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When trying to remove the attribute, I get a pop-up with the text:

You cannot delete any attributes used in existing data relationships before removing those relationships. Use Data Designer to remove those relationships before attempting a deletion.

It also states that the Data Extension is linked to 1 population. It is a normal DE by the way, not a synchronized one.

First of all, I don't understand the message. I am not trying to remove a relationship, just an attribute. To do it, I click on the trash can icon on the right hand side of the list of attributes of the Data Extension.

Apparently I need to do something before I can delete an attribute?

I see a similar question, but I do not understand the answers. One uses two SOAP requests? And the other states "Yes, it turns out you need to delete the relationship first, so removing a field of that data extension is possible." But what relationship are we talking about?

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    Go to Data Designer and find the Attribute Group(s) in which your DE has been used. The field you are trying to delete must have been used to establish a relationship between your DE and another DE, that’s why it cannot be deleted while in use.
    – zuzannamj
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 13:06
  • There are 14 Attribute Group(s), some of them made by MC, some of them made by my company. I have checked all, and the attribute is not used in any of them. Also, it's just a simple boolean attribute, I don't see how it can be used to establish a relationship. I have 7 more of those attributes and none of them can be removed. Do you know how to find out which relationship is meant?
    – Sander de Jong
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 13:19
  • @zuzannamj - I think is is just enough that the field is in a linked data extension in Data Designer. It doesn't need to be the field used to map the relationship.
    – Lukas Lunow
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 13:29
  • According to the Data Designer, 14 Attributes Group exist, 7 of which have been created by MC itself, such as MobileConnect Data and Chat Message Data. I would have to remove all those relationships and restore them after I have deleted my 8 fields? I need to delete those, because they are going to be deleted from Sales Cloud as well.
    – Sander de Jong
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 13:53
  • Do you mean that you need to delete attributes from Synchronized Data Extensions, or regular data extensions?
    – zuzannamj
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 18:47

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After examining all possible relationships in the Data Designer, I have concluded that the relationship to which MC is referring, must be the population relationship.

I have no idea what happens if I delete that, I find conflicting advice on the internet. So I will not delete it, better safe than sorry. Which means that I cannot delete the fields that I want to delete.

My "solution" now: rename the unused attributes to "Available 1" - "Available 8" and change the automation/SQL query that fills the Data Extension, to fill the attributes with empty values. Anytime that I need to use a new field, I can reuse one of those 8, provided of course it's of the proper type.

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