How to remove a custom field from a managed package referenced in a custom report type?

Question

Question

Is there anyway to get rid of custom field in a managed package that has been referenced in a custom report type for that managed package?

Background

I've built a managed package and for some unknown reason installed several add on packages (s4twitter) into the managed package dev org. We're no longer using these packages and are trying to rip them out. However, one of the fields for the s4twitter package made it's way into a custom report type. Before I can uninstall the s4twitter package I need to get the field out of the custom report type, but I'm blocked. Is there anything I can do to untangle this mess and rip out the s4twitter package?

Answer 1

You can't remove a field from a managed package after it's released. If you have already released and uploaded a package with the field included (you'll see an icon with a grey box and a green checkmark next to its name) you cannot get rid of it.

Answer 2

Starting Spring ‘14 - API 30, ISVs can delete custom fields when updating a previously released managed package.

Other components that can be deleted like this are:

• custom buttons and links
• custom objects
• custom tabs
• field sets
• record types
• validation rules

At this time this is only referenced in the release notes, as the new documentation has not been published yet.