Archive, Delete & Restore

Channels and conversations are cleaned up in different ways:

• Channels: an Admin can archive or delete a channel for everyone in it.
• DMs and group chats: these can’t be archived, and nobody can delete one for everyone. People leave instead, and the conversation moves to the Recycle Bin when its last member leaves.

Archived and deleted items are in Settings > Data, on the Collab tab of the Archive (channels only) and the Recycle Bin. You restore them or delete them for good from there.

Channels

Who Can Do What

Only channel Admins can archive, delete, restore or permanently delete a channel, and any Admin can do it, not only the person who created it. Archived and deleted channels appear in Settings only for the channel’s Admins. For Members and Viewers, the channel simply disappears from their channel list until an Admin restores it. See Channels for roles.

Archiving

Archiving puts a channel away without deleting it. It disappears from everyone’s channel list, and nobody can post in it until it’s restored.

How to archive:

1. In the Collab sidebar, hover the channel and click its three-dot menu.
2. Choose Delete.
3. In the confirmation window, click Archive followed by the channel’s name.

Everyone else in the channel gets a notification, and a line in the channel records who archived it. Anyone who has the channel open is taken back to Collab with a message that an admin archived it.

Archived channels move to the Recycle Bin after 30 days. Restore any you want to keep before then.

Archived channels are listed in Settings > Data > Archive, on the Collab tab, with the date each one was archived and how many days it has been there. From there you can Restore a channel, or Delete it to move it to the Recycle Bin. To act on several at once, select them first.

Deleting

Deleting moves a channel to the Recycle Bin, where its Admins can restore it for 30 days. After that it’s permanently deleted from our servers.

How to delete:

1. Hover the channel, click its three-dot menu and choose Delete.
2. In the confirmation window, click Delete followed by the channel’s name.

You can also delete an archived channel from the Archive. Everyone else in the channel gets a notification, a line in the channel records who deleted it, and anyone who has it open is taken back to Collab.

A channel also moves to the Recycle Bin when its last member leaves, and only that person can restore it.

Files in a Channel

Files uploaded in a channel live in the channel’s own folder. That folder is archived, deleted and restored along with the channel, and permanently deleting the channel permanently deletes the folder and the files in it. Files that someone attached from elsewhere in their Files stay where they are.

Restoring

1. Go to Settings > Data.
2. Open Archive or Recycle Bin, then the Collab tab.
3. Find the channel and click Restore (the restore icon in the Actions column).
4. In the Confirm Restore window, click Restore followed by the channel’s name.

The channel comes back for everyone who was in it, with their roles, messages and files. A line in the channel shows who restored it, and everyone else gets a notification.

Permanent Deletion

To delete a channel for good before the 30 days are up:

1. Go to Settings > Data > Recycle Bin and open the Collab tab.
2. Find the channel and click Delete (the delete icon in the Actions column).
3. In the Confirm Deletion window, click Delete followed by the channel’s name.

This deletes the channel’s messages, its member list and the files uploaded in it, and everyone else in the channel gets a notification. Permanently deleted channels cannot be recovered.

DMs and Group Chats

Leaving Instead of Deleting

To be done with a DM or group chat, you leave it:

1. Hover the conversation, click its three-dot menu and choose Leave.
2. Confirm with Leave followed by the conversation’s name.

What happens next depends on who is still in it:

• Others are still in it: you lose access to its messages and to files other people shared there. The others keep the conversation and see a line saying you left.
• You’re the last member: the confirmation tells you so, and leaving moves the conversation to your Recycle Bin for 30 days. Only you can see it there.

If the other person in a DM has already left, it shows as Unknown User at the bottom of your DM list. You can still read it but can’t send messages. Leaving it then moves it to your Recycle Bin.

Restoring

1. Go to Settings > Data > Recycle Bin and open the Collab tab. A DM is listed as Direct Message, and a group chat by its name.
2. Find the conversation, click Restore, then click Restore followed by its name to confirm.

It comes back to your sidebar with all of its messages and files, with you as its only member. People who left before you aren’t added back:

• Group chat: add people again from Manage. See Conversations.
• DM: a restored DM stays read-only, because the other person has left it. To pick up where you left off with them, see the next section instead of restoring it.

Picking Up an Old DM

If you message someone while your old DM with them is in the Recycle Bin, Pentos usually restores that DM with its full history and adds you both back, rather than starting a new one. The same happens if they message you first.

This works while the DM is still in the Recycle Bin, as long as whoever left it first started it or sent at least one message in it. Otherwise, or once the DM has been permanently deleted, messaging that person starts a new DM.

Permanent Deletion

1. Go to Settings > Data > Recycle Bin and open the Collab tab.
2. Find the conversation, click Delete, then click Delete followed by its name to confirm.

This deletes the conversation’s messages and the files uploaded in it. Permanently deleted conversations cannot be recovered.

Retention Summary

The Recycle Bin’s Auto-Delete column shows how many days each item has left, and Due for deletion once its 30 days are up. To restore or delete several items at once, tick their checkboxes and use the Restore or Delete button that appears next to the tabs.

A channel that’s archived and never restored is permanently deleted after about 60 days (30 in the Archive and 30 in the Recycle Bin). A conversation is permanently deleted about 30 days after its last member leaves.