Trash and Recovery

Deleting a file in MainBranch is a soft delete. It moves to Trash where you can recover it for a while before it's permanently gone.

Opening Trash

Switch to the Trash tab in the Vault. You'll see every file you've deleted, oldest at the top so you can clear out the oldest first.

Each row shows:

The file's name and type
When it was deleted
The folder it lived in originally

Restoring files

Select one or more files and click Restore. Files return to their original folder. If the original folder was also deleted, files restore to the Vault root.

Permanently deleting

Select files and click Delete forever to remove them right away. Or click Empty Trash to wipe everything.

Once permanently deleted, files cannot be recovered.

Trashed files are kept for a configurable retention period — typically 30 days — and then permanently deleted automatically. Your workspace admin may have set a different retention window; check with them.

Restoring folders

Deleting a folder sends every file inside to Trash. Restoring those files brings them back to the original location when possible. If the parent folder was also deleted and not restored, the files land at the Vault root.

Bulk delete and restore

Selection is supported in the Trash view just like in the main Vault. Use the checkboxes to select multiple files and run Restore, Delete forever, or Empty Trash.

What gets logged

Every delete, restore, and permanent delete is recorded in the workspace audit log for admins. The audit entry includes who performed the action and when.