# API call to delete Observation Field

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785>\
**Category:** General\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [November 17, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785 "2025-11-17T04:27:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JoeCohen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/joecohen/32/2408_2.png) [@JoeCohen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/JoeCohen)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/1 "2025-11-17T04:27:48Z")

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is there an API call which deletes an Observation Field from an Observation.

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**Author:** ![vxlpix](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/vxlpix/32/65988_2.png) [@vxlpix](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/vxlpix)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/2 "2025-11-17T14:07:28Z")

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[https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/api+reference#delete-observation\_field\_values-id](https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/api+reference#delete-observation_field_values-id)

Here!

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**Author:** ![jwidness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jwidness](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jwidness)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/3 "2025-11-17T15:10:19Z")

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That is the legacy v0 API, please use the v1 API: [https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/docs/#!/Observation\_Field\_Values/delete\_observation\_field\_values\_id](https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/docs/#!/Observation_Field_Values/delete_observation_field_values_id)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JoeCohen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/joecohen/32/2408_2.png) [@JoeCohen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/JoeCohen)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/4 "2025-11-25T00:50:13Z")

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Thank you fro the responses. Questions:

1. Does this delete the field or merely set it value to blank?
2. The documentation is unclear on details. Could you give a short example of how to delete observation field _xxx_ from observation # _xxx_?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/5 "2025-11-25T01:51:23Z")

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here’s an example of an observation with an observation field attached. [https://api.inaturalist.org/v2/observations?id=15254910&fields=id,uuid,taxon.id,taxon.name,taxon.rank,observed\_on,user.login,submit\_date,quality\_grade,ofvs.id,ofvs.uuid,ofvs.field\_id,ofvs.datatype,ofvs.taxon\_id,ofvs.name](https://api.inaturalist.org/v2/observations?id=15254910&fields=id,uuid,taxon.id,taxon.name,taxon.rank,observed_on,user.login,submit_date,quality_grade,ofvs.id,ofvs.uuid,ofvs.field_id,ofvs.datatype,ofvs.taxon_id,ofvs.name)

```auto
{
  "total_results": 1,
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 30,
  "results": [
    {
      "uuid": "2c90daa4-b96e-4025-9f0e-0dfefa2a0d8d",
      "id": 15254910,
      "taxon": {
        "id": 102672,
        "name": "Hetaerina titia",
        "rank": "species"
      },
      "observed_on": "2018-08-08",
      "user": {
        "id": 779571,
        "login": "pisum"
      },
      "quality_grade": "research",
      "ofvs": [
        {
          "id": 7451462,
          "uuid": "a8322ae5-d669-4627-9b82-eb523fb97e13",
          "field_id": 9273,
          "datatype": "taxon",
          "taxon_id": "51271",
          "name": "Photobombed By"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

```

if you use `DELETE /v1/observation_field_values/{id}`, the `id` is the numeric id of the observation field record you want to delete. so in this case, you would replace `{id}` with `7451462`. `id` would not be the observation id (15254910), nor the field id (9273), and you don’t have to pass either of those when deleting the observation field.

if you use `DELETE /v2/observation_field_values/{uuid}`, the `uuid` is the uuid of the observation field record you want to delete. so in this case, you would replace `{uuid}` with `a8322ae5-d669-4627-9b82-eb523fb97e13`.

DELETE would get rid of the entire observation field record. if you wanted to make it blank instead, you would use the PUT endpoints instead, and you would have to pass a payload that includes the new values for the observation field, plus the observation id (v1) or uuid (v2).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JoeCohen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/joecohen/32/2408_2.png) [@JoeCohen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/JoeCohen)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/6 "2025-11-27T04:12:55Z")

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Thank you! That clears things up.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 4:13am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/api-call-to-delete-observation-field/72785/7 "2026-01-26T04:13:39Z")

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