Delete a traditional version

Versions can be deleted when they are no longer needed. For example, you can delete a version after work is completed and all edits have been reconciled and posted to the target version.

For traditional versioning, deleting unneeded versions simplifies version management and prevents these versions from potentially blocking the default version from being compressed to state 0.

For traditional versioning, versions can be deleted in the Versions view or using the Delete Version tool. Only the owner of the version or the geodatabase administrator can delete a version.

Before you delete any version, consider the following:

• If you delete a version that has child versions that you own or if you are connected to the geodatabase as the geodatabase administrator, the version and all its descendent versions will be deleted.
• If you are not connected as the geodatabase administrator and the version you want to delete has descendent versions that you do not own, you cannot delete your version.
• If you delete a historical marker that is currently in use in another map or project, that map or project will lose its data sources that pointed to that historical marker.
• If you delete a version containing unreconciled edits and that was not posted to default, you will lose all edits.
• You cannot delete the default version; it is required for your geodatabase to function.

Delete a version in the Versions view

To delete a traditional version in the Versions view, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Versions view.
2. Click the left-most column next to the version name to select the entire row.
3. Right-click and click Delete. Alternatively, press Delete on your keyboard, or click the Delete button on the Versions tab.

   If you did not save your edits and want to return the deleted version to its original state, right-click the row and click Restore version. The strike-through is removed and this version is not deleted.

4. Click Save on the Versions tab to commit the changes.

   The specified versions are deleted from the geodatabase.

If you are deleting a version that has child versions, a prompt appears to verify that you want to delete the version and all of its children. Select Delete Child Versions and click OK to delete the traditional version and all child versions.

Delete a version using the Delete Version tool

To delete a traditional version using the Delete Version geoprocessing tool, complete the following steps:

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools to open the Geoprocessing pane.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and select Delete Version.
3. For the Input Workspace parameter, browse to and select the database connection workspace.
4. For the Version Name parameter, select the version from the drop-down list that you want to delete.
5. Click Run.
The specified version is deleted from the geodatabase.