That 'delete everything' purge cost me a client invoice last week

I finally got sick of my cluttered desktop and nuked about 800 files last Tuesday. Turns out I trashed a folder with scanned receipts and invoices I still needed for a job from April. Spent 4 hours digging through my recycle bin and a backup drive to piece it back together. Everyone here preaches about doing big cleanouts, but has anyone else had a purge backfire on them?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_roberts11d agoMost Upvoted

Stuck to a 24 hour hold rule for anything I want to delete. I move stuff into a folder called "maybe trash" and if I don't need it by the next day, it goes. Saved me a few times when I was about to wipe out project folders that still had pending invoices in them. Another thing that helped was taking a screenshot of my desktop before I start cleaning, so I can quickly spot if something important is missing. Your mileage may vary but slowing down the purge process has kept me out of trouble.

fiona_carr2611d ago

Honestly that 'maybe trash' folder trick saved me after a similar oops moment.

linda_reed11d ago

Ha! You and @elliot_roberts are on the same wavelength. My "maybe trash" folder is just called "hold your horses" because I can't trust myself. I actually set up a calendar reminder to check it the next morning. Saved my bacon when I almost tossed a client's file that had their tax return attached.