Unable to restore deleted assets after retention period in AEMaaCS
In Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service, deleted assets are not recoverable through version history or timeline after the retention period ends. Attempts to restore individual assets fail because the asset nodes have been permanently removed. To fix this issue, use re-upload, version restore, or environment-level content restoration.
Description description
Environment
Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service – Assets
Issue/Symptoms
- Deleted assets are no longer visible in AEM production.
- Deleted assets do not appear in version history or timeline.
- Attempts to recover specific deleted assets are unsuccessful.
Resolution resolution
To fix this issue, follow these steps:
Approach 1: re‑upload assets (preferred when originals are available)
If the deleted path was an assets folder and the original files are available, re-upload them via the Assets console.
Use this approach when the customer still has the original binaries and does not need to preserve AEM-specific version history.
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Recreate the folder structure in the Assets console (e.g.,
/content/dam/brand/campaign2025). -
Navigate to the target folder and upload the original files (drag-and-drop or use the upload dialog).
Note: AEM will store the binaries and recreate basic metadata and renditions via asset microservices. Learn more in Configure and use asset microservices.
-
Reapply metadata and tags if needed.
- If the original sidecar metadata (CSV, XMP, etc.) is available, use bulk metadata import or scripting.
- Otherwise, authors must reapply critical metadata manually.
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Republish assets to the required channels (Sites pages, Dynamic Media, Brand Portal, etc.).
Approach 2: restore previous versions (only if the asset node still exists)
You can also consider restoring previous versions of the assets.
Use this approach when the asset still exists in DAM but unwanted changes were made (e.g., overwritten binary, incorrect metadata).
- Select the asset in the Assets console.
- Open the Timeline.
- Choose the desired version (prior to corruption or overwrite).
- Click Restore (or Revert to this version).
Additional versioning guidance is available in the Assets versioning tutorial. Learn more about content restore in AEM as a Cloud Service.
Note: This option is not available if the asset node has been removed from the repository (after deletion and cleanup).
Approach 3: copy from another environment (UAT/Stage/Clone)
Use this approach when assets were deleted from one environment (e.g., Production) but still exist in another (Stage, UAT, Dev).
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Identify the missing paths and gather a list of affected paths (e.g.,
/content/dam/brand/campaign2025). -
Locate a donor environment.
- Check Stage or UAT if content is in sync and not deleted.
- Another prod-like environment (e.g., a clone created for analysis).
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Export assets from the donor environment.
- Use a content package via Package Manager (if available and size is manageable).
- Use Content Transfer Tool (CTT) or similar bulk copy feature if your project supports it.
- Manual download via Assets UI for small sets.
-
Import into Production.
- Install the package or import assets into the production author instance.
- Rebuild references (e.g., link to Sites pages) if needed.
- Publish assets.
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Confirm that the assets appear at the correct paths.
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Validate metadata, renditions, and usage.
Note:
- If none of the above options work and the deleted content is significant, perform a content restoration as described in the documentation. Learn more in the Restore content in AEM as a Cloud Service User Guide.
- Once an asset is permanently deleted and past the retention intervals in AEM as a Cloud Service, item-specific recovery is not supported. Restoration can only be performed using environment-level snapshot restores or by manually re-uploading content from other environments where it still exists.