Hi forum friends,
I was hoping I could get some guidance or advice regarding the proper way to delete custom fields and existing data. Im still learning and still digesting some basic concepts so here is the first question:
1.If I have a live site that is displaying custom field data and I decide I don’t want to use custom fields anymore do I need to go the the backend on every page and delete the content within the fields and/or repeater entries and then save the pages first before I delete the actual field group in ACF admin? I want to avoid random stuff from being left in the database or possible duplicate field names if I recreate the fields in the future. Am I right to assume deleting the field group alone is not a good idea?
My second question more specific to my next task at hand. I have a few field groups that utilize the repeater add-on. They simply display a list of links but require a title, file or url, and a couple checkboxes and/or radio items. Since I built the field group, the client has gotten more particular about the list and wants to have the ability to break up the list by adding subheadings. I am new at this but I just recently discovered nested repeaters so I think I can redesign the structure that way. Im wondering if there is an efficient way to do this without having to re-input all of the existing repeater data for each page (So will keeping all of the field names the same but recreating them in the nested repeater break everything?
I noticed you can’t drag and drop a repeater field into a nested repeater field). Ive also noticed that making changes to the field group in the ACF admin messes with existing data. Maybe there are some tips to avoid this?
SO I guess to sum it up the big general question here is what is the best way to either start over or make significant changes to a live site that incorporates ACF? Any thoughts?
FYI-Of course I would be doing the restructuring on a local install and testing before interrupting the live site. Thanks!
This is a fairly old question, but for anyone else that’s wondering.
1) If you delete posts the data stored in custom fields will be deleted.
2) If you delete a field group or a field any data that was in the fields will remain, but see #1.
3) If you rename a field, and this includes moving a field into a nested repeater, the data that was in the field is still there under the old name. A repeater sub field name looks something like this repeater_name_1_sub_field_name if you move it to a nested repeater then it looks something like repater_name_1_nested_repeater_name_1_sub_field_name. The isn’t anything in ACF that will move the data from the old field name to the new field name, it remains in the database. See #1
