https://foojayio.github.io/website/today/author/daniel-hartmann/Articles written by Daniel Hartmann on foojay.io - Friends of OpenJDKHugoen-usThu, 21 May 2026 10:09:00 +0000https://foojayio.github.io/website/today/implementing-soft-deletes-in-java/Thu, 21 May 2026 10:09:00 +0000https://foojayio.github.io/website/today/implementing-soft-deletes-in-java/<h2 id="soft-deletes">What are soft deletes?</h2> <p>Usually, when deleting documents from a database, the entry is permanently gone and can not be recovered or accessed again.</p> <p>Sometimes data needs to be made unavailable for regular access without actually being removed from a database. A common example is a user deleting their account on a platform, but retention policies require you to keep all data related to that user for a certain period of time. At the same time, no data regarding that user is accessible on the platform. A soft delete is a treatment for a piece of data that ensures it is ignored by your application while actually still being stored in the database.</p>