# Cannot delete alarm accidentally created with name"?"

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [September 6, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648 "2024-09-06T18:42:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![e\_l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@e\_l](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/e_l)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648/1 "2024-09-06T18:42:34Z")

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Ignition Platform Version 8.1.42...

I'm writing a program to import alarm tag info from a WW CSV. During one of the testing loops, I accidentally set the alarm name to "?". Now the alarm cannot be deleted, renamed, or modified in any way. Neither can the host tag or any of its' ancestors be deleted. Is there a fix for this?  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/5/1/51aa2ace737ddca3e6cd9186b7f8fa80486c190a.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648/2 "2024-09-06T18:49:16Z")

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Can you export the host tag as JSON?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![e\_l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@e\_l](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/e_l)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648/3 "2024-09-06T19:11:17Z")

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Yep.

```python
{
  "valueSource": "opc",
  "opcItemPath": "ns\u003d1;s\u003d[Drums_1_PLC]Global.Alarms.Cur.Lance.Lance[1].Mot.LimTopAndBotSw",
  "dataType": "Boolean",
  "alarms": [
    {
      "setpointA": 1.0,
      "mode": "Equality",
      "name": "AL_L1_MOT_LimTopAndBotSw",
      "label": "Lance A Top \u0026 Bottom Limit Switches Actuated Simultaneously"
    },
    {
      "setpointA": 1.0,
      "mode": "Equality",
      "name": "?",
      "label": "Lance A Top \u0026 Bottom Limit Switches Actuated Simultaneously"
    }
  ],
  "name": "LimTopAndBotSw",
  "tagType": "AtomicTag",
  "opcServer": "Ignition OPC UA Server"
}

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648/4 "2024-09-06T19:12:42Z")

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Edit that in a text editor so that the "?" is what ever name you intended, and then paste it back over the host tag.

Or just remove that section (everything from the "," to the "]". Including the "," but not the "]").

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![e\_l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@e\_l](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/e_l)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/cannot-delete-alarm-accidentally-created-with-name/95648/5 "2024-09-06T19:23:22Z")

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Aha! That worked after I performed the paste at the host gateway and then used the tag editor to delete the offensive alarm.  
Thanks!

Update  
It turns out that the actual problem was that I was trying to delete the alarm at a remote gateway. Further confusing the matter was that there appeared to be no error dialog when in fact the dialog box was popping up somewhere off of all of my monitors. Thanks for the help though. I learned something!