Recovering Deleted Work Items, Reports, and LiveDocs in Polarion

Introduction

Accidentally deleting Work Items, Reports, or LiveDocs in Polarion can cause setbacks in your project. However, since Polarion is built on SVN (Subversion), it maintains a versioned history of changes, making data recovery possible in most cases.

This guide will walk you through step-by-step recovery methods for different types of deleted data in Polarion.

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🔍 Understanding How Polarion Stores Data

Polarion does not permanently delete items immediately; instead, it records every change in its SVN repository. By leveraging SVN history and the Repository Browser, you can track, restore, and recover lost data.

Types of Deletions & Recovery Methods

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🛠 Recovering Deleted Work Items in Polarion

🔹 Step 1: Verify if the Work Item is Deleted

1. Use the Global Search in Polarion to check if the Work Item was moved instead of deleted.

2. Check if Filters are hiding the Work Item from view.

🔹 Step 2: Restore Work Items from Repository Browser

1. Navigate to Repository Browser

   • Go to Administration → Repository Browser.

   • Navigate to the track/workitems folder.

2. Locate the Missing Work Item

   • Browse through older revisions using the history option.

   • Identify the revision where the Work Item still existed.

3. Export the Older Version

   • Right-click on the revision and export the Work Item’s XML file.

   • Modify the XML file if needed (for ID conflicts).

4. Reimport the Work Item

   • Go to Work Items → Import → Select XML file → Restore.

✅ The Work Item is now back in Polarion!

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📊 Recovering Deleted Reports

🔹 Step 1: Check Repository Browser for Reports

1. Navigate to Repository Browser → reports folder.

2. Check if the report was moved or renamed.

🔹 Step 2: Restore from SVN History

1. Click on the report file → Show History.

2. Select the revision before deletion.

3. Download the previous version and reupload it.

✅ Your Report is restored!

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📄 Recovering Deleted LiveDocs

LiveDocs are stored in SVN, but their recovery is slightly more complex.

🔹 Step 1: Locate the Deleted LiveDoc in Repository Browser

1. Navigate to Repository Browser → documents/.

2. Use Show History to locate older revisions.

🔹 Step 2: Restore Using SVN Client (Advanced Method)

1. Use an SVN client (e.g., TortoiseSVN) to checkout the repository.

2. Run svn log to find the last available revision of the deleted LiveDoc.

3. Run svn export -r [last_good_revision] to restore.

4. Commit the LiveDoc back to the repository.

✅ LiveDoc is restored!

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🛡 Best Practices to Avoid Data Loss

• Enable Scheduled Backups of SVN repository.

• Restrict Deletion Permissions for sensitive items.

• Train Teams on Polarion’s versioning and recovery methods.

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Conclusion

By leveraging Polarion’s SVN integration and Repository Browser, recovering deleted Work Items, Reports, and LiveDocs is straightforward. Following these steps ensures minimal disruption to your workflow.

🚀 Have you encountered data loss in Polarion? Share your recovery experience!