diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 9cf8e20..631c981 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 - added `get_username()` as exported function.
 - added `get_cached_token()` as exported function.
 - added `token_stache_path()` as exported function.
+- fixed bug related to file downloads #332 and #335
 
 # version 1.3.2
 
diff --git a/R/gql_helpers.R b/R/gql_helpers.R
index b76cad9..fe60b01 100644
--- a/R/gql_helpers.R
+++ b/R/gql_helpers.R
@@ -86,3 +86,16 @@ delete_item_query <- function(id) {
 	run_gql_query(query, httr::handle(url = pkg.env$graphql_url), json = json)
 }
 
+# {"operationName":"DeleteQuery","variables":{"input":{"cuid":null,"key":"65cbc0b3d34ef4b119cb37e9/rf1.csv"}},"query":"mutation DeleteQuery($input: DeleteFileInput!) {\n  deleteFile(input: $input) {\n    id\n    __typename\n  }\n}\n"}
+delete_file_query <- function(id, cuid, file) {
+	query <- "mutation DeleteQuery($input: DeleteFileInput!) {\n  deleteFile(input: $input) {\n    id\n    __typename\n  }\n}\n"
+	
+	variables <- list(input = list(cuid = cuid, key = paste0(id, "/", file)))
+	
+	json = jsonlite::toJSON(list(operationName = "DeleteQuery",
+															 query = query,
+															 variables = variables),
+													auto_unbox = TRUE, null = 'null')
+	
+	run_gql_query(query, httr::handle(url = pkg.env$graphql_url), json = json)
+}
diff --git a/R/item_replace_files.R b/R/item_replace_files.R
index 14565aa..8155bb4 100644
--- a/R/item_replace_files.R
+++ b/R/item_replace_files.R
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ item_replace_files <- function(sb_id, files, ..., all=FALSE,
 	if(all){
 		item <- item_rm_files(sb_id, ...)
 	}else{
-		item <- item_rm_files(sb_id, files, ...)
+		item <- item_rm_files(sb_id, basename(files), ...)
 	}
 	
 	if(!is.null(item))
diff --git a/R/item_rm.R b/R/item_rm.R
index 3fc5d27..e621dd9 100644
--- a/R/item_rm.R
+++ b/R/item_rm.R
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ item_rm = function(sb_id, ..., limit=1000, recursive=FALSE) {
 #' # then delete the whole folder
 #' sbtools:::item_rm_recursive(folder)
 #' }
-item_rm_recursive = function(sb_id, ..., limit) {
+item_rm_recursive = function(sb_id, ..., limit = 1000) {
 	
 	id <- as.sbitem(sb_id)$id
 	# check args
diff --git a/R/item_rm_files.R b/R/item_rm_files.R
index e226ef5..70f8431 100644
--- a/R/item_rm_files.R
+++ b/R/item_rm_files.R
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@
 #' @export
 item_rm_files <- function(sb_id, files,...){
 	
-	#force a pull of the item to refresh the file info
 	sb_id = as.sbitem(sb_id)
 	
 	if(is.null(sb_id)) return(NULL)
@@ -41,18 +40,25 @@ item_rm_files <- function(sb_id, files,...){
 	
 	#if files not supplied, set files vector to of files is just going to be empty
 	if(missing(files)){
-		files_to_keep = vector()
+		remove <- item$files
 	}else{
 		#match the names supplied with the names of item files (sticking to basename, might have paths supplied)
-		fnames = sapply(item$files, function(x)x$name)
-		files_to_keep = item$files[!fnames %in% basename(files)]
-		#files_to_keep = lapply(files_to_keep, function(x){x[c('name', 'title', 'contentType')]})
+		fnames = sapply(item$files, function(x) x$name)
+		remove = item$files[fnames %in% basename(files)]
 	}
 
-	if(length(files_to_keep) == 0 && is.list(files_to_keep)) {
+	if(length(remove) == 0 && is.list(0)) {
+		# nothing to do
 		return(item)
 	}
 	
-	as.sbitem(item_update(item$id, info = list(files = files_to_keep), ...))
+	for(f in remove) {
+		cuid <- f$cuid
+		file <- f$name
+		
+		delete_file_query(item$id, cuid, file)
+	}
+	
+	return(get_item(sb_id$id))
 
 }
diff --git a/demo/00Index b/demo/00Index
deleted file mode 100644
index 3cb1151..0000000
--- a/demo/00Index
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-figure_fault_code         figure example showing WFS and query features of sbtool
-figure_map_code         figure example showing WFS access features
diff --git a/demo/figure_fault_code.R b/demo/figure_fault_code.R
deleted file mode 100644
index 68e5956..0000000
--- a/demo/figure_fault_code.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-#figure_faultline_code
-
-library(sbtools)
-#Source non-sbtools-required but useful mapping packages
-library(sp)
-library(maps)
-
-faults = query_sb(list(q="faults", browseType = "OGC WFS Layer"), limit=20)
-
-#png('faultlinefig.png', res=300, width=1700, height=1400)
-par(mar=c(5,5,1,1), oma=c(0,2,0,0))
-map('usa')
-for(i in 1:length(faults)){
-	#just to finish fig if there's an HTTP error
-	tryCatch({
-		layer = item_get_wfs(faults[[i]]$id)
-		layer = spTransform(layer, CRS('+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84'))
-		plot(layer, add=TRUE, col='red')
-	}, error=function(e){})
-}
-map.axes()
-mtext('lon', 1, line=2.2, mex=2)
-mtext('lat', 2, line=2.2, mex=2)
-#dev.off()
diff --git a/demo/figure_map_code.R b/demo/figure_map_code.R
deleted file mode 100644
index ee60d6c..0000000
--- a/demo/figure_map_code.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-
-library(sbtools)
-
-#Source non-sbtools-required but useful mapping packages
-library(maps)
-library(sp)
-#an item with an included OGC WFS service
-layer = item_get_wfs('55e372b9e4b05561fa208212')
-
-#png('manuscript/mapfig.png', res=300, width=1700, height=1400)
-par(mar=c(5,5,1,1), oma=c(0,2,0,0))
-map('state', regions='iowa', ylab='Lat', xlab='Lon')
-
-plot(spTransform(layer, CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84")), add=TRUE)
-map.axes(mex=0.2)
-mtext('lon', 1, line=2.2, mex=2)
-mtext('lat', 2, line=2.2, mex=2)
-#dev.off()
diff --git a/man/get_username.Rd b/man/get_username.Rd
index 72c6b48..2caca3c 100644
--- a/man/get_username.Rd
+++ b/man/get_username.Rd
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 % Please edit documentation in R/authenticate_sb.R
 \name{get_username}
 \alias{get_username}
-\title{get or set sciencebase username}
+\title{Get or set ScienceBase username}
 \usage{
 get_username(username = NULL)
 }
diff --git a/man/item_rm_recursive.Rd b/man/item_rm_recursive.Rd
index 261055f..90f9988 100644
--- a/man/item_rm_recursive.Rd
+++ b/man/item_rm_recursive.Rd
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 \alias{item_rm_recursive}
 \title{Remove an item completely by recursively removing its child items}
 \usage{
-item_rm_recursive(sb_id, ..., limit)
+item_rm_recursive(sb_id, ..., limit = 1000)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{sb_id}{An \code{\link{sbitem}} object or a character ScienceBase ID corresponding to the item}