---
title: "Adding, editing, or deleting a goal"
description: "Add a goal in the Goals module by giving it a title, an owner and a time period, edit it from its own page, then archive it when the period closes or delete it for good."
category: goals-analytics
section: goals-and-okrs
type: Tutorial
lastUpdated: 2026-08-26
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal
---

# Adding, editing, or deleting a goal


## Adding, editing, or deleting a goal
The **Goals** app is where a goal is created, changed and retired. You add a goal from the list with three things: a title, an owner and a time period. Everything else, key results, a parent goal, sub-goals and files, is added afterwards on the goal's own page. Archiving takes a finished goal out of the list and keeps it. Deleting removes it and its key results permanently.

## What do I need before I start?

- Members and administrators can add goals. Guests cannot.
- Every goal needs a **Title**, an **Owner** and a **Time period**. The **Create** button stays inactive until all three are filled in.
- Time periods are defined once for the whole organisation in **Goal settings**. If the picker is empty, ask an administrator to add one: [Managing Goal time periods for my organisation](/goals-analytics/manage-goal-time-periods).
- The **Owner** can be a member, a role or a circle. Whoever owns the goal, or belongs to the circle or holds the role that owns it, gets full rights on it: edit, share, archive and delete. Administrators have those rights on every goal.

## How do I add a goal?

1. Go to the **Goals** app.
2. Select **Add goal** at the top right of the list.

![The Goals module in list view, with the organisation's goals in a table of Name, Status, Progress, Time period, Owner and Category columns, and the Add goal button highlighted at the top right.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/01-goals-app-add-goal.png)

3. Enter the **Title** of your goal.
4. Choose an **Owner** from the picker, which lists members, roles and circles.
5. Choose a **Time period**, and set the **Category** to Company, Team or Individual.
6. Set **Privacy**: **Public** lets everyone in the organisation see the goal, **Private** limits it to the people you invite.
7. Select **Create**.

![The Add goal dialog, with fields for Title, Parent goal, Description, Owner, Time period, Category, Privacy and Status, and Cancel and Create buttons at the bottom.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/02-add-goal-dialog.png)

**Note:** two optional fields in the dialog are easy to miss. **Parent goal** attaches the new goal under an existing one straight away, and **Description** has a Spark suggestion button that drafts one from the title and time period. **Status** can be left empty and set later.

## How do I add key results to a goal?

Creating a goal opens its page, and that page is where the goal takes shape. Key results, a parent goal, sub-goals and attachments all live there, not in the Add goal dialog.

1. Open the goal from the list.
2. In the **Key Results** section, select **Add**.
3. Give the key result a title, then pick its **Result Type**: **Quantitative / Percentage** to track a number, or **Milestone / Binary** for done or not done.
4. Set the starting and target values, and a unit if you use one.
5. Select **Save**.

![The lower half of a goal page, showing the General, Description and Attachments sections, then the Key Results section with its Add button highlighted and one key result listed, followed by the Parent goal and Sub-goals sections.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/03-goal-key-results.png)

**Important:** the result type is fixed once the key result is created. Everything else about it stays editable, so if the type is wrong, delete the key result and add it again.

We've seen three or four key results per goal work best. Beyond that, progress stops being a signal. Progress itself is not typed in here: each key result gets its own check-in, where you record the new value and how confident you are of reaching the target.

## How do I edit a goal?

1. Open the goal.
2. Select the **More actions** menu at the top right of the goal, shown as three dots.
3. Choose **Edit goal**, change what you need, and select **Save**.

![The More actions menu open on a goal page, listing Edit goal, Progress driver, Share, Copy URL, Bring to a meeting and Archive goal.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/04-goal-actions-menu.png)

**Edit goal** reopens the same dialog you filled in at creation, so the title, owner, time period, category, privacy and status are all changed there. The health status shown next to the goal's name is quicker to change directly from that badge, and **Progress driver** in the same menu decides whether progress is calculated from key results, from sub-goals, or from both.

## How do I archive a goal, and how do I find it again?

Archive a goal when its time period has closed, or when it no longer reflects what the circle is working on. The goal and its history are kept, and you can bring it back at any time.

1. Open the goal.
2. Select **More actions**, then **Archive goal**.
3. Confirm in the dialog.

An archived goal leaves the list straight away: the Goals list shows active, closed and draft goals only. To see your archived goals, open **Filter** and select the **Archived** quick filter.

![The Goals list with the Filter panel open, showing the quick filters My Goals, On Track, At Risk, Blocked and Archived, and an Add filter control under All filters.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/06-archived-quick-filter.png)

To restore it, open the archived goal and select **More actions**, then **Unarchive goal**. Until you do, an archived goal is read-only: the menu offers only **Copy URL** and **Unarchive goal**.

## How do I delete a goal?

Deleting a goal removes the goal, its key results and every check-in recorded against them. This cannot be undone, and nothing is left to restore. If there is any chance you will want the goal later, archive it instead.

1. Go to the **Goals** app.
2. Select the row actions menu at the end of the goal's row, shown as three dots.
3. Choose **Delete goal**, then confirm.

![The Goals list with a row actions menu open, offering Copy URL and Delete goal in red.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/05-goal-row-delete.png)

**Delete goal** is offered in the list, not on the goal's own page, and only to people who own the goal. If you do not see it, you do not have the rights to delete that goal, and its owner or an administrator does.

## How do I see what changed on a goal?

1. Open the goal.
2. In the discussion panel on the right, select the **Activity** tab.

The tab lists every change to the goal and its key results, newest first, with the member who made it and the time. Use the **Comments** tab beside it to discuss the goal without changing anything.

![A goal page with the Activity tab selected in the right-hand panel, listing three entries dated 19 March 2026: a member creating the goal and updating a key result twice, each with a timestamp.](/images/goals-analytics/how-to-add-edit-or-delete-a-goal/07-goal-activity.png)

## What's Next?

- [Creating company Goals](/goals-analytics/create-company-goals)
- [Assigning members to key results](/goals-analytics/assign-members-to-key-results)
- [Goal views](/goals-analytics/the-different-goals-views)
- [Visualising the Goal hierarchy](/goals-analytics/visualize-the-goals-hierarchy)