How to Delete Stubborn Autodesk Vault PLM Properties

IMAGINiT Tricks Tutorial: If you want to remove properties from Vault, you might need to follow this protocol.

Editor's note: This tutorial courtesy of IMAGINiT Technologies.

When you initially configure Autodesk Vault, as well as when you make subsequent updates to your Vault workflows, it’s common to create Custom Vault Properties only to determine later that you don’t need them.

Deleting unused properties is usually a straightforward process. Start by first checking the Usage Count. If the property is used by 1 or more files, you cannot remove the property.

If the property usage is “0,” you can remove its associations and then delete the files.

There are some scenarios where even though the Usage Count is “0” and all associations have been removed, you may receive one of these two errors:

OR

There may still be file records that are using the property, but the property’s value is empty.

It may require and Advanced Search to locate these files so you can remove their associations to the property.                                                                                 

If you run into this issue, here is a workflow that should allow you to remove the property. Follow these steps:

 1. Edit the property you are trying to delete.

2. A simple edit is to set the Requires Value to “True.”

3. Make sure the Property State is set to “Enable\.”

4. Click OK to Save your Changes.

5. The above steps triggers Vault to update the Property Compliance values. During the update process, Property Compliance will have a value of “Pending” for all of the files that are associated to your property.

6. Open the Advanced Find utility. Note: Be sure to perform the search immediately after the property edit in order to capture all files with a Pending value.

7. Create a query that uses “Property Compliance” is “Pending.”

8. Find the Files.

9. In the results window, select all of the files.

10. From the Find Toolbar, select Actions and then Add or Remove Property.

11. Select your property from the List and set the action to “Remove.”

You should now be able to delete the property. If you receive the same errors again, repeat the procedure above to capture any of the files where the Property Compliance updated before you ran the search.

If you are still unable to remove the property, you may have to set the property’s state to “Disable.”