Configuring safe trash purge

When a user deletes a node (document, folder, mail or record) from OpenKM, it goes to the user’s trash. Users should periodically empty their trash to free repository space.

Caution

When a user empties their trash, the documents are permanently lost.

That means if the trash has been cleaned accidentally, the nodes only can be restored from a prior backup. Usually restoring a full database and repository backup, which is a tedious task.

Note

Administrators can clean all trash on the application with the Purge trashes utility.

Tip

You can configure an alternate location where the documents will go after being purged from trash.

If you need to recover an accidentally deleted node, then will not be necessary restore the entire application from a backup.

You can configure a directory in the server file system where an export of the trash to be placed, using the “repository.purgatory.home” configuration parameter. Each time before a node is definitely removed from trash, the application does an export (as with the Repository export feature) to the purgatory home folder, creating a sub folder with the structure “YEAR/MONTH/DAY” what can help the administrator to locate the data to be recovered. To recover the data use the Repository import feature with the Metadata option checked.

Field / Property	Type	Description
repository.purgatory.home	String	Set the safe trash purge destination folder. /mnt/backup/trash

Note

It is a good practice to backup the purgatory home folder for at least some time (1-2 months depending on your company policy).