Many of us are often guilty of making hasty decisions. Whether it be booking a holiday you can’t really afford, ordering a burger when you actually wanted chicken nuggets, or deciding that you will have one last pint at the end of a night that means you miss the last train home.
The list of hasty decisions we make and come to regret almost every day is seemingly endless. What’s worse, for many of these decisions, we have to learn to live with the consequences.
However, this isn’t always the case. For instance, take Facebook posts. While many of us post something and then decide to take it down, some of us even change our minds again and decide that we don’t want to delete the post! How’s that for indecisive?
But fortunately, in some cases, there is a way to recover Facebook posts that you’ve taken off your wall! Obviously, we wouldn’t be so mean as to tell you this without then telling you how it’s done, so read on to find out how.
How To Remove a Post
First things first: There’s a difference between deleting a post and moving it to the recycle bin. I’ve tried deleting a post individually, and this can’t be restored. However, if you move something to the recycle bin, it can be restored. This seems to be the only difference between deleting a post and sending it to your recycle bin.
So let’s take a quick look at how to move a Facebook post to the recycle bin:
- Go to your profile by clicking your profile image.
- Click More, which will look like three dots (…).
- Tap Activity Log.
- Tap Manage your posts.
- Find the post (or posts) you want to remove, and then tap it.
- Tap Recycle Bin or Trash.
- A window will pop up. Tap Move to Recycle Bin/Trash.
Alternatively, you can archive these posts instead. This means that they’re no longer viewable to other people, but you’ll be able to keep them privately and view them yourself in your archive. The method is the same as the above except you tap Archive instead of “Recycle Bin” or “Trash”.
How To Retrieve a Post That You’ve Removed
And now, how to retrieve the post that you’ve just removed to your recycle bin:
- Go to your profile by clicking your profile image.
- Click More, which will look like three dots (…).
- Tap Activity Log.
- Tap Recycle Bin or Trash at the top.
- Select the post that you want to restore.
- Tap Restore at the bottom.
- Click Restore in the confirmation box.
If you chose to archive your post instead, just follow this same method, but click Archive rather than “Restore”.
You can only retrieve it from your recycle bin within 30 days, after which it’s gone forever. So don’t wait too long to decide that you want to restore it!
Can You Retrieve Comments?
Yes, luckily comments can be removed and retrieved in the exact same way as posts, as can likes and reactions.
Can I Find a Removed Post if I Delete My Account?
When you delete your account permanently all activity, such as comments, posts, and likes, disappear. However, Facebook does give you 30 days from when you deleted your account to change your mind and restore it. When you restore your account, all of your activity (posts, comments, etc) will be restored too.
As an alternative to permanently deleting your account, you could perhaps consider deactivating your account. While your account is deactivated, all of your activity is deleted, just like when you delete your account permanently.
But with deactivated accounts, you can come back and restore them anytime you like. You can even set a date in the future for when you want your account to be reactivated.
Is It Possible To See a Post That Someone Else Deleted?
Unfortunately, there’s no way to see a post that someone else has deleted. Your only hope (and it’s a faint one) is that the person decides to restore the post, or if they’ve deleted/deactivated their account, they reactivate it.
Conclusion
While there’s no way to restore a post that has been permanently deleted, there are alternatives to deleting in the first place which gives you the ability to restore removed posts and other activity. To summarise, we’ve seen:
- How to remove Facebook posts and comments
- How to restore Facebook posts and comments (within 30 days of removal)
- Deleted posts can’t be restored – only posts that have been sent to the recycle bin or archived.
- Deleting your account will delete your activity
- Restoring your account will restore your activity
- You can’t find a post that someone else has deleted
So next time you fancy removing some form of past activity from your Facebook profile, consider archiving or sending it to your recycle bin/trash, just in case you do change your mind.
