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You deleted a record in Salesforce — and now you need it back.

Maybe it was an accidental click. Maybe someone on the team removed a contact that had six months of history tied to it. Whatever happened, the clock is already ticking. Salesforce only keeps deleted records for 15 days before they’re gone permanently.

The good news? Getting to the Recycle Bin is fast — once you know where to look. This guide walks you through every method, for every user type, so you recover what you need before it’s too late.

What Is the Salesforce Recycle Bin?

The Salesforce Recycle Bin is a temporary holding area for deleted records. When you delete a lead, contact, opportunity, account, or nearly any other object in Salesforce, it doesn’t vanish immediately — it moves here first.

A few key facts worth knowing:

• Deleted records stay in the Recycle Bin for 15 days
• Each user can see their own deleted records; admins can see everyone’s
• The Recycle Bin can hold up to 25 times your storage capacity in MB — for example, if your org has 1 GB of storage, your Recycle Bin can hold up to 25,000 records
• After 15 days, records are permanently and irreversibly deleted
• Salesforce processes automatic permanent deletion of records that have been in the Recycle Bin for 15 days or longer

Understanding this structure matters because the way you access the bin — and what you can do there — depends on whether you’re a standard user or a Salesforce admin.

How to Access the Recycle Bin in Salesforce Lightning Experience

Lightning is the default interface for most Salesforce users today. Here’s how to find the Recycle Bin:

Option 1 — Via the App Launcher

1. Click the grid icon (App Launcher) in the top-left corner
2. In the search bar, type “Recycle Bin”
3. Click the result to open it directly

Option 2 — Via the Navigation Bar

If your Salesforce admin has added the Recycle Bin to your navigation bar:

1. Look for “Recycle Bin” in the left-side navigation panel
2. Click it to open

Option 3 — Direct URL

You can also navigate directly by adding /lightning/o/RecycleBin/home to the end of your Salesforce domain URL.

Once inside, you’ll see a list of all records you’ve personally deleted within the last 15 days.

How to Access the Recycle Bin in Salesforce Classic

If your org still uses Salesforce Classic:

1. Scroll to the bottom of any page in Classic view
2. Look for the “Recycle Bin” link in the sidebar (left side)
3. Click it to open your deleted records

Admins in Classic can also access the org-wide Recycle Bin from the same sidebar — it appears as a separate link labeled with the total number of deleted records across the organization.

Recycle Bin Access for Salesforce Admins

Admins have more power here than standard users. Here’s what changes:

Viewing all deleted records across the org: In Lightning, admins can switch between “My Recycle Bin” (personal deletions) and “All Recycle Bin” (org-wide deletions) using a dropdown at the top of the Recycle Bin page.

In Classic, admins see both their personal bin and the org-wide bin as separate sections in the sidebar.

This matters when someone else on the team deletes a critical record — you don’t have to ask them to restore it themselves. You can do it directly as an admin.

How to Restore Deleted Records from the Recycle Bin

Finding the bin is step one. Restoring records is step two.

To restore one or more records:

1. Open the Recycle Bin using any method above
2. Check the box next to the record(s) you want to restore
3. Click “Restore”
4. The records return to their original location in Salesforce — with all related data intact (where possible)

Important: If a parent record was also deleted (for example, an Account that a Contact was linked to), you’ll need to restore the parent first, or restore both at the same time. Salesforce will warn you if there’s a dependency issue.

How to Permanently Delete Records from the Recycle Bin

Sometimes you want the data gone immediately — not 15 days from now.

To permanently delete:

1. Open the Recycle Bin
2. Check the box next to the record(s) you want to remove permanently
3. Click “Delete” (not Restore)
4. Confirm the action

To empty the entire Recycle Bin at once:

1. Click “Empty Recycle Bin” at the top of the page
2. Confirm when prompted

Once permanently deleted, these records cannot be recovered through normal means. Salesforce does not provide a self-service undo for permanently deleted records. You would need to contact Salesforce Support and request data recovery — which is not guaranteed and typically incurs a fee.

