Tableau Cloud Help

The Recycle Bin allows Site Administrators, Server Administrators, and authors with Explorer (can publish) or Creator licenses to restore previously deleted projects, workbooks, and data sources.

You can access the Recycle Bin from the Home page of your Tableau site. Expand the side pane, and then select Recycle Bin. If you don’t see Recycle Bin, the feature must be turned on by your administrator.

When the Recycle Bin is turned on, the following content types will temporarily move to the Recycle Bin after deletion:

• Workbooks (including revision history, views, embedded credentials, embedded data sources, and extracts)

• Data sources (including extracts and embedded credentials)

• Projects (including contained workbooks and data sources)

However, when you delete and restore workbooks, data sources, and projects, some elements of the original content will be lost, including:

• Custom views

• Subscriptions

• Data-driven alerts

• Permissions

• Aggregated statistics about the deleted item (view and usage counters)

• Tags

• Favorite information (if the item was favorited)

Tip: If you don’t see something that you expect to be in the Recycle Bin, verify that the correct Content Type is selected.

• When deleted, supported content types keep their original names. The Restore action will fail if the project you restore to already has an item with the same name. To resolve this issue, restore into a different project, rename the just-restored content, and then move the content into the desired location.

• Workbooks and data sources stored in the Recycle Bin still take up space on a site. If a workbook or data source uses an extract, that extract size is still counted against the site quota.

• When deleted, supported content types do not change their owner. Users who originally owned content are still considered to be an owner.

• On restore, restored Items will take on the default permissions set for the container that you restore to. When restoring critical content, the operating user should verify that permissions are set as necessary. The Restore operation will not restore original content permissions.

Projects can contain a variety of content or nested projects. Note the following about projects when the Recycle Bin is turned on.

Note: Recycle Bin respects hierarchy for nested projects on the original delete action and when restoring content. For example, you can delete an entire project branch from the root project to send the root and all nested projects to the Recycle Bin, and you can restore an entire project branch from the Recycle Bin if you restore the root project (and all of the nested projects are still in the Recycle Bin). However, hierarchy is not respected when you delete content from the Recycle Bin. To delete all of the projects from an original project branch from the Recycle Bin, you’ll need to delete each project individually.

Example project: Project A includes 2 workbooks (A and B), a data source, and a flow.

• When a project is initially deleted and sent to the Recycle Bin, all content from that project that is compatible with the Recycle Bin is stored individually. For Project A, you’ll see a project, Workbook A, Workbook B, and a data source in the Recycle Bin. Other types of content, like flows, are deleted immediately and can’t be recovered.

• All compatible content from a project can be restored or deleted individually. For example, you can permanently delete Workbook A from Project A, leaving only a project, Workbook B, and the data source in the Recycle Bin.

• If you restore a project, all compatible content that is still stored in the Recycle Bin at the time will also be restored. For Project A, if you’ve already deleted Workbook A and then restore Project A, the project will restore with only Workbook B and a data source.

• If you delete a project from the Recycle Bin, only the project is deleted. For example, if you delete Project A from the Recycle Bin, Workbook B and the data source remain in the Recycle Bin until they are individually deleted, restored, or until the storage time expires.

Example project: Project A includes Workbooks A, Workbook B, a data source, and a nested Project B that includes Workbook C.

• If a deleted project contains nested projects, any nested projects that are still stored in the Recycle Bin at the time will be restored if the top-level project is restored. For example, restoring the root Project A restores the top-level Project A, Workbook B, a data source, Project B, and Workbook C to the selected restore location

• Nested projects in the Recycle Bin can be restored independently from their top-level project. If a nested project is restored independently, and then the top-level project is later restored, the top-level project restores without any content from the nested project. For example, if you restore Project B independently and then later restore Project A, Project A will restore with the top-level project, Workbook B, and the data source. The restored Project B will no longer be nested within Project A.

Example project: Project 1 (P1) is a project branch that includes 4 nested projects (P2-P3-P4-P5).

Scenario: You initially delete P1 and send the whole branch (the root P1 and the nested P2-P3-P4-P5 to the Recycle Bin.

• From the Recycle Bin, you can delete any individual project from the original hierarchy (P1-P2-P3-P4-P5).

• Deleting nested projects from the Recycle Bin will disrupt the original project hierarchy.

  • If you delete P3, P1, P2, P4, and P5 remain in the Recycle Bin, however P4 is no longer connected to P2. The original single project branch is now divided into two branches: P1-P2 and P4-P5.

  • With P3 deleted, if you then restore P1, the Restore action will also restore P2, but will leave P4 and P5 in the Recycle Bin.

  • With P3 deleted, if you restore P4, the Restore action will also restore P5, as P4 is now considered the root for P5.vvv

  • You can restore any of the originally-nested projects individually.

• You can’t remove a whole project hierarchy from the Recycle Bin. You must delete each project individually.

You can restore content from the Recycle Bin to a project within the storage time frame configured by the administrator.

1. From the Home page, expand the side pane, and then select Recycle Bin.

2. For Content Type, select Workbooks, Projects, or Data Sources.

3. Select the More actions menu for the content that you want to restore, and then select Restore.

4. Select a project as the restore location.

5. Select Restore.

You can permanently delete content from the Recycle Bin before the end of the storage time frame configured by the administrator. This action can’t be undone.

1. From the Home page, expand the side pane, and then select Recycle Bin.

2. For Content Type, select Workbooks, Projects, or Data Sources.

3. Select the More actions menu for the content that you want to permanently delete, and then select Delete.

4. Select Delete.

Administrators can turn on the Recycle Bin for a Tableau site in the Tableau site settings.

1. From the General tab, scroll to the Recycle Bin section.

2. Select the checkbox for Allow Recycle Bin for this site.

3. Select the number of days that the content is stored in the Recycle Bin. You can choose 1, 7, or 30 days.

   Important: Content is permanently deleted after the selected number of days.

4. Select Save.

Warning: If an administrator turns off the Recycle Bin, any content stored in the Recycle Bin will be permanently deleted.

Administrators can turn off the Recycle Bin for a Tableau site in the Tableau site settings.

1. From the General tab, scroll to the Recycle Bin section.

2. Clear the checkbox for Allow Recycle Bin for this site.

3. Select Save.

The Recycle Bin can only be turned on and configured by a Tableau Site Administrator or Server Administrator. To see contact information for your administrator, from the Home page, select the Show help menu icon, and then select Contact Tableau Administrator.