Remove attachment completely

As Admin I have edited a post in which there was an attachment which is not allowed by our forum rules.

I removed the link to the attachment but the link remains in the edit history, and the attachment also remains (it can still be downloaded).

Can I completely remove/delete the attachment? (it’s a PDF file)

Search your admin settings for clean and you should get some options for handing orphaned uploads (though I don’t know if this is technically considered orphaned).

In the revision history, you should be able to hide a revision. I’m not sure those revisions are even viewable by non-moderators if it isn’t a wiki post.

5 Likes

Uploads (images/attachments) that are only referenced in a revision are indeed considered orphans.

7 Likes

By default revisions are visible to all users. You can disable this in site settings.

3 Likes

That won’t matter, though, because as @zogstrip pointed out, uploads referenced in old revisions get culled and deleted eventually.

Turning off all old revision viewing in this case would be a “boil the sea” solution and definitely not recommended.

To be clear, not suggesting that hiding revision history is the solution here - just clarifying Wes’s post.

1 Like

Attachments in old revisions will be permanently deleted over time. Discourse only retains attachments in live posts that are not deleted, and edit history does not count as a live, current post.

2 Likes