Deleting Projects: How to Manage Dormant or Completed Projects

Deleting a project removes it and all its tasks and activity from your dashboard permanently. Atarim states it plainly in the dialog, and the wording is worth taking at face value: this action cannot be undone.

That makes the interesting question not “how do I delete a project” but “should I”. Most of the time the answer is no.

Archive First, Delete Rarely

Both actions free a project slot on your plan. Only one of them is reversible, which makes archiving the right default for anything you are not certain about.

Why Archiving Is Usually the Better Answer

Archiving is not a weaker version of deleting. It solves the same practical problems — a cluttered screen, a full plan — while keeping everything that makes a returning client easy to pick back up.

1. Open the project’s kebab menu, the three vertical dots.
2. Select Archive Project rather than Delete. Alternatively, bulk-select projects and choose Archive in the top bar.
3. To reach archived projects later, open the Archive section from the top-right kebab menu on the Projects screen.

When Deleting Is the Right Call

There are genuine reasons to delete. They are narrower than most people assume.

What Deletion Removes

Worth being clear on the scope before you confirm, because it goes further than the project card.

Deleting a Project

The confirmation is deliberately awkward. Atarim generates a random four-digit number and will not proceed until you type it, which makes an accidental deletion effectively impossible.

1. Go to Projects and find the project.
2. Open its Project Actions menu and select Delete. A dialog opens warning that deleting removes the project and all its tasks and activity permanently, and that the action cannot be undone.
3. Check the project named in the dialog is the one you mean.
4. Read the four-digit number shown in bold. It is generated fresh each time, so it cannot be muscle-memoried.
5. Type that number into the field below it. The confirm button stays disabled until it matches exactly.
6. Confirm, or select Cancel to back out.

Deleting Several Projects at Once

The same dialog handles a batch, and it lists every project by name so you can check the selection before committing to it.

1. On the Projects screen, hover a project card to reveal its checkbox.
2. Select every project you intend to delete.
3. Apply Delete to the selection. The dialog states how many projects are about to be deleted, followed by the full list of names.
4. Read the list. This is the only point at which a wrong selection is visible — every name shown is about to be removed permanently.
5. Type the four-digit number and confirm.

Deleting a Folder

Folders behave differently, and this is where the real risk sits. Deleting a folder does not have to delete its projects — but the dialog offers to, and the options are easy to tick past.

1. Open the folder’s actions and select Delete. The dialog asks whether you are sure, with two options beneath.
2. Decide what happens to the projects inside. Archive projects with folder archives them; Delete projects with folder removes them permanently. Leave both unticked and the projects simply return to your main Projects view.
3. Read the confirmation line. It changes to match your choice, so the consequence is spelled out before you confirm.
4. Confirm.

If You Delete Something by Mistake

The dialog names a route, and it is worth knowing before you need it — but it is a hope rather than a guarantee.

1. Contact support immediately at support@atarim.io. Atarim’s own wording is that they may have a backup to restore it, although restoration is not guaranteed.
2. Include the project name and roughly when it was deleted. The more precise you are, the better the chance of finding it.
3. Do not wait. Speed matters, because backups do not last indefinitely.

Benefits of Managing Dormant Projects Well

Example Use Cases

Known Limitations

• Deletion cannot be undone from the dashboard. Support may hold a backup, but restoration is not guaranteed.
• Deleting a project removes its tasks, comments, and activity along with it.
• Deleting a folder can delete every project inside it if that option is ticked.
• Deletion is permission-based, so the option may not appear for every role.
• There is no bin or recovery area in the dashboard — unlike archiving, which has its own screen.
• One confirmation covers a whole batch. Deleting twenty projects is no harder than deleting one, so the list of names is the only safeguard.

FAQs

Common issues

• The confirm button stays disabled — the number must match exactly. Check you are reading the current one; it regenerates each time the dialog opens.
• Delete is missing from the actions menu — your role does not carry the permission. An administrator can grant it.
• A project vanished and you did not delete it — check Archived Projects first, then your workspace and filters. Archiving is far more common than deletion.
• You deleted a folder and its projects went too — the delete option was ticked. Contact support quickly; there may be a backup.
• You deleted more than you meant to — the dialog lists every project in a batch before confirming. Contact support immediately with the names.
• You want the project back — email support@atarim.io as soon as possible with the name and approximate date.
• You only wanted to free a slot — archiving does that too, and keeps everything. Use it next time.

Conclusion

Deletion exists for mistakes, duplicates, and genuine data-removal requests. For everything else — finished work, dormant accounts, a full project list — archiving does the same job for your dashboard while keeping the history that makes a returning client easy to pick back up.