Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Experience Analyst : Configure bulk deletion
Bulk Deletion in Dynamics 365 is a feature that allows administrators and users with the right permissions to remove large volumes of data from the system in a safe and controlled way. Instead of deleting records one by one, you can schedule bulk deletion jobs that target unwanted, outdated, or test data—such as inactive leads, old activities, or duplicate records. These jobs can be set to run immediately or on a recurring schedule, and they operate in the background without affecting ongoing user activities. Bulk deletion also supports filtering criteria, so you can precisely define which records to remove. This helps improve system performance, keeps the database clean, reduces storage costs, and ensures that only relevant, up-to-date information is available for business processes and reporting.
Bulk deletion isn’t just about clearing data—it’s a technical housekeeping tool that ensures performance, compliance, automation, and governance in Dynamics 365 and Dataverse environments.
System Performance & Storage Optimization
- Large amounts of unused or outdated data (inactive leads, closed cases, logs, test records) consume Dataverse storage. Bulk deletion helps free up this storage, which directly improves system responsiveness and reduces costs (since storage in Dynamics 365 is billed).
Asynchronous Processing
- Bulk deletion jobs run as asynchronous system jobs in the background. This ensures that end-user performance is not impacted while mass deletions are taking place.
Customizable Criteria
- Administrators can use Advanced Find or FetchXML queries to define conditions for which records should be deleted. This ensures only relevant data is removed without touching active records.
Recurring Deletion Jobs
- Bulk deletion supports scheduled and recurring jobs, making it possible to automate cleanup (e.g., delete all inactive leads older than 6 months every quarter). This reduces manual overhead.
System Jobs & Logging
- Every bulk delete request is logged as a System Job in Dynamics 365, allowing administrators to monitor progress, check success/failure, and audit which records were removed.
Security & Permissions
- Bulk deletion requires the right security roles (e.g., Delete privilege on the entity + Bulk Deletion privilege). This ensures that only authorized users can remove large amounts of data.
Impact on Integrations & Workflows
- Deleted records can affect related workflows, plugins, or integrations. Since the deletion is permanent (except when soft-delete features like auditing are enabled), admins must carefully test criteria before running jobs.
Governance & Data Compliance
- From a compliance perspective, bulk deletion helps organizations implement data retention policies (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) by ensuring sensitive or outdated records are automatically purged after a defined period.
- Go to Advanced Settings in Dynamics 365.
- Under Data Management, select Bulk Record Deletion.
- (In Power Platform Admin Center, you can also find this under Dataverse → Data management.)
- Click New.
- This launches the Bulk Deletion Wizard.
- Use the wizard (similar to Advanced Find) to select the entity and filter conditions.
- Entity: Lead
- Condition: Status = Inactive and Created On older than 6 months
- This ensures only the right records are deleted.
- Before scheduling the deletion, you can run an Advanced Find separately with the same criteria to confirm which records match.
- This is a best practice to avoid accidental data loss.
- Choose When to run:
- Run immediately, or
- Schedule at a later date/time.
- If you want it to repeat (e.g., monthly cleanup), select Make this a recurring job and set the frequency.
- The job will run under the context of the user who created it.
- Ensure this user has Delete privileges on the target entity + Bulk Delete privilege.
- Records owned by other users will only be deleted if the owner has the required permissions.
- You can configure email notifications:
- Notify the owner when the job finishes.
- Notify system administrators of errors.
- Once started, the Bulk Delete Job appears in System Jobs.
- You can track:
- Status (Waiting, In Progress, Completed, Failed)
- Number of records deleted
- Errors (if any)
- After completion, the job shows success/failure details.
- If the job was scheduled as recurring, it will automatically create the next instance.
- Always test with a small dataset or use Advanced Find to validate criteria.
- Use recurring jobs for routine cleanup (inactive leads, audit logs, etc.).
- Check System Jobs regularly for failures.
- Consider data retention policies (GDPR, compliance) before deletion.
- For massive datasets, schedule jobs during off-peak hours to reduce load.
- Cleanup Inactive Leads – Delete leads older than 12 months that haven’t been contacted.
- Purge Completed Workflows/System Jobs – Free up system resources.
- Remove Test Data – Delete records created in UAT environments after testing.
- Comply with Data Retention Policies – Automatically delete records after a legal retention period.
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