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Deleting and restoring sites

Watchful lets you remove sites from your dashboard when you no longer need to manage them. Deleted sites are kept in the Recently deleted area for 30 days, giving you time to restore them if needed.

During this period, deleted sites do not count toward your Watchful plan limits, and all monitoring and scheduled operations are suspended.

Deleting a site

To remove a site from your Watchful dashboard:

  1. Log in to Watchful and open the Sites Dashboard.
  2. Find the site you want to delete.
  3. Click the arrow next to the site name to open the site drawer.
  4. Click the red Delete button at the bottom of the site drawer.
  5. Review the confirmation message.
  6. Click Yes to confirm the deletion, or No to cancel.

The site is immediately removed from your dashboard and moved to the Recently deleted area.

Deleting a site from Watchful does not delete the actual WordPress or Joomla website from your hosting server. It only removes the site from Watchful’s management dashboard.

What happens when a site is deleted?

Deleted sites are retained in Watchful for 30 days before being permanently removed.

While a site is in the Recently deleted area:

  • The site does not count toward your Watchful plan limits.
  • Watchful suspends connection checks and uptime monitoring.
  • Scheduled audits and backups are suspended.
  • Scheduled updates and reports are suspended.
  • The site can be restored to your dashboard at any time during the 30-day retention period.

After 30 days, the site is permanently removed from Watchful and can no longer be restored using the Recently deleted feature.

Restoring a deleted site

You can restore a deleted site to your Watchful dashboard within 30 days of its deletion.

To restore a site:

  1. Open the Sites Dashboard.
  2. Click the trash icon in the toolbar at the upper-right corner of the dashboard.
  3. The Recently deleted page displays sites that are available for restoration.
  4. Find the site you want to restore.
  5. Click the Restore button on the right side of that site’s row.

Watchful restores the site to your Sites Dashboard, where you can manage it again.

The Recently deleted page also displays the date each site was deleted and the number of days remaining before permanent deletion.

Permanently deleting a site

By default, deleted sites remain in Watchful’s Recently deleted area for 30 days before being permanently removed. You can also permanently delete a site immediately if you no longer need its data. This feature may also be useful arises if you want to delete all the site data/history and re-add to your dashboard as a “new” site.

To permanently delete a site:

  1. Open the Sites Dashboard.
  2. Click the trash icon in the toolbar at the upper-right corner of the dashboard.
  3. On the Recently deleted page, find the site you want to permanently delete.
  4. Click the red trash icon next to the site’s Restore button.
  5. Review the confirmation message and click Yes to proceed, or No to cancel.
  6. Review the final warning and click Permanently delete site and all data to confirm, or Cancel to keep the site in the Recently deleted area.

Permanently deleting a site immediately removes it and all associated data from Watchful, including logs, reports, audits, and site configurations.

This action cannot be undone. Once permanently deleted, the site cannot be restored using Watchful’s Recently deleted feature.

Permanently deleting a site from Watchful does not affect the actual WordPress or Joomla website or its hosting environment. If the website is still running, you can add it to Watchful again as a new site, but its previous Watchful data will not be available.

Managing restored sites

After restoring a site, open its site drawer on the Sites Dashboard to review its status.

Use Refresh data to retrieve the latest information from the website and verify that Watchful can communicate with it.

Restoring a site makes it available for management again, including monitoring and scheduled operations. Review the site’s settings to confirm they meet your current needs.

Frequently asked questions

Does deleting a site remove it from my web server?

No. Deleting a site from Watchful does not affect the website, its files, database, or hosting environment. It only removes the site from your Watchful dashboard.

Does a deleted site count toward my subscription limit?

No. Sites in the Recently deleted area do not count toward your Watchful plan limits.

Can I restore a site after 30 days?

No. Once the 30-day retention period expires, or you manually permanently delete a site, it is removed from Watchful and is no longer available for restoration. Related logs, reports, audits, uptime data, and other site-related information are also permanently deleted.

If the website is still running, you can add it to Watchful again as a new site.

Will Watchful continue monitoring a deleted site?

No. Watchful suspends monitoring and scheduled operations while the site is in the Recently deleted area. These include connection checks, uptime monitoring, audits, backups, updates, and reports.

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