# Purging Data from Flosum Backup & Archive

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#### Required User Credentials

\[**Flosum User**] - **Backup & Archive** license with **App Settings** permissions
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## ![](/files/8LPOD7VlZYK2L80ncxgE)Overview

Purging data deletes selected records from all your Flosum backups and archives, helping you meet GDPR requirements. The process starts with searching for the data you want to remove. After confirming the search results, you can continue with the purge. This article shows how to purge data after a search is complete. To learn how to perform a search, see the following article.

* [Searching in Flosum Backup & Archive](/backup-and-archive/search/searching-in-flosum-backup-and-archive.md)

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To search for records, you must have **Backup & Archive** permissions. Therefore, to execute both a Search and a Purge, permissions for **Backup & Archive** and **App Settings** are required.
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Purging Data will only delete records from the Flosum **Backup & Restore** app. No data will be deleted from **Salesforce**.
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## Purge Data

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### Select Search Request

1. Click **Search** from the sidebar menu.
2. Click the **Organization Switcher** from the breadcrumb path. 

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/ZTGIdmaw4msJ1cQUR9HU" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
3. Select the organization you wish to use.&#x20;

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/eOQ16ImUIIC0N5adcAz3" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
4. In the **History** table, click a **Search Request** job marked as **Ready for purge**.&#x20;

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/loQviz8OiBJvS7nCdm9E" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

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Only **Search Requests** that have one or more **Records** and haven’t been purged will be marked as **Ready for purge**.
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### Review Data

It is essential to review the search results before purging the data. For instructions on reviewing search results, see the **Reviewing Search Results** section of the following article.

* [Searching in Flosum Backup & Archive](/backup-and-archive/search/searching-in-flosum-backup-and-archive.md#reviewing-search-results)
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### Run Purge

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Running a **Purge** will permanently remove the selected data from all backups and archives. Review the data to confirm that the correct data is being deleted, as this process cannot be reversed.
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1. Click **Run purge**.&#x20;

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/i7n0OeJqGxpFZhyVCJ0x" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
2. Click **Run purge** on the **Run purge** confirmation dialog box.&#x20;

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/jowAYNUzs2ylrwp6pYje" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
3. Scroll down to the **History** table to view the status of the Purge Job.&#x20;

   <div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/wQxeB7kjap2tzFk2t53g" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.flosum.com/backup-and-archive/search/purging-data-from-flosum-backup-and-archive.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.