When you delete an item from any of the Sanction II main categories (Documents, Images, etc.), the record in the database corresponding to the item is removed entirely. Normally, once a record is deleted, it is gone forever.
When the Track Deleted Items option setting is enabled (Settings – General Tab), even though the record is removed from the main database, a copy of the item data is added to the Deleted Items database. In addition, deleted Presentations and User Folders can also be restored.
Items in this database can be restored to the main case using the Auto-Restore utility.
How Tracking Works
Whenever you create new case in Sanction II, an additional subdirectory(\Deleted) is created containing a deleted items database (deleted.mdb). This database contains a record for any items deleted when tracking is enabled.
If you discover that you have accidentally deleted an item, and the tracking option has been enabled, you may use the Auto-Restore utility to locate and restore the database record, including any coding information.
The records in the Deleted Items database are not "copies", but rather text entries of all of the field data for the deleted record. In addition, the date and name of the user or computer where the deletion occurred is also stored. This can be helpful in determining what records may need to be restored.
Limitations on Tracking
Even with tracking enabled, there are limitations in restoring deleted items.
First off, the deleted items database contains only the "item data" not the actual file the item points to. Therefore if you delete an item record from the Sanction case and then delete the actual file the record points to, you cannot recover the file, only the record information about the file.
Second, when restoring Presentations or User Folders, if the items in the restored folder are not in the current case, they will not be restored in the folder. Presentations and User Folders will only restore the reference to items which exist in the actual case. Thus if you need to restore a folder, you may need to restore some missing items first.
Third, you can only restore items at the group level. Thus if you have deleted multiple pages in a document and wish to restore a single page, you must restore all of the pages.
Last, if you disable tracking, no entries are made to the deleted items database, and you will not be able to recover anything deleted when tracking is disabled.
For information on restoring deleted items see the topic - Using the Auto-Restore Utility .