Master Data Management in Monday.com: Deleting, Restoring, and Protecting Your Work

Monday.com is the operating system for many businesses, managing everything from simple tasks to complex project portfolios. However, as workflows evolve, data cleanup is inevitable. Whether you are archiving old projects or deleting a column that is no longer needed, understanding the consequences of these actions is critical.

In this guide, we will break down the data deletion lifecycle in Monday.com, the specific limitations of its native recovery tools, and how to ensure your project history remains secure.

Understanding the hierarchy: What can you delete?

Before you remove data, it is essential to understand how Monday.com structures its data. Deletion flows downwards—removing a high-level container removes everything inside it.

• Workspaces: The highest level. Deleting this removes all boards, dashboards, and permissions within it.
• Boards: The project containers. Deleting a board removes all groups and items inside.
• Items (Tasks): The individual rows on a board.
• Columns: The structural data fields (Status, Date, Text, etc.).
• Files: Documents or images attached to items. Warning: These behave differently than other data types (see risks below).

How to delete data in Monday.com

Items (tasks)

1. Select the item in the board
2. In the popup at the bottom, click on Archive or Delete

Expert Tip: In 99% of cases, you should Archive an item rather than Delete.

• Archive: Removes the Item from your active view but preserves the data indefinitely. You can restore it at any time, years later.
• Delete: Moves the data to the Trash, starting a 30-day countdown to permanent destruction.

Only use "Delete" if you created an item by mistake or for compliance reasons (e.g., GDPR). For everything else, Archive is the safer choice.

Columns

Warning: Deleting a column deletes that data point for every single item on the board.

1. Click the three dots next to the column name.
2. Select Delete (last option).

Boards

1. Click the three dots next to the board name in the sidebar.
2. Select Archive or Delete.

Workspaces

1. Use the left side pane to navigate to the right workspace
2. Next to Workspaces, click on the three dots
3. Select Delete workspace.

How to restore deleted data

If you have archived or deleted data, Monday.com provides an easy way to recover this data.

1. In the left side pane, click on the three dots next to Workspaces
2. Select View archive/trash, then Archive or Trash
3. Search the Item: You will see a list of deleted items, boards, and columns. You can also filter on the data type or use the search bar
4. Click Restore: The item will return to its original location.

The "Workspace Trap":
There is a specific nuance regarding Workspaces that trips up many users. If you restore a deleted Workspace, it typically restores an empty shell. You must often restore the Workspace first, and then go back into the Trash to individually restore the Boards that used to be inside it.

The Risks: What cannot be recovered?

Monday.com’s native safety nets have holes that can lead to permanent data loss due to human error of glitches.

1. Granular Data: Not all data types can be restored via the archive or trash: When you delete single comments or files, they do not appear in the trash.
2. Previous versions: In most cases, the board, item or column is still available in the app, but you need to go back to a previous version. monday.com does not offer the option to look up and restore previous versions of your data. The most common cases for this are incorrect data imports or unwanted bulk updates by 3rd party integrations.
3. Expired Trash: Anything deleted more than 30 days ago is gone forever.

Ensuring total data safety with ProBackup

To satisfy compliance requirements or simply for peace of mind, relying solely on monday.com is is rarely enough for professional teams.

Strategies to prevent data loss:

• Restrict Permissions: Limit who has "Delete" privileges in your workspace settings.
• Regular Audits: Review the Archive/Trash for each workspace weekly to catch accidental deletions
• Third-Party Backups: Establish a redundancy plan.

Because monday.com does not offer an internal "Time Machine" for your data, specialized solution providers like ProBackup have filled this gap. ProBackup provides daily, automated backups of all API-available data. Check out our How-to guide to learn how you can back up your monday.com data with ProBackup.

Unlike the native Trash, a dedicated backup allows you to:

• Restore Granularly: Perform one-click restores of previous versions of your items and boards.
• Access Forever: Bypass the 30-day limit.
• Export Data: Option to sync your records and files directly to Google Drive for an accessible, readable fallback format like Google Sheets .

Summary

Managing data in Monday.com requires discipline. The native "Archive/Trash" feature is a helpful undo button for recent mistakes, but it is not a backup strategy.

To keep your projects safe:

1. Archive old items; rarely delete it.
2. Be careful with files and columns, as they are harder to recover.
3. Implement a third-party backup if your team relies on Monday.com for critical revenue-generating workflows.