A Lotus Notes® database can be enabled to use soft deletions. This means that when a user deletes a document, it is moved to a special view for a period of time before it is actually deleted.

You create a view containing soft deletions by specifying its type as being “Shared, contains deleted documents” in the Create View dialog box. However, once created, there is no indication in Lotus Domino® Designer that the view has this purpose. How can you identify what views in a database are used for soft deletions?

A view used for soft deletions will have a $Flags value of “l” (lower case L). You can see this by right-clicking the view in Domino Designer and choosing Design Properties. Click the Design tab (third from left) and locate the $Flags field.

This and other $Flags values are undocumented and may change without notice.