Delete all media from a form

We are trying to clear up some space on our Kobotoolbox account by removing images. The current process to delete images from a form is very long (see Delete Media Files - #2 by Kal_Lam).

It would be great if there could be a way to simply click one button to delete all the media of a form.

Hi @dianedetoeuf, that’s a great question! We’re actually working on a bulk delete feature to remove many attachments at once which will make this a lot easier going forward. We can share how this will work in practice. The goal though is to make it really easy to remove these attachments – either to free up space or to ensure that respondents’ privacy is protected.

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Hi @dianedetoeuf,

Thanks for your question! As Tino mentioned, we have been working on designs for bulk deleting attachments from selected submissions.

For a bulk deletion feature, a user would select the submissions they want to delete attachments from and then click on the ‘Delete attachments only’ text button.

A popup modal will appear to confirm that they want to delete these attachments.

Once deleted, you will see in the table view the attachments that have been deleted.

Alternatively, if you just wanted to delete a single attachment (e.g. an image), you can click the image icon from the table which will show a popup of the image with options to delete or download it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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Hi @tessvuj, thank you, this looks like a great way of bulk deleting media and it will be super useful. Do you know when this feature will be available?

At the moment images are staying in the gallery even after being deleted, so hoping that this will be resolved with the new feature !

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Hello, do you know when this feature will be available?

Thank you for the follow-up, @dianedetoeuf! However, we apologize that it’s still uncertain when this feature will be released. We will let you know once we start working on it.

If you’re looking for a more efficient way to delete all media files associated with a form in KoBoToolbox, you may consider the following steps:

Bulk Media Deletion:
    Check if KoBoToolbox has introduced a feature for bulk media deletion since my last update. Some platforms periodically update their features, and bulk operations may be one of them.

API Usage:
    Explore the possibility of using the KoBoToolbox API. The API might provide more flexible options for bulk operations, including media deletion. Be cautious when using the API, and ensure you understand its capabilities and limitations.

KoBoToolbox Forum or Community:
    Visit the KoBoToolbox forum or community discussions. Other users might have faced similar challenges and could share workarounds or solutions. The community is often a valuable resource for learning about advanced use cases.