# How can I delete or undelete topics?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-can-i-delete-or-undelete-topics/41700>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [29.Март.2016 08:25:18 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-can-i-delete-or-undelete-topics/41700 "2016-03-29T08:25:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)\
**Post date:** [29.Март.2016 10:46:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-can-i-delete-or-undelete-topics/41700/5 "2016-03-29T10:46:51Z")

</div>

> [@Trash](#):
>
> By site setting the posts you deleted are only hidden (to all except admins) for 24 h.

This site setting is unrelated – it only applies to posts deleted by the author, which will stick around as `(deleted by author, will be removed in 24 hours unless flagged)` for the specified time.

> [@alehandrof](#):
>
> Where is this? I looked under [http://www.example.com/users/my\_admin\_user/activity/topics](http://www.example.com/users/my_admin_user/activity/topics) but I can’t find anything.

Profiles with deleted topics once showed a red “notification” to staff members, but it seems to be gone. Maybe this was dropped when the Activity page was restructured (by @sam if I recall correctly).

You can definitely use the [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) to find deleted topics, though.

* * *

And here’s how:

Run this query:

```sql
SELECT *
FROM topics
WHERE deleted_at is not NULL
AND archetype = 'regular'

```

Look through the list to find the topic, and memorize the ID.  
Then, visit `/t/<id>` in your Discourse install to view the topic. From there, you can easily restore the topic.

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