ICT in het Onderwijs

How do I restore deleted discussion topics and threads?

Updated on

Make deleted threads visible
Retrieve deleted threads
Restore deleted topics

When you have accidentally deleted a discussion thread or topic, you can easily restore it in Brightspace. To do so, you first have make sure you can see deleted messages. As a teacher you are able to delete all posts and threads (students can only delete their own threads, and only if no one has responded to it yet).

Make deleted threads visible

Before you can retrieve a deleted post (thread) you first have to make it visible.

  • Navigate to Activities in the navbar of your course.
  • Click Discussions.
  • Click Settings in the top right corner.
  1. Select the box for  Display deleted posts.
  2. Click Save to save your settings.

Retrieve deleted threads

  • Click on the desired topic on the Discussions homepage.

Now that the deleted threads are visible, you will see them at the bottom of the list on the topic. You can:

  1. view the history of the thread:
    • Click the arrow next to the thread and then click View Post History. You can now see who deleted the thread. You can also click Restore Thread to restore the thread;
  2. restore the thread by clicking Restore Thread. Select Also restore any replies to this thread to restore the reactions within the thread (apart from the first message) and click Yes; 
  3. view the deleted thread without restoring it and by clicking on Show deleted thread.

If you are viewing the deleted thread using Show deleted thread, you will only be able to see the first message in the thread. To see all reactions, you will have to restore the thread. Do not forget to click Also restore any replies to this thread if you wish to restore it and see all replies.

Restore deleted topics

  • Navigate to Activities in the navbar of your course.
  • Click Discussions.
  • Click More Actions and then click Restore.
  • Search for the topic you wish to restore in the list and then click Restore. Confirm by clicking Yes.

The deleted topic will now reappear between the other existing topics, including all threads that existed in the topic before it was deleted.

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