Fix Cleanup Basket and deletion problems

When you finish, you have matched what you see to its cause and the step that fixes it. Each heading is a symptom as PoppyDisk shows it.

An item will not go into the basket

PoppyDisk shows Could not add the item with the reason.

• Protected items cannot be added. The item is in a place PoppyDisk refuses to touch: a Drive root, the Windows folder, the root of your profile or of Program Files, or PoppyDisk's own install folder. There is no way to add it, and nothing in this guide describes one. Clean that location through Windows instead. See Understand Risk and Clean through the app that owns the files.
• Expand Smaller Items before adding a concrete item. Choose the Smaller Items row to expand it, then add the actual file or folder. See What the sizes mean.
• Already in the Cleanup Basket or Already included are not refusals: the item, or a folder containing it, is collected already.

Dragging a Protected item over the basket bar tells you the same thing before you drop it.

The basket list will not open, and Review shows a wall

The Clean Tier is not unlocked on this PC. Collecting is free; the list and the Deletion Review are part of the Clean Tier. Choose I have a License Key on the wall if you have bought, or Buy once. See Buy the Clean Tier and unlock PoppyDisk.

A basket row says Missing or Not in this Scan

• Missing: the item is no longer on the Drive. It cannot be revealed or deleted. Remove it from the basket with its Remove from the Cleanup Basket button.
• Not in this Scan: the item was collected from a different Drive or folder. It can still be revealed, but this Scan cannot delete it. Open the Scan it belongs to, from the Drive Overview, and review from there.

See Collect items in the Cleanup Basket.

An item is excluded in the Deletion Review

The review lists the item with one of these states instead of Ready:

• Changed. Tick to include: the item changed since you collected it, and PoppyDisk names what changed. Look at it, then tick the checkbox to approve that exact current version, or leave it out.
• Changed, excluded: it changed in a way PoppyDisk cannot re-approve. Remove it from the basket, look at it in the Scan, and collect it again if you still want it gone.
• Missing, excluded and Protected, excluded: see the two headings on either side of this one.

See Review before you delete.

The Deletion Review will not open

PoppyDisk reports Deletion Review could not open. with the reason. Choose Close, make sure the Scan is finished and not marked Stale, and choose Review again. If it keeps failing, write to support@poppydisk.com with the reason.

Deletion could not start

The confirmation stays open and says Windows could not start the deletion. with the reason. Nothing was deleted.

1. Read the reason.
2. If it names a file held open by another program, close that program and choose the confirmation again.
3. If it names the Recycle Bin, see the next heading.

An item was permanently deleted although I chose the Recycle Bin

The report says Permanently deleted instead of moved to the Recycle Bin. The item's source, typically a network location or a removable Drive, has no Recycle Bin, so Windows deleted it outright. The review warned that a network or removable drive may not have a Recycle Bin. There is no recovery for that item. For future deletions from such a source, decide with that in mind. See Delete to the Recycle Bin.

One item failed while the rest were deleted

The report lists the item in red with the reason Windows gave, or Windows could not delete this item. The other items were still processed, and the failed one stays in the basket.

1. Read the reason. A file held open by a running program is the usual one; close the program.
2. If the item is Managed, clean it through its owner instead. See Clean through the app that owns the files.
3. If Windows refused for lack of permission, PoppyDisk will not raise its privileges to get past that. Delete the item through Windows yourself if you are sure. See How administrator access works.
4. Choose Review again to retry the item.

If the report also says Windows stopped before every item was processed., the items after the failure were never attempted. Review again to retry them.

Recovered Space is smaller than the size I selected

This is usually correct rather than a fault:

• A hard-linked item was counted at 0 B expected recovery, because another path still references the same data.
• A Cloud-only file occupied almost no local space to begin with.
• An item failed, and its line in the report says why.
• An item changed between review and deletion and was excluded.

See Read your Recovered Space report and What the sizes mean.

Still stuck

Write to support@poppydisk.com with what you did, the exact message PoppyDisk showed, and the state the report gave the item. Nothing about your Drive's contents is needed. Questions about the purchase itself go to Polar: see Fix License Key problems.