Deleting an element, subtotal or section

In building your Chart of Accounts in the Forecast workspace, element selection, and accounts structuring is important in the initial process of the file setup. As you review your existing Chart of Accounts, you may wish to delete certain elements from it.

This article takes you through the following: 

• How to delete an element
• How to delete more than one element
• Why can’t I delete the element?
• How to delete a subtotal and section
• Why can't I delete the section?

 

How to delete an element

1. Select the element you want to delete by clicking on it
2. A light blue highlight should appear to indicate your selection
3. Locate the trash icon and click on it to delete, or hit the Delete key on the keyboard

 

How to delete more than one element

You can delete multiple elements in your Chart of Accounts in one go with the following steps:

1. Multi-select the elements you want to delete by selecting the first unwanted element and holding down the Ctrl-key on the keyboard to select the other unwanted elements
2. You can also hold Shift on the keyboard to select a group of sequential elements
3. Hit the Delete key on the keyboard to delete the selected elements all at once

Why can’t I delete the element?

There are a number of reasons why you might not be able to delete your selected element(s).

1. Your file has Actuals enabled. Once you’ve enabled Actuals in your Castaway file, existing elements can no longer be removed. 
2. Your file may be in Read-Only mode. Click HERE to learn more about how to resolve this.
3. The element you are trying to delete is a Castaway in-built element. You can tell that the element is an in-built element by the colour of the font i.e. light-blue colour. 
4. Your account name may be too long, and therefore not displaying the trash icon in your screen view. You will need to move the scroll bar located at the bottom of your Chart of Accounts to the most right to find the trash icon, or just select the element and hit the Delete key on the keyboard.

 

How to delete a subtotal or section

Castaway offers you the flexibility to structure your Profit and Loss Chart of Accounts by organizing them by either Subtotals or Sections. To learn more about how you can use this and what the differences are, please refer to THIS article. 

Deleting a subtotal or section is a little different from deleting an element. To delete a Subtotal or Section, you will first need to make sure they are not holding any elements. To ensure this, either drag and drop the elements somewhere else, or delete them via the steps above. Once the Subtotal or Section is empty, the option to delete (i.e. the trashbin icon) will be available for you to select. 

See comparison down below:

 

Why can't I delete the section?

You're not able to delete or remove the following in-built sections:

• Sales 
• Direct Costs
• Overheads
• General Overheads
• Other Income
• Other Expense
• Interest Income
• Interest Expense
• Non-Operating Income
• Non Operating Expense

The reasoning behind this is because Castaway wants to let you know that these sections are always available to you should you need them. If you don't that's completely fine, you don't have to use them. As long as there are no elements or any data in these sections, they will not appear in your reports. 

If you have further questions about the above, please reach out to our Customer Success Team for more guidance.