Recycle bin

Overview

The Recycle bin is a Sitefinity CMS module that stores deleted objects and allows the user to restore previously deleted data items. You can delete items permanently either manually or using an automatic schedule.

The Recycle bin has the following advantages:

  • Users are able to revert an unintended deletion of items.
  • Web administrators are able to archive or recycle pages that are currently not in use but may be needed in the future.
  • Developers and designers are able to archive deprecated sections of the site without deleting them.

When the Recycle bin module is active and an item of the supported types is deleted through the user interface, the item is automatically moved to the recycle bin until you either restore or permanently delete the item from there.

Activate and configure the Recycle bin

To enable and activate the Recycle bin module, perform the following:

  1. In the backend, navigate to Administration » Modules & Services.
  2. If the Recycle bin module is not installed, click the Actions link and then click Install.
    For more information, see Activate and deactivate modules.
  3. In the backend, navigate to Administration » Settings » Recycle bin.
  4. To enable or disable the recycle bin, select or deselect Enable Recycle Bin or Disable Recycle Bin radio button, respectively.

    NOTE: Disabling the Recycle bin from the settings page does not disable the module. You can still open the Recycle bin and restore deleted items, but newly deleted items are no longer sent to the recycle bin, instead they are permanently deleted.

  5. To schedule an interval for deletion of the items in the Recycle bin, in the Keep items in the Recycle Bin no longer than... input field, enter the number of days.
  6. Save your changes.

Open the Recycle bin

To open the Recycle bin, in Sitefinity's backend navigate the Dashboard and in the upper-right corner, click Recycle Bin. You can also access the Recycle Bin on each content module page. The link is located in the right pane.

The grid of the Recycle bin page lists items that are not permanently deleted. Administrators can see deleted items from all users, the other users see only items deleted by them.

Delete items permanently

When you delete items from the Recycle bin, the items are permanently deleted. You can do this in one of the following ways:

  • Select one or more items and click Delete Selected button in the toolbar.
  • Click the Actions link of the respective item.
     From the dropdown menu, select Delete forever.
  • To delete all items from the Recycle bin, click Empty Recycle bin button in the toolbar.

Restore deleted items

With the Recycle bin, you can restore items, which are deleted by mistake. You can do this in one of the following ways:

  • Select one or more items and click Restore Selected button in the toolbar.
  • Click the Actions link of the respective item.
     From the dropdown menu, select Restore.

Find deleted items

The Recycle bin has a few options for sorting and filtering the listed items:

  • To display only items of a specific type, under Filter items in Recycle bin,
    click one of the filters.
  • To sort the displayed items, in the Sort by dropdown in the toolbar, select one of the sort options.
  • To search by an item's title, click the Search... button in the toolbar and enter the item title to search for.

Supported content

Recycling of content (moving content to the Recycle bin upon deletion) is currently supported for the following content types:

Pages, News, Events, Blog posts, Dynamic content type items, Media items

Operation Supports recycling Description
Delete items Yes The item is moved to the recycle bin. You can restore the item from the recycle bin page or instantly using Undo operation, available in the notification panel that is displayed right after deletion confirmation.
Delete page personalization for segment X, which is different from Everyone No Personalization is completely removed. However, if a user deletes the personalization for Everyone, the page is actually moved to the Recycle bin.
Events » Delete calendar No All events in the calendar are completely removed.

 

Dynamic content types (hierarchical)

Operation Supports recycling Description
Delete parent content type Yes Parent together with all its children or inner hierarchy gets moved to the Recycle bin and are listed as a single entry.

Libraries

Operation Supports recycling Description
Delete library or sub-library No The whole inner hierarchy (child libraries and their media items) are completely removed.
NOTE: Media items that are in the Recycle bin and are children of these libraries are also completely removed.

 

Blogs

Operation Supports recycling Description
Delete a blog No Blogs is permanently deleted together with all their child blog posts.
Delete a blog post
Yes

The blog post item is moved to the Recycle bin.

Multilingual (similar to the supported recyclable types)

Operation Supports recycling Description
Delete item » Delete all translations Yes The item is moved to the Recycle bin with all its translations (listed in the grid as a single entry).
Delete item » Delete one and only out of X translations Yes The item is moved to the Recycle bin with its one and only translation.
Delete item » Delete one out of X translations No No recycle bin item is created for this particular translation. The translation is completely removed.

Not supported content

The following areas do not support recycling:
Area Supports recycling Description
Content » Lists » List items No No changes in functionality.
Content » Forms No No changes in functionality.
Content » Content blocks No No changes in functionality.
Content » Forums No No changes in functionality.
Content » Comments No No changes in functionality.
Content » Classifications No No changes in functionality.
Design section » all related types No No changes in functionality.
Administration section » all related types No No changes in functionality except for user files that are media content.
Administration section » Backend Pages No Although these are pages, recycling is not supported for backend pages.
Marketing section » all related types No No changes in functionality.
Sitefinity CMS Desktop Application » delete operations No No changes in functionality.

Restore content from the Recycle bin

Restore a single item

Operation Possible restoration conflicts Result
Restore a deleted multilingual or monolingual page

In case of URL duplication, restoration of the item is not allowed.

In case of a missing parent of the deleted page, restoration is possible and the page is restored to root level. This applies only to pages whose parent is in the Recycle bin or is permanently deleted.

The page is restored to its state prior the deletion.
Restore a deleted multilingual or monolingual static and dynamic content

In case of URL duplication, restoration of the item is not allowed.

In case the parent of the dynamic content item is in the Recycle bin as well, when you try to restore the child, a message is displayed saying you must restore the parent item before the child item.

The item is restored to its state prior the deletion.

Restoring the parent restores all its separately recycled child items as well.

Restore multiple selected items

Operation Possible restoration conflicts Result
Restore selected batch of multilingual or monolingual items. A message with the number of the items which were successfully restored and the number of items which failed to restore is displayed. The failed items remain selected in the Recycle bin.

The selected items are restored to their state prior the deletion.

If all items are successfully restored, no message is displayed.

Delete content from the Recycle bin

Delete multiple selected items from the Recycle bin

Operation Message Result
Delete selected batch of multilingual or monolingual items. An alert message notifying the user that the action is not reversible is displayed.

The selected items are permanently deleted.

Permanently deleting dynamic content parents deletes permanently all its separately recycled child items as well.

Empty the Recycle bin

Operation Message Result
Empty Recycle bin An alert message notifying the user that the action is not reversible is displayed. If the user is an administrator, all items in the Recycle bin are permanently deleted.
Otherwise, only items which are owned by the current user are permanently deleted.

Preview items in the Recycle bin

Operation Conflict Result
You preview an item by clicking the item's title in the Recycle bin. Previewing works only for static and dynamic content, as well as media items.
If there is no page with a widget which allows the clicked item or media type to be displayed, a message alerts the user. A preview of the item is opened in a new browser tab or browser window.

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