How long do I have to recover it?

Most workplace tools keep deleted items 25-30 days, but edits made after the delete can complicate the restore. Act the same day.

Do I have to tell everyone?

Tell whoever was using it. A company-wide note is usually overkill.

← All playbooks

Tier 3: Dumpster Fire

What do you do after deleting a shared file or channel by accident?

The short answer

Stop all further edits, check the platform's trash and version history before announcing anything, then tell the affected people what is gone, what is recovered, and by when. Most enterprise tools retain deleted items for 30 days — check before you panic publicly.

What's actually at stake

01Half of these incidents evaporate in version history within ten minutes.
02Announcing before checking creates an incident that did not need to exist.
03Not announcing at all is the version that ends badly.

Do

· Check trash, version history, and admin restore before messaging.
· Tell the people who were mid-edit first.
· Ask IT for a restore in writing so there is a ticket.

Don't

· Do not recreate the file quietly and hope the diff goes unnoticed.
· Do not let others keep working in a doc you know is broken.
· Do not describe it as 'a sync issue' if it was a delete.

A draft you can send now

Quick flag: I deleted the Q3 tracker about twenty minutes ago by accident. Version history has us back to this morning's state and I've restored it — the only thing missing is anything typed between 10:40 and 11:00. If that's you, re-add it and I'll double check. Ticket open with IT for a full restore as backup.

Tailor this to my exact disaster →

Questions people actually ask

How long do I have to recover it?: Most workplace tools keep deleted items 25-30 days, but edits made after the delete can complicate the restore. Act the same day.
Do I have to tell everyone?: Tell whoever was using it. A company-wide note is usually overkill.

Take it further

Ask Cris about this →

Talk it through with the crisis bot using your actual details.

Grade what you already sent →

Incident Autopsy scores the damage and rewrites it.

Rehearse the conversation →

Spar with a skeptical manager, exec, or client before the real one.

Tier 3: Dumpster Fire explained →

A meeting will be scheduled about this. Possibly a recurring one.

Related incidents

All CYABot tools →