated by user initiation through the Manage tab in the GUI at the parent book/issue level. 
• If the page purged was the first page (and thus, was being used as the default thumbnail for the parent book/issue), it will NOT automatically regenerate a new thumbnail. The thumbnail datastream may be regenerated by user initiation through the Manage tab in the GUI at the parent book/issue level. 
• There is no need to purge pages and replace them if the desired effect is only to change the sequence in which they are presented. Reordering page sequence can be accomplished through the Manage tab in the GUI at the parent book/issue level. (Note: the two columns are listed for convenience; e.g., moving page 200 to 2 doesn't require you to drag it all the way up the same column.)