You cannot delete files or folders if they are referenced by other files or folders.
E.g. you cannot delete a component if it is used in some assembly, unless you first delete the assembly.
And this counts across all versions.
E.g. if you have:
- Assy1 V1 contains Component1 and Component2,
- Then Component1 is removed from Assy1 and Assy1 is saved (yielding Assy1 V2).
- You will not be able to delete Component1 unless you first delete Assy1, even though Component1 is not in Assy1 anymore. Since it is still referenced by Assy1 V1.
This is not something typical for Fusion 360, e.g. in Windchill it is exactly the same.
Technically, it is of course not impossible that a "delete this file/folder and anything related to it"-functionality is implemented, but this does not currently exist.
The workaround I use is to create a project named 'Garbage'. In that project, I create a subfolder per year (e.g. 2022). Instead of deleting files and folders, I move them to that folder. The reason I use a subfolder per year is that over time you won't get one large folder with very many 'deleted' files in it.
Ideally the Garbage project would be created by an admin and given 'write' but no 'read' privileges, so users can move to that folder but not search and find any files afterwards (so to the user it seems as if the file really is deleted). I don't know if this is possible in Fusion 360.
To some people this workaround seems very counter-intuitive, or even plain wrong, since the files – which you know you do not need anymore – will never really be deleted. But it works, so I choose to quit philosophizing about this and focus on more impactful issues.
Regards,
Johan
