How to Recover Deleted Seats in Ninety
When you delete a Seat from your Accountability Chart, it isn't gone for good. Deleted Seats move to the chart's Trash, where they stay for 90 days, giving you time to restore them or permanently remove them. Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can manage the Trash; what you see and restore depends on your role and chart visibility.
This feature is available on all subscription plans, including Free, on the web app.
Who can recover deleted Seats
Editing the Accountability Chart — including deleting Seats and managing the chart's Trash — requires Manager permissions or above.
Role | See deleted Seats | Restore | Permanently delete |
Owner, Admin, Implementer | All | All | Yes |
Manager | Seats within their chart visibility | Within their visibility | No |
Managee/Team Member, Observer | No access | — | — |
Company-wide Seats may not be shown in the Trash based on your permissions. For a full breakdown of what each role can do, see User Roles and Permissions.
How to delete a Seat
Deleting a Seat moves it to the chart's Trash, where it stays recoverable for 90 days. To delete a Seat:
Click Accountability Chart from the left navigation.
Click Edit chart at the top right of the page.
Click the ellipsis (…) at the top right of the Seat's card.
Select Delete Seat from the options shown.
In the confirmation popup, click Delete to confirm.
A "Seat moved to Trash" message confirms the deletion.
Important: If the Seat has direct reports, deleting it also moves every Seat below it to the Trash. The confirmation popup warns you when this applies. Each affected Seat appears as its own row in the Trash.
To remove a person from a Seat without deleting the Seat itself, see Assigning and Unassigning Team Members on the Accountability Chart.
How to view the chart's Trash
The Trash lists the chart's deleted Seats. To open it:
Click Accountability Chart from the left navigation.
Click Edit chart at the top right of the page.
Click the ellipsis (…) in the toolbar to open the more actions menu.
Select View trash from the options shown.
The Trash shows each deleted Seat's name, the Seat it reported to at deletion, its Seat holder(s), who deleted it, and the deletion date with the days remaining before it's permanently removed.
Note: The Trash shows only each Seat's row details. You can't open a deleted Seat to view its roles and responsibilities or its skills. To review a Seat's details, restore it first.
To return to the chart, click Back to Accountability Chart at the top left.
How to restore a deleted Seat
Restoring a Seat returns it to its previous position on the chart — the Reports to column shows where it will reattach. To restore a Seat:
Open the Trash by following the steps in "How to view the chart's Trash" above.
Click the ellipsis (…) at the end of the deleted Seat's row.
Select Restore from the options shown.
Important: Seats are restored one at a time, from the top down. A Seat can't be restored unless the Seat it reports to is back on the chart — so if you deleted a Seat along with its reports, restore the parent Seat first, then its reports. If you only need one of the lower Seats and not its parent, it's usually faster to create the Seat again.
How to permanently delete a Seat
Owners, Admins, and Implementers can permanently delete a Seat from the Trash. To permanently delete a Seat:
Open the Trash by following the steps in "How to view the chart's Trash" above.
Click the ellipsis (…) at the end of the deleted Seat's row.
Select Delete forever from the options shown.
Confirm in the popup.
Once a Seat is permanently deleted, it no longer appears in the Trash and cannot be restored on your own. If you need it back, contact support.
Good to know about deleted Seats
Deleted Seats stay in the Trash for 90 days, then Ninety permanently removes them automatically.
Deleting a Seat with reports moves the whole branch to the Trash, with each Seat on its own row.
You can't view a deleted Seat's roles and responsibilities or skills from the Trash — restore the Seat to see its details.
Unlike the Trash for To-Dos, Issues, and Headlines, the chart's Trash doesn't include print or export options.
Only Seats deleted after this feature's release appear in the Trash. Seats deleted earlier won't be listed.
Troubleshooting
I don't see View trash in the menu.
The Trash is available to Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers on the web app. Click Edit chart first — the Trash is opened from the chart's edit mode.
Restore isn't available on a Seat.
A Seat can't be restored while the Seat it reports to is still in the Trash. Restore the parent Seat first, then restore its reports one at a time.
A deleted Seat isn't in the Trash.
Company-wide Seats may not be shown based on your permissions, and Managers see only Seats within their chart visibility. Seats deleted more than 90 days ago, or before this feature's release, won't appear. If a recently deleted Seat still isn't there, contact support.