What is Fancy File Delete?

It's a module specifically designed to help you manually remove documents you have uploaded and linked to your site.

Why is Fancy File Delete necessary?

A change made to Drupal in the last year by the Drupal Community of developers removed the ability to delete files via the existing method in preparation for the rollout of the Media Library Initiative. The problem stems from the fact that the Media Library is still in development and not ready for use. In the meantime, we're offering this interim solution.

Why would you use Fancy File Delete?

To quickly remove files that

1. contain out-of-date health information that, if not removed, could result in harm, or
2. are subject to legal orders to cease and desist display on the site.

How to enable Fancy File Delete

1. Submit the Service Request Form to request the Fancy File Delete module be added to your site.
2. If you are NOT a Site Builder, ask us to also prepare the View as described in the next step for you.

How to use the module

First, make the View provided with the module more user-friendly.  Note: You must be a Site Builder to perform this step, so let us know if you need assistance in completing it.

1. In your browser's URL field click at the end of your site's domain name (example: sitefarm.ucdavis.edu/{here}) and add /admin/config/content/fancy_file_delete/list
2. Hover your mouse anywhere over the text in the body of the page and look for the Edit pen on the right side. Click on that and select Edit View from the submenu.
3. In the first column of View configuration options locate Filter Criteria and click its Add button.
4. Check Filename and click the Apply (this display) button.
5. In the popup, configure the following:
   • check the box to expose the filter
   • change Operator to 'contains'
   • Click Apply (this display)
6. Repeat from step 3 to click the Add button in Filter Criteria.
7. This time, check the File MIME type and apply steps 4 and 5.
8. Save your View changes.

 Second, proceed to delete the files, one by one.

1. Navigate to Shortcuts » All Content » Files tab and locate the files you intend to delete. Right click on the file name in the Name column and copy/paste the URL to a safe location so it can be used in the Fourth Step. Repeat as necessary.
2. Navigate to Manage » Configuration » Content Authoring » Fancy File Delete.
3. Click on the List tab.
4. Locate each file to be deleted and make note of its exact FILE ID number.
5. Click on the Manual tab.
6. Enter in the FILE ID number. NOTE: the system seems only capable of deleting one file at a time, so don't list more than one.
7. Click the Engage button to delete it.
8. NOTE: If you receive an error message saying "Temporarily Unavailable" this is a phantom message and can be safely ignored. The module has a couple of bugs in it, but your file has been deleted.
9. Navigate back to All Content » Files tab and verify your files are gone.

Third, clear your site's cache on Site Factory

1. If you have access to Site Factory, clear your site's cache. If you do not have access to Site Factory, please submit a request to the SiteFarm team to do this for you. This is an essential step in the process because the platform memory cache is set to only clear itself once every two weeks for files. Since files don't change very often, the cache clear setting is deliberately low to improve the overall performance of the service.

Fourth, contact the SiteFarm team at sitefarm@ucdavis.edu and request your file be deleted from Fastly

1. At the time of this writing, files are held in a state of "soft purge" on Fastly in the event hosting fails; this allows for a safe fallback until such time as the problem is resolved. 
2. Asking us to do a hard purge on your file ensures it is permanently removed from the record.
3. Please provide the full file URL when you send your request.