Deleting a document in SparkReceipt happens in two stages. First you move the document to the Trash bin — this is what the delete action does, and it's reversible. The document then sits in the Trash bin until you either restore it or permanently delete it. Nothing is auto-purged: a document stays in the Trash bin for as long as you leave it there, so you're never on a countdown.
This works the same way for every document — an expense (receipt), income (invoice), or bank statement — including files that failed to scan or came out unreadable. There's no separate "delete" for unreadable files: you trash them and, if you want, permanently delete them just like any other document.
This is not the same as deleting your whole account. Trashing documents leaves your account, subscription, and login untouched. If you want to remove your entire account and all its data, see Deleting your account and data instead — that action is irreversible.
Delete a single document
On the web
- Open the document.
- Look at the actions at the top right of the document view — on a narrow screen they may be tucked under an Actions menu.
- Choose Move to trash.
- Confirm in the Move to trash? dialog by clicking Move to bin.
The document moves to the Trash bin and you'll see a "Document moved to trash" confirmation.
On mobile
- Open the document, then tap the ⋯ (three-dot) menu — or long-press the document in a list.
- Tap Move to trash.
- Confirm in the Move to trash? dialog by tapping Remove.
Delete several documents at once (bulk)
Yes — you can select many documents and trash them together. This is the fastest way to clear out a lot of receipts, and it's the closest thing to "delete all": select everything, then trash it in one action.
On the web
- Go to the Documents view.
- Tick the checkbox on each document you want, or tick the checkbox in the list header to select every document on the page.
- In the action bar that appears, open Actions and choose Trash.
You'll be asked to confirm in a Move to trash review dialog that lists the documents you selected — click Apply to trash them. They move to the Trash bin, where you can still restore them.
The header checkbox selects the documents shown on the current page. To select more at once, set Rows per page to 100 at the bottom of the list, and repeat page by page. To clear out one period, for example a month with many wrong entries, filter by Document date first so only those documents are listed.
On mobile
- In the Documents tab, tap Select at the top of the screen, or press and hold a document and choose Select multiple....
- Tap the documents you want to include.
- Tap Trash in the bar at the bottom of the screen.
- Confirm in the Move selected documents to trash? dialog.
Deleting a bank statement and the documents created from it
When you trash a bank statement in the web app, the Trash this statement? dialog lets you also move the documents that were created from the statement to the trash. Receipts that were only matched to the statement are kept. See What happens when you delete a bank statement?.
Deleting line items instead of whole documents
To remove a single line item from a receipt or invoice, open the document and remove the line on its Lines tab. See How do I edit, add or remove line items on an expense or income?.
Find the Trash bin, and restore or permanently delete
Everything you delete lands in the Trash bin, where you can bring documents back or remove them for good.
On the web
- Open Trash bin from the left sidebar. The page is titled Recently removed documents.
- Restore one document: open its actions and choose Restore document — it returns to your documents right away.
- Delete one permanently: choose Delete permanently, then confirm. This cannot be undone.
- Restore or delete in bulk: select documents in the Trash bin and use Restore or Delete permanently from the selection bar.
- Empty everything: use Delete all permanently at the top of the page to remove every document in the Trash bin at once. This is irreversible.
On mobile
- Open Trash bin from the side drawer (the screen is titled Recently removed).
- Restore or permanently delete one document: tap it to open it, then use the ⋯ menu — Restore document brings it back, and Delete permanently removes it for good after you confirm.
- Empty everything: tap the trash icon in the top bar and confirm Empty the trash bin? with Delete all.
A document has to be in the Trash bin before it can be permanently deleted — permanent deletion always goes through the Trash bin, never straight from your main list.
Good to know
- Trashing is reversible; permanent deletion is not. Restore anything you trashed by mistake from the Trash bin. Once you permanently delete (or empty the Trash bin), the document and its files are gone and can't be recovered.
- No time limit. SparkReceipt does not automatically empty your Trash bin — documents wait there until you act on them.
- Trashed documents free up your monthly limit. Documents in the Trash bin don't count toward your plan's monthly document limit.
- No undo history for bulk actions. If documents disappeared after you applied an action to a selection, look in the Trash bin first. They may also have been moved to another linked account.
- Access level. Trashing, restoring, and permanently deleting are editing actions. If you don't see a delete, restore, or permanent-delete option for a document, you likely don't have edit rights for it — ask an account admin or owner.
- Looking for documents you think were deleted? They may just be filtered or on a different account. See My receipts are gone/lost/deleted? before assuming they were removed.