Deleted Appraisals: The 30-Day Trash Bucket
Deleting an appraisal moves it to a 30-day trash bucket. Restore anytime in that window. After 30 days it is permanently purged.
You'll learn
- Where deleted appraisals go and how long they stick around
- How to restore an appraisal from trash
- What permanently happens after 30 days
- When to mark complete instead of delete
You deleted the wrong appraisal. Maybe you confused two similar files. Maybe your VA was cleaning up duplicates and grabbed the live one by accident. Maybe you clicked delete instead of complete and only noticed three days later. Every appraiser does this at some point, and the question is always the same: is the file gone, or can you get it back?
In most SaaS tools the answer is "gone." Delete is permanent. You file a ticket, hope your vendor keeps backups, and write off a weekend rebuilding the case from email threads and Dropbox folders. AwardLettr does not work that way. Deleted appraisals sit in a 30-day trash bucket and you can restore them in one click any time before the daily purge runs.
Most useful for anyone with a VA or staff member who can delete files, and for anyone managing enough cases that a mis-click is statistically inevitable. The trash bucket is the safety net that lets you delegate cleanup work without flinching.
Deleting an appraisal in AwardLettr is reversible. Instead of vanishing immediately, deleted appraisals move to a 30-day trash bucket. You can restore them in full (with documents, time entries, notes, everything) any time inside that window. After 30 days the file is permanently purged from active storage.
Classic SaaS
- Confirm permanent delete
- Hope you do not regret it
- Recovery means restoring a backup, if your vendor even keeps them
AwardLettr
- 30-day window to undo any delete
- One-click restore from the Trash view
- Permanent purge only runs after 30 days
Deleting an Appraisal
Open the appraisal
Navigate to the appraisal detail page for the case you want to delete.
Open the actions menu
Click the ... menu in the top right of the appraisal header.
Choose Delete
Confirm in the dialog. The appraisal moves to Trash immediately and disappears from your active lists.
Restoring From Trash
Open the Trash view
In the dashboard navigation, find Trash under the appraisals section.
Find the appraisal
Trashed appraisals show their claim number, insured name, and the date they were deleted. You also see how many days remain before permanent purge.
Click Restore
The appraisal returns to your active list at the status it held when it was deleted. Documents, time entries, and notes all come back.
Permanent purge runs daily
When to Delete vs Mark Complete
Delete is for true cleanup: duplicate cases created by mistake, test files, intake that never became a real engagement. For real cases that closed without going the full distance (the carrier paid before inspection, the insured withdrew, the case settled out), use COMPLETE instead. That keeps the record in your history for reference and reporting.
| Situation | Recommended action |
|---|---|
| Duplicate appraisal created by mistake | Delete |
| Test or training appraisal | Delete |
| Real case where the engagement fell through pre-inspection | Mark COMPLETE |
| Real case where the carrier paid the demand before negotiation | Mark COMPLETE |
| Real case the insured withdrew from | Mark COMPLETE |
| Spam or unwanted assignment that should never have been entered | Delete |
When in doubt, complete it
Common pitfalls
- •Treating delete as a cleanup tool for closed cases. You lose the record for reporting and can no longer pull up the file if a question comes up later.
- •Forgetting about the trash bucket and recreating an appraisal you already deleted last week. Check Trash before you re-enter intake data.
- •Assuming you have unlimited time to restore. The 30-day countdown is hard. Once a daily purge runs, the file is gone.
Related Articles
The Appraisal Lifecycle From Intake to Close
Walk through every status on an appraisal, what triggers the next move, and how the carrier and insured paths diverge.
Stakeholders, Parties, and Who Gets Notified
The difference between case parties and stakeholders, how multi-add works, and exactly who gets CC'd on every outbound message.