Paper deletions
About Paper Deletions
There are two types of paper deletions in Turnitin: removing a paper from the inbox and requesting a permanent deletion. Both of these deletion types start with instructors trying to delete a file.
Requesting a permanent deletion - A request will be sent to your institution's Turnitin administrator to review and potentially approve.
Requesting a permanent deletion is only necessary if your paper repository is set to Standard paper repository or Institutional paper repository in the optional LTI settings.
Removing a paper from the inbox - Papers will be removed from view, but not deleted from Turnitin. Papers will still appear in Similarity matches.
If your paper repository is set to Do not store the submitted papers, then removing a paper from the inbox will delete it permanently.
We only support self-serve deletion requests for assignments created using Turnitinuk.com, Turnitin.com, or LTI integrations.
Managing deletion requests
Before reviewing the deletion request, it is important to understand what will be removed if you approve the request:
The uploaded file will be deleted and no longer accessible.
Any associated grading will be removed.
The Similarity Report will be deleted and the paper will no longer appear in future similarity matches.
After 30 days have passed, this process can’t be reversed by anyone.
This process will not automatically remove a match from a previously generated similarity report. To remove these matches, Instructors will need to regenerate the report after their request has been approved.
Reviewing a paper deletion request
Select the Account Name for the institution you have received the request from.
Paper Deletions happen at the account or sub-account level. Requests are sent to the administrator or sub-administrator for that account.
From the account summary page, select the Deletion Requests tab.
On the Deletion Request homepage you can find information about all of the requests that have been made for your institution. Each request is shown along with a reason for the deletion that the instructor has selected to help you contextualize the request. Spend some time reviewing the requests before proceeding.
Use the check boxes from beside the Author column to select any papers you would like to approve for deletion or you want to reject. You can select multiple requests at once for approval but rejections must be done one at a time.
Your next steps will be a little different based on your choice.
If you choose to reject the request, select the Reject Request button once you've selected the check boxes from the table. You'll be asked to give a reason for your rejection. This is an optional step, but can help instructors understand why their request was rejected.
- Select any files that you'd like to delete, and use the Delete from Database button.
- Click on Continue to proceed.
If everything looks good, type the word DELETE into the provided check box to proceed and then select the Confirm button to complete the process.
The DELETE confirmation step in localized interfaces will use the localized version of the word.
Confirmation of the deletion will be sent to the instructor who requested it.
Recovering a paper
When a paper deletion request is made, you have 30 days to restore the paper if needed. During the 30-day window, no one at Turnitin can access the paper(s). For all intents and purposes, it is as if the file never existed on our servers. Once the 30-day period has passed, the paper is permanently deleted from the database and cannot be restored.
Select the Account Name for the institution you would like to recover the paper for.
From the account summary page, select the Deletion Requests tab.
From the NOW VIEWING drop-down, select Recoverable.
Use the check boxes to select a paper you would like to recover. You can only select one paper at a time.
Select the Recover Paper button at the top right.
The latest submission for an assignment is always the primary submission. You will be unable to recover papers that have already been replaced by a newer submission.
The instructor should find the paper appear back in the LTI Inbox soon.
Paper deletion settings
By default, paper deletions are enabled for all institutions. You can designate a single person or group to receive these requests. In addition, you can remove the ability for instructors to request paper deletion if needed.
Paper Deletions can happen at the sub-account level as well. Switching it off for a parent account won't disable it for any sub-accounts.
It is important to remember that paper deletion requests are controlled by the institution. You do not have to contact Turnitin Support for paper deletion requests anymore.
One way of managing requests could be to designate a specific period of time during your academic calendar when permanent deletion requests will be allowed.
From the Administrator homepage, select the gear icon under Edit for the account you'd like to change, and choose Edit account settings. from the dropdown.
Find the Allow these features section. Use the check box to deselect Paper deletion requests.
Instructors will still be able to remove papers from the Assignment Inbox like always.
Next, find the Paper Deletion information section below. From here you will be able to decide whether you would like the paper deletion requests to be sent directly to the account administrator's email, or whether you would like to designate a different email to receive requests.
Only the account administrator can approve or reject a paper deletion request. Designating an email address will not allow that user to review requests and is simply to aid visibility within your institution.
Care should be taken to only designate an address that meets the data privacy requirements of your institution, as emails may contain personal information as a part of the request.
Move to the bottom of the page, and select the Submit button to confirm your choice.
You can re-enable this feature at any time.
For more information about paper deletions, see our Paper Deletions FAQ article.
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