ComplyWise has two ways to remove an entity, built for two different situations: Erase answers a privacy obligation, Delete permanently removes an entity that should never have existed. They are not interchangeable, and both are irreversible.
At a glance
| Erase | Delete permanently | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Privacy: remove personal data while keeping the record's existence | Cleanup: remove a mistake entity entirely |
| What happens | The entity's data is anonymized in place; the record remains, stripped of identifying content | The entity, its documents, and its files are removed |
| Who can do it | Workspace Admins only | Platform administrators only |
| When it's allowed | Any entity | Only before verification: an entity with a verified document, a passed review, or signed e-sign evidence cannot be deleted |
| Confirmation | Explicit confirm | Type the entity's exact name to confirm |
| Reversible | No | No |
Both actions live at the bottom of the entity's KYB record, in the danger zone of the KYB Manager menu.
When to use Erase
Use Erase when you must honor a privacy request or a retention rule: the subject's personal data has to go, but the fact that a record existed should remain (and often must, for audit reasons). Erasure anonymizes the data in place; nothing identifying survives, and the action cannot be undone.
People in the ownership register can also be erased individually; erased people are excluded from exports and shared views. Erasing, whether a whole entity or a single person, is a Workspace Admin action.
When to use Delete permanently
Use Delete for a genuine mistake: a duplicate created in error, a test entry, an entity that never belonged in the workspace. Because deletion destroys evidence, it is deliberately narrow:
- It requires a platform administrator; workspace roles (including Workspace Admin) cannot delete entities. Contact support@complywise.io if you believe an entity qualifies.
- It refuses any entity that has entered verification: a verified document, a passed review step, or e-sign evidence pinned to the entity all block deletion. That protection is the point; an entity with real compliance history is not a "mistake".
- Your workspace's primary entity can never be deleted.
- The administrator must type the entity's exact name to confirm.
If Delete is blocked and the entity still needs to go away for privacy reasons, Erase is the correct tool.
Neither is "archive"
If you just want an entity out of the way without destroying anything, don't use either action; leave the entity in place. For individual documents, marking a slot N/A handles "doesn't apply" without removing history.
Related articles
- Add a business entity: the duplicate warning that prevents most mistake entities
- Mark N/A & snooze: the gentler tool for "doesn't apply"
- A tour of the KYB Manager: where the danger zone lives