Searching Inside the Recycle Bin

If you have dozens or hundreds of deleted records and need a specific one:

• Use the search bar at the top of the Recycle Bin to filter by name
• Use the column headers to sort by record type, deletion date, or deleted by
• Use the date range filter to narrow down records deleted within a specific window

This makes it significantly faster to find what you need without scrolling through a long list.

What Happens to Related Records?

This is where many people get caught off guard.

When you delete a parent record (like an Account), Salesforce automatically moves its child records (Contacts, Opportunities, Cases linked to that Account) into the Recycle Bin as well.

When you restore the parent, Salesforce automatically restores the children at the same time — as long as they’re still in the Recycle Bin.

If the child records were already permanently deleted, they won’t come back when you restore the parent. This is another reason the 15-day window matters more than people realize.

Recycle Bin Limits and Storage

A few numbers worth keeping in mind:

• The Recycle Bin storage capacity is 25x your org’s storage allocation in MB
• If your org has 1 GB (1,000 MB) of storage, the Recycle Bin can hold up to 25,000 MB of deleted records
• Records exceeding this limit are automatically and permanently deleted — starting with the oldest records first
• Salesforce reports that the average Salesforce org stores between 500,000 and 1 million records, making clean data hygiene practices important for avoiding unintended permanent deletions

If your org is data-heavy, monitoring Recycle Bin usage through Salesforce’s Storage Usage reports is worth building into a regular admin routine.

Can You Recover Records After 15 Days?

Technically, yes — but it’s not simple.

Salesforce offers a Data Recovery service, but as of 2020, Salesforce temporarily suspended it and later brought it back with conditions. The service:

• Is not available for free
• Has a typical turnaround time of weeks, not hours
• Does not guarantee full recovery of all records

The practical takeaway: don’t rely on Salesforce’s backend recovery as a safety net. Export regular data backups using Data Export (available under Setup → Data → Data Export), or use a third-party backup tool. Salesforce itself recommends that customers maintain their own backup strategy for critical data.

Recycle Bin Access via Salesforce API

For developers or technical admins, you can also work with the Recycle Bin programmatically:

• Use the queryAll() SOQL method to retrieve deleted records (standard query() ignores them)
• Use the undelete DML operation in Apex to restore records via code
• Use the REST API undelete endpoint for external integrations

This is especially useful for bulk restores or when building automated data recovery workflows.

Example SOQL query to find deleted contacts:

SELECT Id, Name, IsDeleted FROM Contact WHERE IsDeleted = TRUE ALL ROWS

The ALL ROWS clause is what tells Salesforce to include records in the Recycle Bin.

Common Recycle Bin Issues and How to Fix Them

“I can’t find the Recycle Bin in Lightning”
Check whether your admin has removed it from your navigation. Ask them to add it back, or use the App Launcher search workaround.

“I restored a record but it looks different”
Some field changes made before deletion don’t reverse on restore. Check the record’s audit trail (field history tracking, if enabled) to see what changed.

“The record I need is gone from the Recycle Bin”
It’s likely been permanently deleted — either automatically after 15 days, manually by an admin, or due to bin capacity limits. Contact Salesforce Support to explore data recovery options.

“I can see my deleted records but not my team’s”
Only admins can view org-wide deleted records. If you need to see someone else’s deleted records, work with your Salesforce admin directly.

Best Practices for Managing the Salesforce Recycle Bin

A few habits that save headaches long term:

Set up regular data exports. Use Salesforce’s built-in weekly or monthly data export tool. It’s under Setup → Data → Data Export. This gives you a fallback that doesn’t expire in 15 days.

Enable field history tracking on critical objects. Even if a record is deleted, field history data helps you understand what it looked like before deletion. Set this up on Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, and Accounts at minimum.

Run periodic Recycle Bin audits. Admins should check the org-wide Recycle Bin weekly or bi-weekly to ensure no important records are quietly sitting there about to hit the 15-day mark.

Educate your team on what “delete” actually means. Many users assume Salesforce keeps deleted records indefinitely. Making sure everyone knows the 15-day window reduces panicked recovery requests.

Use record locking or permission sets to prevent accidental deletes. If certain records are critical, restrict the ability to delete them to admins only. This is done through profiles and permission sets under Setup.