# Purging workflow

Use the workflow example below to perform rules-governed file purging to delete files older than a specified date for the data source.

**CAUTION:**

Purged files are permanently deleted.

**Note:** To manually delete a file, see **Explore Your Data** in **Data Catalog**.

Before you begin, the data sources and storage destinations should already be present in Data Catalog. Also, your role in Data Catalog and Data Optimizer must have permissions for the operations you want to perform. See [Default user roles and permissions in Data Optimizer](/pdc-10.2-data-optimizer/pdso-management/pdso-rbac.md).

1. From Data Optimizer, click **Check Data Temperature** to open the **Glossary** in Data Catalog.
2. Create a domain. For example, `Data Temperature`. See [Assign data temperatures](/pdc-10.2-data-optimizer/pdso-use-data-storage-optimizer/pdso-assign-data-temperatures.md).
3. Create terms for the domain to apply to your files or folders. For example, `Boiling`, `Hot`, `Warm`, `Cold`, and `Frozen`.
4. Click **Management** to open the Manage Your Environment page, and on the **Metadata Rules** card, click **Add New**. Then click **Add Rule Definition** and create a rule definition with the following attributes:
   1. Name the rule definition. For example, `Frozen Files`.
   2. In **Criteria** select **Object** equals **File**
   3. Click **Create a condition** and select **Attribute** equals **Last Access Date**.
   4. In **Operator** select **Less Than Date**, and then enter a time and date. For example, `1 October 2020, 00:00:00`
   5. In **Add Action** select **Apply Business Terms**
   6. In **Add Term** enter `Frozen` (for example)
   7. In **Add Action** select **Remove Business Terms**
   8. In **Add Term** enter `Boiling`, `Hot`, `Warm`, and `Cold` (for example).
   9. Click **Save**.
5. Open the Manage Your Environment page, and on the **Metadata Rules** card, click **Add New** > **Add Rule** then create a metadata rule with these attributes:
   1. Name the metadata rule. For example, `Find Frozen Files`.
   2. Select the **Source Data Asset** on which to run the rule.
   3. Select the rule definition created earlier. For example, `Frozen Files`.
   4. Select the checkbox to run the rule now, enter a time to run it later, or both.
   5. Click **Apply**.
6. Click the **App Switcher** then select Data Optimizer.
7. Click **Management** to open the Manage Your Environment page. On the **Rules** card, click **Add New** > **Add Rule Definition** and create a rule definition to delete files:
   1. Name the rule definition. For example, `Purge Frozen Data`.
   2. In **Criteria** select **Object** equals **File**.
   3. Click **Create a condition** and select **Attribute** equals **Business Term**.
   4. In **Operator** select **Equals Ignore Case**.
   5. In **Value** select `Frozen` (for example).
   6. Click **Start Process**.
   7. In **Action** select **Delete**.
   8. Click **Save**.
8. On the **Rules** card, click **Add New** > **Add Rule** then create a metadata rule with these attributes:
   1. Name the metadata rule. For example, `Delete Frozen Data`.
   2. Select the **Source Data Asset** on which to run the metadata rule.
   3. Select the rule definition created earlier. For example, `Purge Frozen Data`.
   4. Select the checkbox to run the rule now, enter a time to run it later, or both.
   5. Click **Apply**.

Results: Files marked Frozen are deleted.

To view the history of the execution, on the **Rules** card, click **Rules**. Locate the name of the metadata rule and select **View**. Click the **History** tab to view the status and click **Statistics** to view detailed results.


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