How the recycle bin works

Recycle Bin sits under every delete of the platform. It does not change how deleting works: the record is still removed, with everything that goes with it. What it adds is a copy taken just before, kept for a while and usable to create the record again.

What happens on a delete

When anything deletes records through the application, the bin first writes one entry per record, then the delete goes on as usual. "Anything" means a user in any app, a scheduled job, a website visitor, and the uninstall of an app, which removes many technical records at once. The core confirmation still says the record will be gone forever; with the bin installed, a copy exists.

The entry records:

The snapshot is drawn once, in the language and time zone of the user who deleted the record. Yes and No always read in English, the card is laid out left to right in every language, and technical fields appear next to the useful ones. It never changes afterwards, even when the bin is read in another language.

What goes with the deleted record

The delete removes the record's messages, notes and followers, which the bin never keeps, and its attached files, which the bin never keeps either. Its activities are deleted one by one, so each of them gets an entry of its own. Records that pointed to it either refused the delete or lost the link. Restore a record and check the result turns this into the checklist to follow after a restore.

Delete, archive, cancel

• Archiving is not a delete. An archived record stays in its app, hidden behind the Archived filter, and never reaches the bin.
• Marking an activity done keeps it as a done activity; it never reaches the bin. Cancelling an activity deletes it, so it lands in the bin, like the demo entry "Recycle bin demo: call about the retainer" cancelled on the contact Saffron Dune Trading Co. Activities are explained in Activities.
• Removing a line from a document deletes that line: it gets an entry of its own.

What is never kept

Whatever the settings say, the bin never keeps:

• the records of dialogs and wizards, which are temporary by nature;
• technical records whose model name contains ir.: attachments, scheduled actions, menus, views and the like;
• followers, messages and notes, outgoing e-mails, and the records of live notifications;
• its own entries;
• records the database removes by itself together with their parent, without going through the application.

On top of that, Enable Trash for Models in Recycle bin settings can keep only some models or leave some out.

Statuses and restore

An entry is Deleted until a manager restores it, then Restored, shown in green in the list. A restore creates a new record from the Data in JSON values, with the full rights of the system and without any language, so the values saved in the deleting user's language become the only ones. If the creation fails, nothing is created and the entry stays Deleted. A restored entry no longer offers Restore; in developer mode, Advanced Restore still does and would create one more record.

Retention, companies and access

Each company has its own options: how long entries stay, whether a snapshot is drawn, which models are kept. A delete reads the options of the company the user is working in, and the entry belongs to that company. A daily scheduled job removes, company by company, the entries older than that company's Keep Trash Duration, restored ones included; Recycle bin automations describes it. Empty Trash in the settings empties the current company at once.

A Manager of the bin reads the entries of every company and restores them; nobody can change or delete an entry by hand. Give access to the recycle bin gives the details.

What the bin does not do

• It does not undo a delete: it creates a new record with a new ID.
• It keeps no files and no chatter, and it does not put links back.
• It restores one entry at a time and offers no ready-made filters by model or user.
• It is not a backup: an entry leaves after the retention period, and emptying the bin cannot be undone.