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Deleting Documents

Deleting documents in Formbird FLEET requires care. Because most documents have child documents linked to them, deleting a parent before its children will leave orphaned records in the database. Always delete child documents first, then work up to the parent.

If you need to locate or restore a recently deleted document, use the Recently Deleted Documents report. See Recovering Deleted Documents below.

Delete Order

The correct approach is to identify the full chain of child documents, delete from the bottom up, and only delete the parent once all children have been removed.

Example — deleting a Service Configuration:

  1. Delete the Service Details Documents generated from the configuration.
  2. Delete the Service Configuration.

Example — deleting a Service Request:

  1. Open the Service Request and inspect its Work Orders.
  2. On each Work Order, delete all child documents — Time Recorders, Used Materials, Questionnaires, and any other linked records.
  3. Delete the Work Order(s).
  4. Delete the Service Request.

The same principle applies across all document types: Requests, Work Orders, bookings, plant hour records, and others all follow a parent-child structure.

Removing Access vs. Deleting Accounts

For user accounts specifically, the recommended approach when a person leaves is to unverify the account rather than delete it. Deleting an account removes historical data and breaks references throughout the application. Unverifying it prevents login while preserving all history.

See Accounts for the steps to unverify an account.

Recovering Deleted Documents

Any document deleted by a user can be reinstated. For recent deletions, you can do this yourself using the Recently Deleted Documents report in the Reports menu.

Recently Deleted Documents report

The report contains two panels:

Deleted Documents (last week) Lists all documents deleted within the last seven days. Select the document(s) you want to reinstate and select Restore Selected to recover them.

Recent Documents (changed/generated within last hour) Lists documents that were created or updated within the last hour. Useful for locating a document that was just generated by the system or recently modified.

Requesting reinstatement for older deletions

If the document was deleted more than a week ago and does not appear in the report, contact Formbird Support to request recovery. Provide as many of the following details as possible:

  • The document ID, if known (the unique string visible in the URL when the document was open)
  • The approximate date and time the document was deleted
  • A key value on the document — for example, a date, dollar amount, or asset name
  • The type of document — for example, Fuel Receipt, Asset, Request

Published: May 2026 · Formbird FLEET 4.2.8