PERFORMANCE

Soft deletions
In some databases, deleting a document permanently removes it from the database. In other databases, such as the IBM® Lotus® Notes® mail file database, deleting a document moves it into a Trash folder and stores it in a state of "soft deletion." From this folder, users can restore deleted documents by selecting Restore.

Deleted documents are not permanently removed until a specified expiration time or until the user empties the Trash folder. By default, soft deletions are enabled for mail databases created from the Domino 7 mail template (MAIL7.NTF) or newer templates. The default expiration time is 48 hours. You can turn soft deletions on or off for any database and specify how long to retain soft deletions before removing them from the database.

To display soft-deleted documents in other types of databases, you must create a view to list the documents and provide users with an action programmed to un-delete documents and restore them to the database.

For more information on creating views to display soft deletions, if you have installed IBM® Lotus® Domino® Designer, see the Help topic Adding a view for soft deletions.

Because deleted documents are not removed immediately from a database that has soft deletions enabled, space in the database is not reclaimed as quickly as in a database that does not use soft deletions. If space consideration is an issue, consider disabling soft deletions.

To enable or disable soft deletions for a database

1. From the Files tab of the IBM® Lotus® Domino® Administrator, select the database and select Edit - Properties.

2. On the Advanced tab of the Database properties box, check "Allow soft deletions."

3. Set a value for "Soft delete expire time in hours." The default is 48 hours. After that amount of time, soft deletions are permanently removed from the database.

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