Manage Deleted Custom Fields

The field counts against the maximum number of custom fields allowed in your org until the hard-delete process permanently deletes it (see Considerations for Hard Deleting Custom Fields). A deleted field also counts against the applicable limit for its field type. For example, a deleted custom roll-up summary field counts against the maximum number of roll-up summary fields for your Salesforce edition. If you receive the error message “Unable to access page” or “No clean data columns available for custom fields” when trying to create or edit custom fields, you must erase some fields.

Considerations for Restored Custom Fields

• When deleted, the following characters are appended to the end of a custom field's developer name unless a deleted field already has that developer name: “_del”. These characters remain when you restore the custom field.
• Formula fields are restored in a disabled state, which means they don’t contain updated data until you edit and save them. While a formula field is disabled, “#Error!” displays in place of the formula value.
• Restored fields don’t display in search results immediately after you restore them. It can take a short time before the restored custom field and its data are available in search results.
• Lead fields that are mapped to account, contact, or opportunity fields for lead conversion are still mapped accordingly when restored.
• Auto number fields continue to increment after they’re deleted and contain the correct values when restored.
• Field history data for the deleted custom field is restored.

Considerations for Hard Deleting Custom Fields

• The estimated time for a hard-delete process varies, and depends on the system demand to maintain overall performance. However, you can monitor and view the details of a hard delete of a custom field by going to the Background Jobs page. From Setup, enter Background Jobs in the Quick Find box, then select Background Jobs. A row with the name “Cleanup of custom field data when a custom field definition is hard deleted” indicates that a hard delete job is in progress. The Background Jobs page also shows the details of background jobs, including a percentage estimate of the progress.
• When an org is at or above 75% of its custom field allocation limit for the current object, Salesforce displays a value for the custom fields that are ready for the hard-delete process value. This value increments when you click Erase or when a field is beyond the 15-day grace period, until the field is moved into the hard-delete process by Salesforce. The value changes only while Salesforce is actively hard deleting the field.
• Performance and Unlimited Edition orgs can use a Purge button to initiate the hard-delete process immediately.