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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Impact of mass deletio...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Impact of mass deletion of contact

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Posted on by WTechdev 80

I need to delete about 11.000 contacts. I have the contacts in a spreadsheet and should be able to fetch the contacts using Advanced Find/Marketing Lists. Before deletion, I need to export all the contacts for backup along with ALL the fields and related data. When performing an Advanced Find and selecting all columns, CRM breaks down.

I am also concerned about what happens to related data when deleting a contact. The contact might have participated in an Event. Will these records be deleted as well?


So, what is the best way to mass delete contacts and related data? And how can I restore to the point before the deletion was performed?

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I have the same question (0)
  • Royal King Profile Picture
    Royal King 27,686 on at

    Before mass deleting contacts its worth checking the relationship behavior of all related entities.If the relationship is set to parental then all child records also deleted automatically. If you want to keep other records related to contact like Activities first update the relationship behavior to cascade and set corresponding action you would like to do. Verify the behavior by deleting same records before doing mass delete. Once you satisfied with the result you can backup the data and delete the contacts.

  • Suggested answer
    Mahadeo Matre Profile Picture
    Mahadeo Matre 17,021 on at

    Hi WTechdev,

    For exporting data CRM has some limitations.. You can export upto only 10000 records at at time..

    But you can increase export limit

    Please check

    thabscrm.com/.../crm-2011-increase-export-to-excel-limit-10000

    varghesedanny.com/.../crm-2011-export-to-excel-limit

    www.dynamicscrmpros.com/export-limitation-microsoft-dynamics-crm-microsoft-excel

    Another option would be you can divide your data into parts and export.. or if you are using on-premise CRM then just take database backup.

    About deleting related records.

    Deleting related records are based on relationship behavior you defined in when creating entity.

    You can change that relationship behavior.

    Here are more details on CRM relationship

    msdn.microsoft.com/.../gg309412.aspx

    Hope this will help.

    Thanks,

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Are there any other options open to you such as deactivating them, and/or moving them to another Business Unit (to hide them from users)? These would be less destructive and much easier to reverse / restore from than any kind of data deletion.

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