Story Builder documentation

Deleting and restoring

Nothing you delete in a project disappears at once. Deleted chapters, characters and other records go to the archive, where you can restore them for thirty days before they are removed for good.

How do I restore a deleted chapter? #

Open Archive in your project, find the chapter, open its menu and choose Restore. It comes back exactly where it was, with its relations. The same works for a character, a location, an event or any other record.

If you have only just deleted it from a list, there is a quicker way: the message that confirms the deletion has an Undo button for a few seconds.

The archive lists each deleted record with its type and, under Permanent Deletion, the date it will be removed for good. In the last week that becomes a countdown. Whether you can open the archive and restore from it depends on your role.

What happens when I delete a record? #

Deleting a record hides it everywhere. It stops appearing in lists, in search, in relations and on the timeline, and the project behaves as though it is gone. Thirty days after you deleted it, it is removed for good, and that cannot be undone.

Deleting a book sends its chapters and plotlines to the archive with it. Restoring the book brings them all back.

To remove something for good before the thirty days are up, delete it again from its menu in the archive.

What the archive does not hold #

  • Images. Deleting an image is final.
  • Text you edited. The archive is for things you deleted, not for changes you made. Undo in the editor is what brings back a paragraph you regret.
  • Projects. They work differently; see below.

Notes have an archive of their own, under Archived on your Notes page.

Deleting a project #

You can delete a project you created in three places: under Settings → Actions → Delete project in the builder, from a story's page in the simplified builder, or from Owned projects on the Profile tab of your account settings, which lists everything you own. It asks for two things:

  1. Its name, typed exactly, so the wrong one cannot be deleted by accident.
  2. A code that proves it is really you. With two-factor authentication on, enter the code from your authenticator app. Without it, you get a six-digit code by email. It works once, only for that project, and only for fifteen minutes.

Nothing is sent until the name matches, so opening the dialog by mistake does no harm.

Deleting a project takes everything inside it — the chapters, the records, the maps and the conversation — so nothing is left behind to tidy up afterwards.

If you are a member of a project rather than the person who created it, asking to delete it only takes you out of it. It stays for everyone else.

Can I get a deleted project back? #

Not from the app. For thirty days, Contact support: they can bring the project back whole — the chapters, the records, the maps and the conversation. After thirty days it is erased with everything inside it, and that cannot be undone.

If you want a copy of a project before you delete it, take a backup first. A backup is a file you keep, with no deadline.

Closing an account #

Closing your account is a separate and bigger step than deleting a project. It is covered in account and security. Work in projects you do not own stays with those projects.

Tips #

  • Reach for Undo first. Right after a deletion, Undo in the message is faster than the archive.
  • Check the archive before you recreate something. A character you think you lost is often still there, relations and all.
  • Restore the book, not the chapters. A deleted book brings its chapters and plotlines back with it.
  • Take a backup before a big clean-up. The archive keeps things for thirty days; a backup file keeps them for as long as you hold on to it.