MachForm Self-Hosted: How to Delete Data Permanently

By default, when you delete your form data or form fields, MachForm won't permanently delete them. Instead, they are being flagged as removed and hidden from any kind of access from your MachForm dashboard.

Many of MachForm users found this feature very helpful, particularly on a case where a user accidentally delete a form that contains important data. Using this feature, all deleted data can be restored easily.

However, in a case where you need to do permanent data deletion or prefer MachForm to always delete the data permanently, you can do this quite easily.

To do this, edit the config.php file which is located under your machform folder and search for this line of code:

define('MF_CONF_TRUE_DELETE',false);

change it to become:

define('MF_CONF_TRUE_DELETE',true);

Save the file and that's all you need to do. From this point forward, any deletion operation will permanently delete your form data.

As of MachForm version 9, we've added Data Retention control feature that allows your MachForm to delete old entries automatically. The Data Retention feature is not affected by the above configuration, it will permanently delete your data, regardless the configuration on your config.php file