Tech Tip: How to Delete and Restore Branches in Onshape

This Tech Tip explains how to delete and restore branches to keep the Versions and History tree uncluttered.

Branching and Merging is a unique capability in Onshape that allows engineers to experiment at the same time with design variations without fear of disrupting each other's work.

Deleting a Branch

Onshape gives you the ability to delete a branch. This is useful when alternative designs are not pursued. This also makes the Versions and History tree clear and uncluttered, preventing the addition of obsoleted workspaces that represent outdated designs.

Deleting a Branch with Versions in a Corresponding Branch

Unlike branches, versions can’t be deleted. However, if a workspace that has versions in the branch is deleted, the history up to the last version is permanently deleted. The branch can be thought of as a one-way route with a stop at the latest version. This version can’t be edited. This helps keep the number of editable workspaces manageable.

Restoring a Branch

However, there is a way to continue editing a deleted branch, provided a version exists in the corresponding branch. To do this, create a new branch. The result is not a branch in the actual sense, but a new workspace in the corresponding branch. This behaves like retrieving a deleted workspace from a version and allows editing in a workspace.

This Tech Tip helped you learn how to delete and restore branches. For more resources, see our pages on Branching and Merging and Document History and Versions.

Watch the video below for more about deleting and restoring branches in Onshape.

Interested in learning more Onshape Tech Tips? You can review the most recent technical blogs here.