# Delete PlaceHolder Component

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741>\
**Category:** Grasshopper\
**Tags:** windows\
**Created:** [February 3, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741 "2021-02-03T13:39:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Petras\_Vestartas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/petras_vestartas/32/480531_2.png) [@Petras\_Vestartas](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Petras_Vestartas)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/1 "2021-02-03T13:39:29Z")

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Hi,

I have already encountered this issue several times for placeholder components.

Is there any way to delete placeholders without copy paste all components to a new file?  
I am using Rhino 7 latest release.

 ![Guid](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/a/3/4/a348afdea76f018c82c904efc15da28e3cee4c07.png)

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**Author:** ![rajaa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/rajaa/32/480978_2.png) [@rajaa](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/rajaa)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/2 "2021-02-03T18:31:29Z")

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@DavidRutten can you help answer this one?

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**Author:** ![DavidRutten](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/davidrutten/32/755688_2.png) [@DavidRutten](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/DavidRutten)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/3 "2021-02-05T18:33:33Z")

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It is not at present possible to modify placeholder at all, including deletion. Deleting them is at least in principle possible as it doesn’t actually modify the object, but since the placeholders cannot currently be selected, they also cannot be deleted.

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**Author:** ![Petras\_Vestartas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/petras_vestartas/32/480531_2.png) [@Petras\_Vestartas](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Petras_Vestartas)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/4 "2021-02-05T19:56:16Z")

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Thanks David for the clarification.

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**Author:** ![anon39580149](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@anon39580149](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/anon39580149)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/5 "2021-02-05T23:00:13Z")

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Hello, with this GhPython code we can find PlacehloderComponent with their original names, is it possible to delete them?

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/9/0/d/90d2cb4ff10eaf592fdd9983915d942f750e37f3.png)

[missing components.gh](https://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/short-url/mJPir6lsRpLGsjlAJ9VXzAvxkM6.gh) (5.2 KB)

**Update** : It work

[https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/5/c/c/5cc0d1cd922d08bbbae4bb0d66eabd9d587dca05.mp4](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/5/c/c/5cc0d1cd922d08bbbae4bb0d66eabd9d587dca05.mp4)

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/5/3/9/53994d86459f9b47f93613fcaffca4e8e29e3b76.png)

**Update: this problem solved**  
grasshopper object expired during solution

Maybe there is a better solution

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/8/5/a/85a290a412f3280a3475a4018338871d9f949ee9.png)

[remove placeholder comp.gh](https://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/short-url/d3WTfyZMTt7aDpRgfMfRf3In2gk.gh) (2.3 KB)

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**Author:** ![Petras\_Vestartas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/petras_vestartas/32/480531_2.png) [@Petras\_Vestartas](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Petras_Vestartas)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/6 "2021-02-06T23:26:21Z")

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Nice one, thank you.

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**Author:** ![603419608](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/603419608/32/487406_2.png) [@603419608](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/603419608)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/7 "2021-05-10T16:39:20Z")

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This is another way, you can also use callbacks to delete components.

 ![1](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/3/2/0/320b855a442714e2e3ca4fbd808254e6e3dd418c.jpeg)  
[Remove PlaceholderComp2.gh](https://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/short-url/vqCfyeoL5P4OnU88gKd5f0SH3sQ.gh) (2.2 KB)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Petras\_Vestartas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/petras_vestartas/32/480531_2.png) [@Petras\_Vestartas](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Petras_Vestartas)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/8 "2021-05-10T16:46:59Z")

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Thanks 😉

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**Author:** ![osuire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/osuire/32/656689_2.png) [@osuire](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/osuire)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 10:26am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/9 "2021-09-09T10:26:42Z")

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I found that the solution provided by Seghier and Naruto don’t work if the placeholder components are in a cluster.  
It took me a while to find these critters…  
But if running the delete components in the said cluster, the placeholders do get deleted.

So for those still having error messages after supposedly deleting the placeholders : look in your clusters !

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**Author:** ![anon39580149](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@anon39580149](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/anon39580149)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/10 "2021-09-09T17:55:57Z")

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There is another trick i found:  
1- Ctrl+A will select everything  
2- Unselect the working components  
3- Delete placeholder components (which are selected)

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**Author:** ![sridharbaldava](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/sridharbaldava/32/561886_2.png) [@sridharbaldava](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/sridharbaldava)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/11 "2021-12-07T20:06:32Z")

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For others trying to figure out how to unselect: ctrl + drag window across all canvas will unselect only the working components and leaves the placeholder components selected.

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**Author:** ![Sindre\_M\_Hermstad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/sindre_m_hermstad/32/388505_2.png) [@Sindre\_M\_Hermstad](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Sindre_M_Hermstad)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 11:47am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/12 "2022-07-05T11:47:43Z")

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The easiest solution I have found is to lock Grasshopper before opening the script. Since the script doesn’t run the components, it doesn’t realize that they are missing.  
Then you can delete them like any other component.

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**Author:** ![GH-KN](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/gh-kn/32/651662_2.png) [@GH-KN](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/GH-KN)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2023, 5:13pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/13 "2023-04-01T17:13:45Z")

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Uhm, maybe I did something wrong, but this isn’t working for me…

1. Lock GH
2. close script
3. reopen script  
what am I doing wrong?

![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/2/a/4/2a44f744fb0d00a6c025e87d4c81912fc883e26a.png)

Many thanks 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gijs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/gijs/32/769882_2.png) [@Gijs](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Gijs)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/14 "2023-04-08T09:33:16Z")

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> [@GH-KN](#):
>
> hm, maybe I did something wrong, but this isn’t working for me…

Not sure why, but the workaround posted by @anon39580149 is the easiest way to get rid of any missing components:

> [@anon39580149](#):
>
> 1- Ctrl+A will select everything  
> 2- Unselect the working components  
> 3- Delete placeholder components (which are selected)

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**Author:** ![toivosawen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/toivosawen/32/481802_2.png) [@toivosawen](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/toivosawen)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2023, 9:30am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/15 "2023-08-24T09:30:02Z")

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Doesn’t work for me.

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**Author:** ![gruedisueli](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/gruedisueli/32/556538_2.png) [@gruedisueli](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/gruedisueli)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/16 "2023-10-16T15:40:06Z")

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@DavidRutten I would suggest this as a possible feature-addition to Grasshopper. I can understand the reasoning for including the placeholder, as this is better than just deleting missing components without telling the user, but is there a reason that manual selection/deletion is not allowed?

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**Author:** ![ignass.m](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/ignass.m/32/653082_2.png) [@ignass.m](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ignass.m)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/17 "2024-02-29T07:54:34Z")

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Finally, it works. Right mouse click. Works with RHINO 8

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/e/2/d/e2d5bc863724b969869280bedc70e78324df5225.png)

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**Author:** ![SinnHooHin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/sinnhoohin/32/507835_2.png) [@SinnHooHin](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/SinnHooHin)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/18 "2024-03-29T11:49:17Z")

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Thanks for you component, it assists me a lot. 😄 😄

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**Author:** ![Paraskevas\_Mylonas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/paraskevas_mylonas/32/689954_2.png) [@Paraskevas\_Mylonas](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Paraskevas_Mylonas)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/delete-placeholder-component/117741/19 "2025-08-01T22:17:27Z")

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save the day!