Recently deleted

When you delete something, it isn’t gone straight away. It waits in Recently deleted for 30 days, so you can bring it back if you change your mind.

What it is

Recently deleted is on Home under More, with the number of items waiting. Each item shows how many days it has left. After 30 days, Paperwise removes it for good.

Items in Recently deleted aren’t in All items, on shelves, in folders or in search.

Private vaults are different. Deleting an item inside a vault is Delete for good: it never goes to Recently deleted, and it can’t be brought back.

With Sync & Backup on, Recently deleted also has a second list at the bottom, Deleted from all your devices. See below.

Step by step

Delete an item

Open the item and tap More (or •••), then Delete.
Paperwise asks, for example, Delete this document? “It moves to Recently deleted for 30 days.” Tap Delete.
A message says “Moved to Recently deleted”, with Undo for a few seconds.

To delete several at once, tap Select in All items, a folder or a shelf, choose items and tap Delete.

Bring an item back

On Home, tap More → Recently deleted.
Tap the item, then Restore.

It goes back where it was, including its folder (if that folder still exists).

To restore several, tap Select, choose them and tap Restore.

Delete an item for good now

In Recently deleted, tap the item.
Tap Delete now.

Empty Recently deleted

In Recently deleted, tap ••• at the top right.
Tap Empty trash and confirm.

This can’t be undone.

Deleted from all your devices

With Sync & Backup on, the top of Recently deleted says “Documents are deleted from your devices after 30 days. Your Paperwise backup keeps them 30 days more.” Items past that point are listed under Deleted from all your devices, each with when and on which device it was deleted, and Kept until.

Tap one for:

Restore: it comes back on all your devices in a moment. Restoring into your account needs Pro.
Save a copy to this iPhone: a copy on this iPhone only. Free.
Erase now…: erases it from your Paperwise backup for good, with your recovery key. Without the key, you can choose I don’t have it: erase in 7 days, and every device is told and can cancel it.

More about this list and the history Sync & Backup keeps: Get back deleted items.

Free and Pro

Recently deleted is free. Deleted from all your devices needs Sync & Backup; restoring from it into your account is Pro, saving a copy to this iPhone is free.

Privacy

Deleted items stay on your iPhone, with the same protection as everything else Paperwise stores, until they’re removed for good.
With Sync & Backup: a deletion on another of your devices moves the item to Recently deleted here first (30 days). Your Paperwise backup then keeps an encrypted copy for 30 days more, so you can still restore it. After that, its encrypted copies on our servers are deleted.
With the iCloud backup: items removed for good are taken out of the backup at its next run.
Vault items skip Recently deleted entirely, and are never listed under Deleted from all your devices.

Tips

If you can’t find something, look here before anywhere else.
Want an item out of sight but not deleted? Use More → Move to a vault instead: see Protected documents, Never send to AI and vaults.

What if…

What if I deleted a vault item by mistake?

Deleting in a vault is for good and there’s no Recently deleted for it, so Paperwise can’t bring it back. That’s why a vault asks Delete for good? before it deletes.

What if an item I restored isn’t in its folder?

The folder was deleted meanwhile, so the item is back on Home without a folder. File it again with More → Add to folder.

What if something disappeared from Recently deleted?

It had reached its 30 days and was removed for good. With Sync & Backup on, look under Deleted from all your devices.

What if Recently deleted is empty but I’m missing an item?

Check your private vaults, and check you’re looking on the right device. Without sync, each device keeps its own documents.