# The Trash and undoing a deletion Deleting a clip doesn't get rid of it straight away. **It sits in the Trash for 30 days, and you can bring it back at any point in that window.** ## What happens when you delete Deleting a clip doesn't ask for confirmation. Instead, a notice appears at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds — "Moved to trash" — with an **Undo** link next to it. If you simply hit the wrong thing, that's your way out. From the moment you delete a clip: - It's gone from the clip list - **Its public URL stops working** — if it was public, nobody else can open it any more - It drops off the public page of any collection it was in - AI clients can no longer see it As far as the outside world is concerned, it's gone. You're the only one who can get it back. ## The Trash screen Open **Trash** from the main navigation. The list shows the format, title, when it was deleted, and **how many days are left before it's deleted automatically**. ### Restoring **Restore** brings it back on the spot, with no confirmation dialog. A restored clip comes back **exactly as it was before deletion**. - A clip that was public becomes public again. If that isn't what you want, switch it to private after restoring - Its version history and collection memberships are as they were - A clip that was archived before deletion comes back archived, so it won't appear in the active list ### Deleting permanently **Delete permanently** really does delete it, right then. This is the **one action you can't undo**, so it always asks for confirmation. The content and the entire version history go with it. ## After 30 days Clips more than 30 days past deletion are permanently deleted by a job that runs daily. At that point there's nothing left to restore. ## What doesn't go to the Trash | | What deletion does | | --- | --- | | Collections | No Trash — deleted immediately. But **the clips in them survive**; only the grouping goes away | | Image assets | No Trash — deleted permanently and immediately. Can't be undone | | API keys | Revoking can't be undone | Deletion carries different weight for different things because a clip is the only one that represents something you spent time writing and would miss. Collections and images can be recreated. ## Things that sound like deleting but aren't | Action | What actually happens | | --- | --- | | Archive | Only drops it from the list's default view. The public URL keeps working | | Remove from a collection | Only breaks the link. The clip itself stays | | Delete | Moves it to the Trash. The public URL stops working | ## Read next - [Saving and organizing clips](https://clipnote.paritto.dev/p/2813a01c-5ba9-4bca-ae90-ef4f76d3cc85) - [Publishing clips together in a collection](https://clipnote.paritto.dev/p/a54f71d7-7dbf-4228-b0f6-75b03ff7a73e) - [Version history and restoring a version](https://clipnote.paritto.dev/p/31f6542c-c7b3-4ce9-9cc8-86ae8f58b648)