Clear an Image Slot
Removes the image assigned to one photo position on one part of a package, freeing that position to be filled again.
Overview
Assigning a photo to a position that already holds one does not work. The second assignment comes back refused and the first image stays exactly where it was. So when a picture lands in the wrong place, clearing that position is not a tidy-up step you can skip — it is the only way to change the placement.
This tool clears one named position on one part of the package. Every other position is left alone, and so is the uploaded document the image came from. Once the position is empty, a different image can be assigned to it.
Clearing a position that is already empty succeeds rather than failing, and the answer says whether anything was actually removed. Nothing is redrawn at that moment: photos are stamped into their positions when the package is assembled, so a clear shows up in the deliverable the next assembly produces.
What It Does
| Capability | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Single-position precision | Only the named position is cleared; every other photo on that part stays where it is |
| The route to a correction | An occupied position refuses a new image, so clearing is what makes a replacement possible |
| Position stays usable | The cleared position can be assigned a new image immediately, with no reset step |
| Sources untouched | The uploaded photo is unaffected — only the assignment to that position goes away |
| Succeeds when already empty | Clearing an empty position reports success, and reports that it removed nothing |
When the Agent Chooses This Tool
Only the appraisal workflow can call this. The contractor pre-bid workflow can place images but registers no way to clear one, so a placement made during a pre-bid run cannot be changed by any tool available to that agent. The coating QA workflow places no images at all.
Within the appraisal workflow the instruction is deliberately narrow. The agent is told to clear a position when the person running the job asks for it, or when a redundant assignment is unambiguous — and not otherwise. The same restriction covers dropping a whole part of the package, and the two are given to the agent together, as steps not to take on a hunch.
The situation that calls for it is a package run more than once. Image assignments made on an earlier run are still in place on the next one — nothing but this tool empties them — and every assembly re-reads them. An image assigned during the first run therefore appears in the second run's deliverable unless it is cleared.
What the agent is not asked to do is sweep positions clean before placing new images. Clearing is treated as a response to a specific instruction, not as routine hygiene at the start of a run.
Inputs and Outputs
Takes: the part of the package being edited, and the name of the position to clear.
Returns: confirmation, including whether an assignment was actually removed and how many that part still carries.
Example
An appraisal package has a photo page with three named positions, one per comparable property, filled during the first run from three photos pulled out of the listings document. The package is assembled, and on review one of the three turns out to be the wrong property.
Assigning the right photo over the top of it does not work — that position is taken, and the assignment comes back refused. So the position is cleared, and then the correct photo is assigned to it. The upload the wrong photo came from is untouched and stays available for anything else that needs it.
The package is assembled again at the end of that run, and the corrected photo page is in it.
Limits
- Clearing changes what the next assembly produces. It does not edit a deliverable that already exists — the next assembly writes a replacement, and a copy someone downloaded before that stays as it was.
- One position per call, and there is no operation that clears a whole page at once.
- Where a part of the package exists only to carry an image, clearing its assignment drops that part out of the deliverable rather than leaving a gap on it. When the part should not be in the deliverable at all, Remove Sections from a Package is the tool for that.
- It does not delete anything you uploaded. The source document stays available for other positions.
- Positions carry names in configuration, but nothing prints a position's name onto the finished page. A cleared position is not annotated as deliberately empty.
FAQ
Do I need to clear a slot before putting a different photo in it?
Yes. Assigning an image to a position that already holds one is refused rather than replacing it, so clearing first is the only way to change a placement.
What happens if I clear a slot that's already empty?
It reports success, and the answer tells you that nothing was removed. A call can still fail for a different reason — naming a part that is not in this package.
Does clearing a slot delete my uploaded photo?
No. Only the assignment between that photo and that position is removed. The uploaded document stays exactly as it was and the same image can be placed somewhere else.
Does an empty slot leave a gap on the finished page?
It depends on the part of the package. Where a part carries other content as well, it still appears in the deliverable with that position unstamped. Where a part exists only to carry an image, clearing the assignment drops it out of the deliverable — so there is no page at all rather than a page with a gap.
Can I clear a whole photo page at once?
Not in one operation — clearing works one position at a time.
What if the package was already downloaded before I cleared the slot?
The copy you downloaded is unchanged. The correction applies from the next assembly, which writes a replacement deliverable.