Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Cannot delete forms directory

How do you delete a directory called "Forms" in a SharePoint 2007 document library? This is not the reserved, hidden "Forms" directory where the templates go. I know that shouldn't be deleted. This is a user-added directory called "Forms" a few levels below the document library root, e.g. /sitename/documentlibrary/subject1/subject2/forms/

In the web interface, the site throws an error:




In SharePoint designer, it gives this error:


I can't figure out how to delete these custom "Forms" directories. Google has been no help. If you have a solution, please let me know. I will post any solutions I find.

Should we really not ever have any document library folders called "Forms"?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its not an ideal solution, but you can try deleting the parent folder. Luckily for me the parent folder did not have any other contents, so was easliy recreated.

Joelsef said...

Yeah, that seems to work. But it's a pain if you already have a lot of content in there. Oh well. New tip of the day to our users: Never create a "Forms" directory anywhere in a document library!

Dustin said...

http://sharepointsite//Shared%20Documents/Forms/

That one should be there if it is another that you are speaking of then there are multiple ways. First would be to delete from within sharepoint if there is not an option to such as the Forms Library which does not have remove options then you have a couple other ways to remove the offending file or directory. You would need to use either Microsoft Sharepoint Designer to delete or a much easier way is to use windows explorer.

Dustin said...

To continue: Go to My Network Places -> Add a network place -> Click Next -> Choose Another -> Click Next -> type Sharepoint portal site address (dont' forget the http://) -> Click Next -> type a name for the place -> Click next then Finish. Once it is created then click on your newly created Network place then navigate to to the Shared Documents (or what ever your Form Library is called) to delete the file and/or directory. This is also an easy way to copy large amounts of documents to the portal.

Anonymous said...

Using Explorer or SharePoint Designer doesn't work. Explorer will let you "appear" to delete the folder, which reappears later. SharePoint Designer gives an error that the Forms directory cannot be deleted. This is a problem that needs an override solution from Microsoft.

Anonymous said...

You can use a freeware utility called spm2007 out on the net. Use at your own risk.