The Salesforce Recycle Bin is something you don’t think much about– until you need it. The Recycle Bin is designed as an initial tool for safeguarding data after accidental deletions, allowing users to meet compliance and audit requirements for short-term data retention and recovery. When critical data is accidentally deleted, the Salesforce Recycle Bin allows you to restore data within a 15 or 30-day window (more on this distinction below). This article explores how to find and restore deleted objects, the nuances of permanent deletion, and the functionality of the Salesforce Recycle Bin, including its 15 or 30-day retention policy and limits. Additionally, we cover increasing Recycle Bin limits and best practices for ensuring important data is never lost.
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Salesforce Recycle Bin Retention: 15 or 30 days?
The Salesforce Recycle Bin typically retains data for 15 days, but extends to 30 days when you enable the “Extended Recycle Bin Retention” feature on Salesforce Classic. If you are using Lightning, you may have to switch to Classic to find deleted records of more than 15 days. One of the critical aspects of data management in Salesforce is ensuring that lost data can be recovered when needed. Understanding these capabilities and limitations can help IT leaders and Salesforce Administrators better manage their organization's data. Here, we will cover how to find deleted objects, the permanence of deletions, the limits and retention periods of the Recycle Bin, and more.
How do I find deleted objects in Salesforce?
You can find deleted objects in Salesforce in the Recycle Bin if they were deleted within 15 days (30 days when you enable the “Extended Recycle Bin Retention” feature). When you delete records in Salesforce, they aren't immediately erased but moved to a temporary holding place known as the Recycle Bin. This allows users to recover mistakenly deleted data. However, finding these deleted objects can sometimes be challenging.
Are Permanently Deleted Files Really Gone?
It depends– when you permanently delete files from the Recycle Bin, Salesforce removes them from your organization's active data, but they might still exist in backups for a short period. This ensures that in cases of accidental permanent deletion, there's still a slim chance for recovery if acted upon immediately.
How do I Restore Deleted Records in Salesforce Lightning?
To restore deleted records from the Recycle Bin in Salesforce Lightning, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Recycle Bin from the App Launcher.
2. Locate the record you want to restore.
3. Select the record and click "Restore."
This manual process helps recover records that were deleted unintentionally, maintaining data integrity, operational flexibility, and continuity.
Can I Manually Export the Salesforce Recycle Bin?
If you don’t have a third-party backup and recovery tool for Salesforce, you can choose to manually export the contents of your Salesforce Recycle Bin to ensure you have some sort of backup of deleted records. This can be done using Salesforce Data Loader or similar tools, allowing you to at least retain a copy of records, even after they are removed from the Recycle Bin following the 30 day limit.
Where is the Recycle Bin in Salesforce Lightning?
In Salesforce Lightning, you can access the Recycle Bin via the App Launcher. Simply search for "Recycle Bin" and select it from the results. This provides a straightforward way to manage deleted records.
Does the Recycle Bin Have a Limit?
Yes, the Recycle Bin has a storage limit, which varies depending on your Salesforce edition. We recommend knowing your limit and checking your recycle bin periodically to ensure you haven’t exceeded the limit, if you do not have a comprehensive backup and recovery tool. Once this limit is reached, the oldest records are permanently deleted to make room for new ones.
Can I increase my Salesforce Recycle Bin Limit?
Yes, while the default Recycle Bin storage limit is set by Salesforce, Salesforce.com Support can activate the 'Extended Recycle Bin Retention' feature in Salesforce Classic. If you are using Lightning, you may have to switch to Classic to find deleted records of more than 15 days. To increase your limit, have your System Administrator log a case with the Feature Activation and Limits Team.
How Long Does Salesforce Keep a Recycle Bin?
The retention period for records in the Salesforce Recycle Bin is 15 days. This standard retention period is designed to balance data recoverability with system performance, and is designed as a blunt tool to recover accidentally deleted records within a short time period.
What is The Best Way to Back Up My Salesforce Data?
Using a third-party backup and recovery tool is recommended to fully protect your Salesforce data. With data playing a pivotal role in today's business landscape, protecting it has never been more critical. And with the data in SaaS applications, that responsibility falls on you. Every SaaS vendor, including Salesforce, protects only their platform; they place the responsibility to protect your data on you.
The burden of shared responsibility goes beyond ensuring business continuity when data is lost or corrupted—it also extends to securing it against unauthorized access and ensuring compliance with regulations and governance policies.
Own Recover for Salesforce is the top-rated backup and recovery solution on the Salesforce AppExchange, thanks to its ease of use and Own’s commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience.
Recover allows you to protect your Salesforce data with automated backups that are complete, secure, compliant, and readily accessible. And if you need to, you can recover the right data quickly, with proactive notifications, granular visibility into what’s changed, and easy-to-use restore tools. Learn more about Recover for Salesforce here, or request a demo below.
