# blocks.delete

> Delete an entire block node (paragraph, heading, list item, table, image, or sdt) deterministically.



- Member path: `doc.blocks.delete(…)`
- Mutates document: yes
- Idempotency: `conditional`
- Supports tracked mode: yes
- Supports dry run: yes

## Expected result

Returns a BlocksDeleteResult receipt confirming the block was removed, including a deletedBlock summary with ordinal, nodeType, and textPreview.

## Input schema

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$defs": {
    "DeletableBlockNodeAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "block"
        },
        "nodeType": {
          "enum": [
            "paragraph",
            "heading",
            "listItem",
            "table",
            "sdt"
          ]
        },
        "nodeId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "nodeType",
        "nodeId"
      ]
    },
    "StoryLocator": {
      "description": "Story scope. Defaults to document body when omitted. Use {kind:'story', storyType:'body'} for body, or other storyType values for headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes.",
      "oneOf": [
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "body"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "headerFooterSlot"
            },
            "section": {
              "$ref": "#/$defs/SectionAddress"
            },
            "headerFooterKind": {
              "enum": [
                "header",
                "footer"
              ]
            },
            "variant": {
              "enum": [
                "default",
                "first",
                "even"
              ]
            },
            "resolution": {
              "enum": [
                "effective",
                "explicit"
              ]
            },
            "onWrite": {
              "enum": [
                "materializeIfInherited",
                "editResolvedPart",
                "error"
              ]
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "section",
            "headerFooterKind",
            "variant"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "headerFooterPart"
            },
            "refId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "refId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "footnote"
            },
            "noteId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "noteId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "endnote"
            },
            "noteId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "noteId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "textbox"
            },
            "textboxId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "textboxId"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    "SectionAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "section"
        },
        "sectionId": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "sectionId"
      ]
    }
  },
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "target": {
      "$ref": "#/$defs/DeletableBlockNodeAddress"
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "required": [
    "target"
  ]
}
```

## Output schema

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$defs": {
    "DeletableBlockNodeAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "block"
        },
        "nodeType": {
          "enum": [
            "paragraph",
            "heading",
            "listItem",
            "table",
            "sdt"
          ]
        },
        "nodeId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "nodeType",
        "nodeId"
      ]
    },
    "StoryLocator": {
      "description": "Story scope. Defaults to document body when omitted. Use {kind:'story', storyType:'body'} for body, or other storyType values for headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes.",
      "oneOf": [
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "body"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "headerFooterSlot"
            },
            "section": {
              "$ref": "#/$defs/SectionAddress"
            },
            "headerFooterKind": {
              "enum": [
                "header",
                "footer"
              ]
            },
            "variant": {
              "enum": [
                "default",
                "first",
                "even"
              ]
            },
            "resolution": {
              "enum": [
                "effective",
                "explicit"
              ]
            },
            "onWrite": {
              "enum": [
                "materializeIfInherited",
                "editResolvedPart",
                "error"
              ]
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "section",
            "headerFooterKind",
            "variant"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "headerFooterPart"
            },
            "refId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "refId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "footnote"
            },
            "noteId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "noteId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "endnote"
            },
            "noteId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "noteId"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "kind": {
              "const": "story"
            },
            "storyType": {
              "const": "textbox"
            },
            "textboxId": {
              "type": "string"
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false,
          "required": [
            "kind",
            "storyType",
            "textboxId"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    "SectionAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "section"
        },
        "sectionId": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "sectionId"
      ]
    },
    "AffectedRef": {
      "oneOf": [
        {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/TextAddress"
        },
        {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/BookmarkAddress"
        },
        {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/CommentAddress"
        },
        {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/TrackedChangeAddress"
        },
        {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/BlockNavigationAddress"
        }
      ]
    },
    "TextAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "text"
        },
        "blockId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "range": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/Range"
        },
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "blockId",
        "range"
      ]
    },
    "Range": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "start": {
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "end": {
          "type": "integer"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "start",
        "end"
      ]
    },
    "BookmarkAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "entity"
        },
        "entityType": {
          "const": "bookmark"
        },
        "name": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "entityType",
        "name"
      ]
    },
    "CommentAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "entity"
        },
        "entityType": {
          "const": "comment"
        },
        "entityId": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "entityType",
        "entityId"
      ]
    },
    "TrackedChangeAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "entity"
        },
        "entityType": {
          "const": "trackedChange"
        },
        "entityId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "entityType",
        "entityId"
      ]
    },
    "BlockNavigationAddress": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "kind": {
          "const": "block"
        },
        "nodeId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "nodeType": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "kind",
        "nodeId"
      ]
    },
    "TextRangeShift": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "story": {
          "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
        },
        "atChar": {
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "blockId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "atCharInBlock": {
          "type": "integer"
        },
        "delta": {
          "type": "integer"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false,
      "required": [
        "story",
        "atChar",
        "delta"
      ]
    }
  },
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "success": {
      "const": true
    },
    "deleted": {
      "$ref": "#/$defs/DeletableBlockNodeAddress"
    },
    "deletedBlock": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "ordinal": {
          "type": "number"
        },
        "nodeId": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "nodeType": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "textPreview": {
          "oneOf": [
            {
              "type": "string"
            },
            {
              "type": "null"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false
    },
    "invalidatedRefs": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "$ref": "#/$defs/AffectedRef"
      }
    },
    "affectedStories": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "$ref": "#/$defs/StoryLocator"
      }
    },
    "textRangeShifts": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "$ref": "#/$defs/TextRangeShift"
      }
    },
    "txId": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "required": [
    "success",
    "deleted"
  ]
}
```

## Pre-apply throws

- `TARGET_NOT_FOUND`
- `AMBIGUOUS_TARGET`
- `CAPABILITY_UNAVAILABLE`
- `INVALID_TARGET`
- `INVALID_INPUT`
- `INTERNAL_ERROR`
- `STORY_NOT_FOUND`
- `STORY_MISMATCH`
- `STORY_NOT_SUPPORTED`
- `CROSS_STORY_PLAN`
- `MATERIALIZATION_FAILED`

## Non-applied receipt codes

- None