Restore Deleted Issues in Linear
Look in the team archive for recently deleted issues and restore the issue within the documented 30-day recovery window. Archived and deleted issues have different retention behavior.
Step-by-step guide
Check access and scope
You need access to the original team. Ask a team member to investigate if the issue belonged to a private team you cannot access.
Find the original identifier
Identify the issue key or original URL from a message or document.
Open recently deleted work
Open the relevant team archive and inspect recently deleted issues. Use G then X to open the team archive and choose Recently deleted issues; the documented recovery window is 30 days.
- Worked example: A link to ENG-412 in a review note helps distinguish the deleted invitation bug from another similarly named issue. Restore the matching record instead of recreating it and splitting history.
Match the correct record
Match the title, creator and deletion timing before restoring.
Restore the issue
Restore the selected issue using its available restore action. If the deletion just happened, Cmd/Ctrl Z can undo it; in Recently deleted issues, select the record and press # to restore.
Recheck active ownership
Review status, project and assignee before returning the issue to work.
Verify the result
Open the original issue link and verify the description, comments and ownership are present.
Common mistakes
Avoid the main failure mode
Waiting too long can make deletion permanent. Restoration is not a general backup service or permission bypass.
Check the handoff edge case
Recreating a missing issue before checking its old identifier can split evidence between two records. Investigate the original link first.
Sources and verification
Based on product documentation checked on 2026-10-24. This is a documentation-based guide, not a hands-on benchmark. Features and availability can change.