# Get list of deleted messages in a Group Channel

**URL:** <https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265>\
**Category:** JavaScript\
**Tags:** desk\
**Created:** [March 25, 2022, 8:25am UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265 "2022-03-25T08:25:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ethan\_Nguyen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.sendbird.com/ethan_nguyen/32/2246_2.png) [@Ethan\_Nguyen](https://community.sendbird.com/u/Ethan_Nguyen)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 8:25am UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265/1 "2022-03-25T08:25:26Z")

</div>

Hi,  
I’m building an app integrating Chat and Desk. It allows the user to delete a file. I would like to show “This file is deleted” in the UI. But the problem is that I cannot find any API in SDK to query deleted files.  
The solution that updates the message will not work because I would like the file to be also removed from the Deck dashboard.

Could you help with this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tyler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.sendbird.com/tyler/32/810_2.png) [@Tyler](https://community.sendbird.com/u/Tyler)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265/2 "2022-03-25T20:22:40Z")

</div>

Hi @Ethan_Nguyen,

When a file or message is deleted, it’s no longer accessibly via the API. What you could do is instead of actually deleting the message. You could update the message to be `This file is deleted` instead, which would retain its place and still be queryable.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ethan\_Nguyen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.sendbird.com/ethan_nguyen/32/2246_2.png) [@Ethan\_Nguyen](https://community.sendbird.com/u/Ethan_Nguyen)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 8:06am UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265/3 "2022-03-26T08:06:13Z")

</div>

Rename will not work. I don’t find the way to update a file message to a user message

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tyler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.sendbird.com/tyler/32/810_2.png) [@Tyler](https://community.sendbird.com/u/Tyler)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://community.sendbird.com/t/get-list-of-deleted-messages-in-a-group-channel/4265/4 "2022-03-26T13:55:54Z")

</div>

Instead of updating the actual message, you could utilize the `data` field on the message. This would allow you to add your own custom `is_removed` flag, and allow you to render it however you’d like on the frontend.