# I accidentally pressed delete, rather than remove from collection **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712 "2024-07-15T22:27:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bingbongboyo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bingbongboyo/32/241850_2.png) [@Bingbongboyo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Bingbongboyo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/1 "2024-07-15T22:27:58Z")
So, I have some time on my hands and I decided I would go through my collection and edit some movies. I accidentally pressed ‘delete’ rather than remove, and now they are gone. Does anyone know if I can get them back? ---
**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/2 "2024-07-16T00:13:17Z")
If you have a backup… sure. Also if your system has enabled a recycle bin (and the files in question aren’t deemed too big). Plex doesn’t backup your media – if you delete files from your file system (even if you delete those files from within Plex → that’s one of the reasons why I personally prefer to disable the option to delete media from within the Plex app/server). ---
**Author:** ![Bingbongboyo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bingbongboyo/32/241850_2.png) [@Bingbongboyo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Bingbongboyo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/3 "2024-07-16T00:21:38Z")
Thanks, I’ll have to check my settings. Is there a way to see what I actually deleted? ---
**Author:** ![Bingbongboyo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bingbongboyo/32/241850_2.png) [@Bingbongboyo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Bingbongboyo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/4 "2024-07-16T03:06:28Z")
So I’ve got it set up to automatically backup my database every 3 days. I’ve found the file, but it makes no sense to me what, or how, I’m supposed to do to try and retrieve my movies! Can anyone help, please? ---
**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 4:27am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/5 "2024-07-16T04:27:27Z")
The database is just the listing of the films on your server. You will need to recover the actual media from your backups, or re-rip the discs if you had none. ---
**Author:** ![Bingbongboyo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bingbongboyo/32/241850_2.png) [@Bingbongboyo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Bingbongboyo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 4:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/6 "2024-07-16T04:30:03Z")
Thank you. Will the database give me a list of the movies that were deleted? Or at least a list of all the movies I have? ---
**Author:** ![nx6](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nx6/32/103992_2.png) [@nx6](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nx6)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/7 "2024-07-16T04:34:11Z")
Not in a staightforward manner. I think people usually use [Webtools-NG](https://forums.plex.tv/t/webtools-ng/598539) for this sort of thing. I cannot provide any assistance with that, as I have never used it. I guess if you recover to a previous database, turn off the Automatically Empty Trash After Scan, and then do a scan of your libraries, you will get the posters with the trash icon for movies that it does not find. ---
**Author:** ![Bingbongboyo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/bingbongboyo/32/241850_2.png) [@Bingbongboyo](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Bingbongboyo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/8 "2024-07-16T04:44:04Z")
That might be worth a try. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/i-accidentally-pressed-delete-rather-than-remove-from-collection/882712/9 "2024-10-14T04:44:53Z")
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