Deletes a client-side encryption key pair permanently and immediately. You can only permanently delete key pairs that have been turned off for more than 30 days. To turn off a key pair, use the keypairs.disable method.
Gmail can't restore or decrypt any messages that were encrypted by an obliterated key. Authenticated users and Google Workspace administrators lose access to reading the encrypted messages.
For administrators managing identities and keypairs for users in their organization, requests require authorization with a service account that has domain-wide delegation authority to impersonate users with the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic scope.
For users managing their own identities and keypairs, requests require hardware key encryption turned on and configured.
HTTP request
POST https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/{userId}/settings/cse/keypairs/{keyPairId}:obliterate
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-06-12 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Method: users.settings.cse.keypairs.obliterate\n\n- [HTTP request](#body.HTTP_TEMPLATE)\n- [Path parameters](#body.PATH_PARAMETERS)\n- [Request body](#body.request_body)\n- [Response body](#body.response_body)\n- [Authorization scopes](#body.aspect)\n- [Try it!](#try-it)\n\nDeletes a client-side encryption key pair permanently and immediately. You can only permanently delete key pairs that have been turned off for more than 30 days. To turn off a key pair, use the [keypairs.disable](/workspace/gmail/api/reference/rest/v1/users.settings.cse.keypairs/disable#caribou.api.proto.MailboxService.DisableCseKeyPair) method.\n\nGmail can't restore or decrypt any messages that were encrypted by an obliterated key. Authenticated users and Google Workspace administrators lose access to reading the encrypted messages.\n\nFor administrators managing identities and keypairs for users in their organization, requests require authorization with a [service account](https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/OAuth2ServiceAccount) that has [domain-wide delegation authority](https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/OAuth2ServiceAccount#delegatingauthority) to impersonate users with the `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic` scope.\n\nFor users managing their own identities and keypairs, requests require [hardware key encryption](https://support.google.com/a/answer/14153163) turned on and configured.\n\n### HTTP request\n\n`POST https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/{userId}/settings/cse/keypairs/{keyPairId}:obliterate`\n\nThe URL uses [gRPC Transcoding](https://google.aip.dev/127) syntax.\n\n### Path parameters\n\n| Parameters ||\n|-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|\n| `userId` | `string` The requester's primary email address. To indicate the authenticated user, you can use the special value `me`. |\n| `keyPairId` | `string` The identifier of the key pair to obliterate. |\n\n### Request body\n\nThe request body must be empty.\n\n### Response body\n\nIf successful, the response body is an empty JSON object.\n\n### Authorization scopes\n\nRequires one of the following OAuth scopes:\n\n- `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.basic`\n- `\n https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.settings.sharing`\n\nFor more information, see the [Authorization guide](/workspace/guides/configure-oauth-consent)."]]
