You can restore most deleted Salesforce records from the Recycle Bin, where they stay for 15 days before Salesforce schedules them for permanent deletion. Once that window passes or someone empties the Recycle Bin, you need a backup to get them back. Here is how each path works.
Salesforce is one of the most reliable and trusted customer relationship management (CRM) software systems around. It is used by many of the world's most recognizable enterprises due to its power to manage vast amounts of customer data securely. However, due to accidental misplacement of records, or inadvertent deletion of data, there may be times where it becomes necessary to retrieve deleted records from Salesforce.
As of October 2026, deleted records stay in the Recycle Bin for 15 days, and anyone with Read access on a record can restore their own deletions. Open the Recycle Bin from the App Launcher, select the records and click Restore. Admins with Modify All Data can see and restore records deleted by anyone in the org.
Restoring a deleted record from the Recycle Bin also brings back many of its associations, including parent accounts, parent cases and all custom lookup relationships. Salesforce only restores lookups that haven't been replaced in the meantime, so check related records afterward. Salesforce Help lists which relationships come back.
After 15 days, or once the Recycle Bin is emptied, records are permanently deleted and you can't restore them from the Salesforce UI. At that point you need a backup: Salesforce Backup (sold as an add-on), a recent Data Export Service file re-imported with Data Loader, or a third-party tool such as Flosum Backup & Archive. A CSV re-import creates new record IDs, so lookups and related records have to be re-linked by hand.
Ultimately, while Salesforce provides numerous data recovery options, it should not be forgotten that prevention of data loss is always preferable to pursuing costly data recovery. A written Salesforce backup and recovery strategy sets how often you back up, who can restore, and how fast you need records back. These strategies can help businesses minimize any downtime and reduce the cost of recovering lost records.
By taking steps to properly understand the Salesforce platform and the various solutions available to protect data, your company can easily navigate the process of recovering deleted records from Salesforce. With the right tools and strategies in place, your enterprise can minimize unnecessary record deletion and effectively ensure your Salesforce instance remains active and error-free.
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