Deleting and Recovering Deleted Documents

When you delete a document, it's sent to the Trash. Deleted documents can be recovered or permanently deleted.

If you are the owner of a document, then you have the option to delete it. Before you delete a document, make sure you do not need any of the data or contents of that workbook. Deleted workbooks are deleted for all collaborators and remove related row relationships.

Deleted documents are held in the trash, which you can access from your Spreadsheet.com home screen. Documents in the trash can either be recovered or permanently deleted.

Deleting a Document from the Workspaces Sidebar

From the Workspaces sidebar, navigate to the document you want to delete. Click the three-dot icon to the right of the document name and select "Delete..." from the dropdown.

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This will open a popup confirming you want to delete the document. Once you confirm, the document will be deleted and sent to the trash.

Deleting a Document from Inside the Workbook

Once inside the document you want to delete, open the workbook menu and navigate to File > Delete....

How to Access the Document Menu

To access the document menu,

  1. Open the document dropdown by clicking the arrow to the right of the document name
  2. Select "Menu..." from the dropdown
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What happens to related rows if you delete the worksheet that they're called from?

Deleting a workbook also removes any Related Rows in other worksheets. All Related Rows and Related Row Lookups will be removed and stop working. Make sure you remove and store any data you will need before you delete a workbook.

Recovering and Permanently Deleting Documents from the Trash

When you delete a document, it’s sent to your Trash. You can access the Trash from the bottom of the navigation sidebar by clicking the trash can icon.

From the Trash screen, you can manage your deleted documents. Click the checkboxes next to the document names to select which ones to manage. Use the buttons above the list of documents to either restore or permanently delete the selected documents.

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Restoring your deleted documents will return them to their original location.

Permanently deleted documents cannot be recovered. Make sure you want to permanently delete a documents before doing so.

Learn more about managing your workbooks with our articles on Workbook Storage and Size Limits, Version History, and Exporting to Excel.