# Delete a folder

Remove a folder you no longer need from the files of a record. An empty folder goes at once; for one that still holds files, you choose whether the files stay on the record or go with it.

Deleting a folder never deletes the record, and it deletes the files inside only when you ask for it. Here the 2025 papers of the demo client no longer need a folder of their own: the folder goes and its file stays on the record.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Any internal user can delete an empty folder of a record they can open. A folder that still holds files needs the right to edit the record, whatever you choose for the files, since they are moved out or deleted, as for any attachment.
- Decide what should happen to the files in the folder. Files deleted here cannot be brought back: the recycle bin keeps neither attachments nor folders.
- The delete icon appears only while the pointer rests on the folder card. On a phone, touch the card once to show it.

## Delete the folder {#delete}

1. Open the record, here Silverbay Logistics Co. from **Contacts/Contacts**, and click the paperclip (**Attach files**) to open the **Files** box.
2. Move the pointer over the folder card, here **2025**, and click the bin icon (**Delete**) in its top corner.
3. An empty folder disappears at once, without a question. A folder that still holds files opens the **Delete folder** dialog, which names the folder and says how many files it contains.

![The folder still holds a file, so you choose what happens to it.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12458-d611903b/attachments-delete-folder-delete_dialog-en.png)

On a phone, the same dialog opens over the record, with its three buttons below the question.

4. Choose what happens to the files:
   - **Keep files (move them out)** deletes the folder and puts its files back at the root of the **Files** box, outside any folder.
   - **Delete files too** deletes the folder and every file in it, for good.
   - **Cancel** closes the dialog and changes nothing.
5. Here, click **Keep files (move them out)**. The **2025** card is gone, commercial-registration-2025.pdf sits at the root with the other loose files, and the paperclip still counts 5.

![The folder is gone and its file is back at the root of the Files box.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12462-2f113405/attachments-delete-folder-file_back-en.png)

## FAQ {#faq}

### Can I get back a folder or a file I deleted? {#undo}

No. Attachments and folders never go to the [recycle bin](/docs/recycle-bin). Make the folder again with **New folder**, and attach a deleted file again from your computer.

### Why did the dialog not appear? {#no-dialog}

The folder was empty. With no file to lose, an empty folder is deleted at once, without confirmation.

### A message refused the deletion and the folder is still there. {#refused}

Moving the files out and deleting them both change the record's attachments, which needs the right to edit the record. When that right is missing, nothing changes: the folder stays, with its files. Ask someone who can edit the record.

### What happens to the folders when the record itself is deleted? {#record-deleted}

The record's files are deleted with it, and its folders are no longer shown anywhere. A record brought back from the recycle bin returns without its files and folders.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/attachments/delete-a-folder
- Updated: 2026-10-27
- Version: Attachments and folders 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-10-27