Unable to delete category
Asked by Matteo Cavalli:

Hi all,

in our Confluence installation, we'r making some changes, and for this reason i need to phisical delete some categories.

Doing this from site builder (Refined Theme is in use), i've the error "You're not allowed to delete the category **XXXXXXXX** at this time, the category might still be in use.".

I don't have any space inside this categories.

Can you help me to find what i have to check to delete both category?

Thanks


Answers:
author: Shannon S
body: Hi Matteo,

Thank you for raising this.

To be clear, the associated label with the category does not have any pages that you're able to see?

If you check in the database, are you able to find any examples? See [Solved: How we can edit Space Categories in Confluence?](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/How-we-can-edit-Space-Categories-in-Confluence/qaq-p/350722) for an example of how to see this in your database.

Regards,

Shannon

comments: author: Matteo Cavalli
body: Hi,

i had searched for my label inside db, but i cannot find it. I've others category/labels, but not which i want to delete. there are some others checks that i can do via db?

thanks


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Matteo,

To be sure, the categories you are seeing are located in the **Categories** menu on the left-hand sidebar when you navigate to **Spaces** \>**Space directory**, correct? You mentioned Refined Theme so I wanted to make sure that the category does not only exist within Refined Theme.

Have you tried [reindexing Confluence](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/content-index-administration-148844.html)? If a category isn't being used and no pages have that label, then it might need a reindex.

Regards,

Shannon


author: Matteo Cavalli
body: Hi Shannon, i'm able to see category in Spaces\>space directory, with "bad" category that i would to delete.

I've just tried to reindexing Confluence without success.

Should i try to disable Refined Theme and delete category?

Thanks


author: Shannon S
body: Matteo,

I'm not really sure about Refined Theme as I've never used it personally and cannot advise on it.

Categories will still exist in Confluence if there's something associated with it. You mentioned that you already checked the database, but I would just make sure that you remove all spaces from that category as below:

* [Remove Space from a Category](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/use-labels-to-categorize-spaces-136647.html#UseLabelstoCategorizeSpaces-Searchwithinaspacecategory)

1.
   > Go to the space and choose **Space tools** \> **Overview** from the bottom of the sidebar
2.
   > Choose **Edit** next to **Space Categories**.
3.
   > Under **Space Categories**, choose the x icon next to each category that you want to remove.

You can also try the search query from the article above and see if you can narrow-down where that category is coming from:
> You can search for content within a specific space category using the search filter.
>
> To search within a Confluence space category:
>
> 1. Click the search field in the top-right of Confluence to open the search panel.
> 2. Click the **Space category** filter on the left.
> 3. Start typing the category name and choose from the list of possible matches.

If you continue to have issues, you're certainly welcome to try deleting the categories from Refined Theme. However, as I mentioned, I don't have any experience with that add-on so I can't say what the effect would be.

Let me know if you have any success.

Regards,

Shannon


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