# Close or delete a workspace

> Close a workspace to make it read-only for 90 days, reopen it, or delete it straight away. What happens to your data, and how to take a copy first.

You have two ways to leave sanda, and only an owner can use either. **Close** makes the workspace read-only for 90 days, so you can take a copy of your data and change your mind. **Delete** destroys it straight away.

Both live at the foot of **Settings · Workspace**. Everyone in the workspace can read that section, so nobody has to ask what happens to their data when the business leaves. Only the owner gets the buttons. Anyone else sees "Only an owner can close or delete the workspace."

## Take a copy first

Your warehouse is a standard PostgreSQL database, so a copy is a database you can open anywhere. Ask before the 90 days are up and sanda will give you a PostgreSQL dump of the whole workspace. This is not a courtesy sanda can withdraw. It is written into the terms.

Email [hello@sanda-os.com.au](mailto:hello@sanda-os.com.au) to ask. That section repeats the address once a workspace is closed. To see what you can export yourself, read [Export your data](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/warehouse/export).

:::caution
If you delete the workspace, nothing can be exported afterwards. Take your copy first.
:::

## Close the workspace

:::steps
1. **Open the section.** Go to **Settings · Workspace** and scroll to the foot of the tab. The heading reads **Close this workspace**.
2. **Say why, if you like.** **Why are you leaving?** is optional. A person at sanda reads it.
3. **Type the short name.** The field is labelled with your slug, for example "Type acme-services to confirm". Type that slug exactly, without worrying about capitals. It is also shown in **Settings · Workspace**.
4. **Press Close workspace.** The button stays off until the slug matches.
:::

From that moment the workspace is read-only for everyone, the owner included.

- Every page still opens, and every question can still be asked.
- An export can still be taken.
- Nothing can be changed. Integration tokens and connected apps narrow to reading too.
- People can still send a support message.
- A banner over every page says "This workspace is closed and read-only", with the date it is due to be destroyed.

sanda is told when a workspace closes, with the reason you gave.

### What happens at the end

When the 90 days are up, sanda destroys the warehouse and its contents. Backups that contain them are overwritten within a further 30 days. The section shows the exact date: "Everything can still be read and exported until" that day.

Some records outlive the workspace, because the law or sanda's legal obligations require it: invoices, and the record that you accepted the terms and the privacy policy. They contain no business data. [Privacy and your data](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/workspace/privacy) lists how long each kind of information is kept.

### Change your mind

While the workspace is closed, the owner sees **This workspace is closed** and a **Reopen this workspace** button. Press it and everything comes back exactly as it was. You can do this at any point before the 90 days run out.

## Delete the workspace now

Deleting skips the 90 days. It closes and destroys the workspace in one step.

:::danger
Deleting cannot be undone, and nothing can be exported afterwards. sanda destroys the warehouse and everything in it, the connections, the semantic fluid and the reports.
:::

:::steps
1. **Open the section.** At the foot of **Settings · Workspace**, find **Or delete it now**. On a closed workspace it reads **Delete it now**.
2. **Type the short name.** This field is labelled "Type" and your slug, then "to delete". It is separate from the close form, so typing in one never arms the other.
3. **Press Delete workspace now.**
:::

What happens:

- Every member loses access.
- Anyone whose only workspace this was loses their sanda account too, so their email address is free to sign up again.
- You are billed for anything used since your last invoice. Nothing is billed on a trial.
- The console then takes you to sign-up if your address has no workspace left, or to sign-in if it belongs to another.

If a deletion cannot finish, sanda stops before destroying anything and says so. If part of it did complete, the workspace is left closed and read-only and you are asked to email sanda so it can finish the job.

## Start again

The console has no reset. To start with a clean workspace, delete this one and sign up again with the same address.

## Cancelling and billing

The terms let you cancel at any time from the console. You are billed for what you used up to the day you leave, and nothing after it. See [How billing works](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/billing).

:::links
- [Privacy and your data](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/workspace/privacy): How long each kind of information is kept.
- [Export your data](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/warehouse/export): Take your warehouse with you.
- [Invoices](https://docs.sanda-os.com.au/billing/invoices): What your final invoice contains.
:::