Accidently deleting symbols and shapes

You can add a Locked property to the dra file which will stop any objects of the symbol being deleted, Open the filename.dra and use Edit - Properties then in the Find pane change the Find by Name dropdown to Drawing and choose Locked as the property to add to the drawing level. Save the symbol and then update in a design. This will gve you a message in the command window if you try to delete or move any item that is part of the symbol. You can however still move the refdes text.

Thanks Steve. Good to know as you can select the shapes on a symbol and move or delete those items. The problem I have is accidently deleting the whole symbol ,

Damned Steve: thanks for the tip!  I discover that it is possible at .dra level (use allegro since revision 8 on Unix computers... old days)

Just so you are aware the Find Pane is command driven so if you invoke Route - Connect and set the Find pane these will be remembered the next time you run the connect command. If you set different Find settings for delete, the tools will remember those. If you are worried about certain objects in each design you can add a Fixed property to the symbol or shape which will stop you deleting them by mistake. The drawing pin icon will start this command.

Thanks. The problem I have seen is if you have clines and vias enabled and delete items  the items in find change. Usually it adds symbols and/or shapes. This is how I accidently deleted shapes and symbols.

I need to try and duplicate this and it does not happen all the time. Perhaps it has something to do with your comments above. Interesting.