Display where collection field references are used

Ever try to delete a CMS collection field and get "This field is currently used in Dynamic Template Settings. To delete this field, you'll need to remove any references to it first."  Great, but where the heck are those references located? 

This would help anyone who forgets where CMS fields are linked or when editing templates built by someone else.

  • Andrew Leyland
  • Jan 27 2017
  • Shipped
  • Jul 29, 2019

    Admin response

    Earlier this year we announced a new connections manager that lets you see everywhere a collection is connected to your designs. Today we’re sharing some exciting improvements that make it even easier to find, view, and/or delete your CMS connections. Read all about it.

  • Luke Prater commented
    17 Feb, 2023 09:45pm

    The new connections manager doesn't work. You can delete all the connections but still there will be phantom "connections" that don't show up and webflow will not allow you to delete fields or give you any clue where the connections are, or even if they exist at all. I have 30 fields in this particular collection (the max allowed) and I can't move forward without deleting this field. But webflow will not allow me to do it and will not get back to me in customer service.

  • BriteCore Marketing commented
    18 Jan, 2021 06:34pm

    I ran into this issue and realized the field I was trying to delete was not linked on the page, but linked on the page settings in the meta description. Remember to check there, hope this helps someone!

  • Amit Rawat commented
    6 Aug, 2019 03:24am

    I am not able to delete one of the fields in the CMS collection, i get the error "This field is currently used in Dynamic Template Settings. To delete this field, you'll need to remove any references to it first."  But there is no reference to the field? 
    Collection name: Listings
    Field: Short Description

    https://guide-rei.webflow.io

  • Cheryl Robertson commented
    11 Jun, 2019 03:15pm

    just found this link, hope it's helpful: https://webflow.com/feature/connections-manager

  • Casey DenBleyker commented
    23 May, 2019 04:27pm

    Thank you! This is such a helpful function. We appreciate it!

  • Industry Weapon Web Updates commented
    15 May, 2019 10:31pm

    Would save so much time. 

  • John Custer commented
    10 May, 2019 06:29pm

    I would still love to see this feature, as it would be highly useful on a number of levels.  But in the meantime, I have to give a shout out to Webflow's excellent customer service team.  After struggling with where to locate a needle (a multi-reference field) in a haystack (a collection template), we contacted Webflow's customer service, and they helped us locate the offending reference in the collection template so that we could delete it.

  • Raul dario Acosta commented
    29 Mar, 2019 04:00pm

    please do that urgently!!!

  • Emmanuel commented
    2 Feb, 2019 08:44pm

    This has been my mayor frustration since a long time ago. I had this problem once (never found where the field was being referenced, so I just had to ignore it and get used to it).

    Today it happened again with a new item, so I'm accumulating unused fields, which is quite bothersome. I hope this gets many votes.

  • John Custer commented
    14 Dec, 2018 08:43pm

    This is one of those features that you don't realize that you need until you really need it, and then it's maddening not to be able to see a list of page slugs where you've inserted a particular CMS item when you need to refactor.  

    For our use case, I'd be fine getting this information via the API if that's something that would speed up the implementation of this feature.  Being able to get a list of page templates and the dynamic references for that template would be extremely useful.

  • David Casey commented
    13 Dec, 2018 05:22am

    Paid for a template to save time and I'm now going on about 6 hours hunting for where these bindings are hidden. Debating if I should just restart from scratch.

    If anyone has become a pro at this could you please take a look at my site and help me locate: https://preview.webflow.com/preview/enjoyable-edibles-com?utm_source=enjoyable-edibles-com&preview=4cf0e40785ce56ea6b0e460f8b107220

    Please & Thank you!

  • Stephen Bazley commented
    30 Jul, 2018 12:21am

    This is a bigger problem then just knowing where. Yes, it may be helpful knowing for most cases. However, I have found one case where I had to create a new project and purchase hosting.

    This is a bug that Webflow need to fix as it is wasting a lot of peoples time and money.

  • Adam Rust commented
    2 May, 2018 02:39pm

    SInce the error message is triggered by the system having identified references to the target field somewhere, it would be trivial to display at least the name of the page where the reference has been found.

    This could look like "This field is currently used by your {Name of Collection}  Collection List on the site or/and inside your {Name of Collection Page} Collection Page. To delete this field, you'll need to remove any references to it first.

  • Trevor Whittingham commented
    26 Mar, 2018 09:06pm

    Yes! I'm working with templates and CANNOT find where the phantom "field is currently used". Please please please just allow us to delete fields and collections, even if it means the elements on the page will be disconnected. I've literally wasted 20 hours trying to hunt down references but I'm never able to find them all.

  • Guido Jansen commented
    5 Dec, 2017 09:19pm

    Yes please! Takes ages to find those (IF you end up finding them...)

  • Roarke Clinton commented
    1 Oct, 2017 12:37am

    This is a huge issue! I can't find where fields are used in the site that I'm building. Been scouring for hours... 

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