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Trash and restoring notes

When you delete a note, it doesn’t disappear right away; it moves to the Trash. You can search for and restore notes within the retention period. After that, they’re permanently deleted automatically.

Delete a note

Section titled “Delete a note”
  1. In the sidebar, open the three-dot menu on the note row. For a personal draft, open the Draft options menu.
  2. Choose Delete.
  3. Note moved to trash. appears. To undo right away, choose Undo next to the message. The note returns to where it was and Note restored. appears.
  • You need edit access to a note to delete it. Guests can’t delete notes.
  • Notes in the trash are hidden from the note list, search, public links and idea card links. They reappear when restored.
  • A personal draft whose title and body are both empty has nothing worth keeping, so it’s deleted immediately without going to the trash, and Empty draft deleted. appears.
  • Signed notes can’t be deleted, to protect the integrity of the record. If you try, a message tells you it can’t be deleted. See Research-note e-signatures.

Open the trash

Section titled “Open the trash”

Choose Trash at the very bottom of the notes sidebar to open the trash dialog.

  • The top of the dialog says Deleted notes are permanently removed after the retention period.
  • Type in Search trash to filter the list by note title.
  • Each item shows its dates as Deleted {date} · Purges {date}, followed by the name of the person who deleted it. Personal drafts have a Draft label.

The trash only shows notes you still have access to. Other people’s personal drafts aren’t shown. Guests don’t see the Trash button.

Restore a note

Section titled “Restore a note”

Choose the restore icon (Restore) on the right of an item. The note comes back and Note restored. appears.

  • The note returns with its original folder and sharing settings. If its original folder has since been deleted, it’s restored to the top level.
  • A personal draft returns to the My drafts section.
  • If you don’t have edit access to the note, the restore icon is disabled and shows You don't have permission to restore.

Delete forever

Section titled “Delete forever”

Owners and admins can permanently delete a note before the retention period ends. Regular members don’t see the button.

  1. Choose the Delete forever icon on the right of a trash item.
  2. In the Permanently delete this note? dialog, choose Delete forever.
  3. Note permanently deleted. appears.

Signed notes can’t be permanently deleted from the trash either. If you try, you’ll see Signed notes can't be permanently deleted.

Set the retention period

Section titled “Set the retention period”

Each workspace decides how long notes stay in the trash.

  1. Open the avatar at the bottom of the navigation rail (Account menu).
  2. Hover over the workspace row and choose the gear ({workspace} settings).
  3. In Workspace settings, on the General tab, under Data retention, pick a Trash retention period.
  4. Choose Save. Trash retention period saved. appears.
Plan Retention periods you can choose
Free 30 days
Plus 30, 60 or 90 days
Business 30, 60 or 90 days
  • Only owners and admins can change it. Everyone else sees Only admins and above can change the retention period.
  • In a Free workspace, 60 and 90 days can’t be selected. For plan differences, see Plans and limits.
  • Changing the setting doesn’t change the purge date of notes already in the trash. The new period applies to notes deleted after the change.
  • If the workspace moves to the Free plan, the retention period goes back to 30 days. Notes already in the trash keep their scheduled dates.
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