Managing deleted files

When you delete a file in Nextcloud, it is not immediately deleted permanently. Instead, it is moved into the trash bin. It is not permanently deleted until you manually delete it, or when the Deleted Files app deletes it to make room for new files.

Find your deleted files by clicking on the Deleted files button on the Files page of the Nextcloud Web interface. You’ll have options to either restore or permanently delete files.

Quotas

Deleted files are not counted against your storage quota. Only your personal files count against your quota, not files which were shared with you. (See Storage quota to learn more about quotas.)

What happens when shared files are deleted

Deleting files gets a little complicated when they are shared files, as this scenario illustrates:

  1. User1 shares a folder “test” with User2 and User3
  2. User2 (the recipient) deletes a file/folder “sub” inside of “test”
  3. The folder “sub” will be moved to the trashbin of both User1 (owner) and User2 (recipient)
  4. But User3 will not have a copy of “sub” in her trash bin

When User1 deletes “sub” then it is moved to User1’s trash bin. It is deleted from User2 and User3, but not placed in their trash bins.

When you share files, other users may copy, rename, move, and share them with other people, just as they can for any computer files; Nextcloud does not have magic powers to prevent this.

How the deleted files app manages storage space

To ensure that users do not run over their storage quotas, the Deleted Files app allocates a maximum of 50% of their currently available free space to deleted files. If your deleted files exceed this limit, Nextcloud deletes the oldest files (files with the oldest timestamps from when they were deleted) until it meets the memory usage limit again.

Nextcloud checks the age of deleted files every time new files are added to the deleted files. By default, deleted files stay in the trash bin for 30 days. The Nextcloud server administrator can adjust this value in the config.php file by setting the trashbin_retention_obligation value. Files older than the trashbin_retention_obligation value will be deleted permanently. Additionally, Nextcloud calculates the maximum available space every time a new file is added. If the deleted files exceed the new maximum allowed space Nextcloud will expire old deleted files until the limit is met once again.

Note

Your administrator may have configured the trash bin retention period to override the storage space management. See admin documentation for more details.