Troubleshooting
A person or institution cannot be deleted
Why Delete person or Delete institution is disabled or deleting gives an error, and how to solve it.
A person can be deleted only if they do not appear in any publication. An institution can be deleted only if it has no sub-units and no linked people and no publication lists it as the institution of its authors. See which of the cases below applies.
The person appears in a publication
If the Records column of the list shows a number above zero, Delete person is disabled. This number also includes records in draft and in the trash. There are two solutions:
- If the person is a duplicate of another person record, merge the two records as in Merging Person Records.
- If the person was added by mistake, remove the person from the Authors and contributors section of the records concerned, then delete the person.
The person was merged or is already deleted
On the page of a merged person, the delete button is disabled. This record stays as a redirect to the kept person. A deleted person is already in the trash and appears in the Show deleted list.
The institution has sub-units
In the tree, the Delete institution item of an institution with sub-units is disabled. First delete the sub-units, or move them under another parent institution with Edit.
People are linked to the institution
If the institution appears on a person's Affiliations card, deleting stops with a warning. On the people's pages, remove this institution from their links or replace it with the right institution, then delete the institution again.
Institution links of deleted people count too. If the link is on a deleted person, restore the person, remove the link and save, then delete the person again.
Authors of publications list the institution
If a contributor in the Authors and contributors section of a publication has this institution, deleting stops with a warning. The warning says how many publications use the institution. In these publications, replace the contributor's institution with the right one and save, then delete the institution again. A deleted institution does not appear as an author's institution on publication pages, because its page no longer opens.