DocumentationExperience Cloud KCS

Deleted site configuration remains on Publish after publication in AEM as a Cloud Service

Last update: October 2, 2026

This article explains how to resolve an issue in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) where deleting a site configuration on the Author instance and publishing the changes does not remove the configuration from the Publisher instance.

Description description

Environment

  • Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service
  • Site Config page on Author and Publish distribution

Issue/Symptoms

  • After you delete a configuration node from the Site Config page on Author and publish the changes, the configuration remains visible on Publish.
  • The configuration node is absent on Author but remains on Publish.
  • The available Distribution logs show successful ADD operations for the configuration path but no corresponding DELETE operation.
  • The Publish distribution queue isn’t blocked, and browser cache isn’t the cause.

Cause

The available Distribution logs show ADD operations for the configuration path but no corresponding DELETE operation. The existing node therefore remains on Publish. The available logs don’t establish why deleting the configuration through the Site Config page didn’t generate a DELETE operation.

Resolution resolution

Follow the steps below to address the issue:

  1. On the Author instance, open the Distribution UI at /libs/granite/distribution/content/distribution.html.
  2. Select the Publish distribution agent.
  3. Choose the Delete action and specify only the affected configuration path, such as /conf/<your-site>/sling-configuration/<your-context>/sling:configs/<your-configuration>. Replace the placeholders with the exact path of the configuration node you intend to remove. Note: The Delete operation removes nodes under the selected path. Verify that the selected path identifies only the intended configuration. Test the deletion in a Development environment before applying it to Production.
  4. Submit the request and monitor the Publish distribution queue until the operation completes.
  5. Verify in the Publish Repository Browser, if your permissions allow access to the path, or by requesting the corresponding JSON endpoint, that the configuration node is no longer present on Publish.
  6. If you intend to keep the configuration with a new value, save the correct value on Author and republish the relevant configuration after confirming that the Author state is correct.
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