---
title: Removing and restoring a field
summary: A field is never deleted. Removing it stops anyone from filling it in and hides it from Messages, and bringing it back returns the field together with everything already written in it.
tools: [talemo_remove_conversation_field, talemo_restore_conversation_field, talemo_list_conversation_fields]
related: [conversation-fields, field-values, conversation-script]
search: [delete field, hide field]
---

# Removing and restoring a field

A conversation field is never deleted, because the values already written in chats
still name it. It is removed, and it can be brought back at any time.

## What removing does

In the field's menu (**…**) choose **Remove**. Talemo first asks "Remove the field
…?" and explains:

- Messages stops showing the field: in **About the conversation**, in the filter
  and in the export.
- Nobody fills it in any more, neither the online admin nor the team.
- What is already written in it stays. **Bring back** returns the field together
  with those values.

Removed fields are listed under **Removed**, with the date of removal.

## What stays the same

- A removed field keeps its key. A new field cannot take the same key.
- A removed field cannot be changed and cannot get new values. To fill it in or
  edit it, bring it back first.
- Removing a field changes no chat and no client data. The values stay where they
  were written.

## A field that a step asks for cannot be removed

If a step of the conversation script writes its answer into the field, the field
cannot be removed. Talemo names the step: "Step 2 of the chat asks for this
field. Take it out of the step first." The check covers the script of the whole
business and the own scripts of branches (see
[Conversation script](conversation-script.md) and
[Script of a branch](branch-script.md)).

In the other direction, a script cannot be saved with a step that points to a
removed field. The step shows "removed" next to the field, and saving is refused
with "Step N writes into a field that isn't there anymore. Choose another field
for it."

## Bringing a field back

**Bring back** in the **Removed** list puts the field on its former place with its
options and values. Restoring a field that is already live changes nothing.

## Who can do it

Removing and restoring change the business's setup, so they belong to a role that
covers the whole business. A tool call can ask for a dry run first, which shows
the result without changing anything.

## Related

- [Conversation fields](conversation-fields.md)
- [Value of a field in a conversation](field-values.md)

## Tools and refusals

- `talemo_remove_conversation_field` removes a field: no new values, the ones set stay, but it leaves the list, the filters and the export. A field a step of the conversation script asks for is refused with status 409, code `conversation_field.in_script`, `params.step` (from 1) and, for a script of a branch, `params.branch_id`: take the step out of the script first. Ask the person before you remove a field.
- `talemo_restore_conversation_field` returns a removed field with its values, to its old place. A removed field takes no new values: setting one is refused with `conversation_field.retired`.