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Need to restore an Closed Board I was a primary member for, Admin Email no longer accessible

Kira Zingmark

Hi,

I am a member for a board used solely for myself, however I originally created it using my old email account under the same name that is no longer accessible. Since then I have been using it under my current account without issue, until now. After accidently Unstarring the Board, it now shows up as Closed and I am unable to access it. I am the only person who has accessed the board in years and have made many hundreds of contributions to it.

Board in question: https://trello.com/b/ZPmF4pzM/dangerous-days

Does anyone know how I can get this board re-opened again? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Accepted answers

Martin Runge

That's a frustrating situation! Seeing the board in your "Closed " being unable to reopen it indicates that your account likely has Member permissions rather than Admin permissions. The board settings probably restrict reopening to Admins on the Boards list only. Regarding your questions:

Unfortunately, that's not possible. Trello needs a board to be "Open" in order to access the Copy Board menu. You cannot export or clone data if the board is closed.

Have you tried on a desktop browser rather than the mobile app? Sometimes, the "Re-open" button appears in the web UI while the mobile app hides it due to permission-syncing issues.

Since you can verify specific details like recent changes and column names, opening a support ticket is worthwhile. Trello Support enforces strict email ownership for security, but they offer a "Last Admin" recovery process. If you can demonstrate that the original admin email is no longer active and you have been the only active user for years, they might be able to help, although this process is generally limited to paid Workspaces.

To open an official support ticket for Trello:support.atlassian.com/contact

Please select Trello from the product list and choose the most relevant category, "Account help".

All comments

Martin Runge

Hi @Kira Zingmark

Welcome to the community!

Since you mentioned you can see that the board is "Closed," you should be able to find it in your boards directory:

Click the Boards button located at the top left of your Trello header or navigate to your home page.
Click on 'View all closed boards' at the bottom of the page or find it under the "Boards" menu in your Workspace.
Locate the board name in the list and then click Re-open.

Since you have the URL, a Re-open Board button should appear on that screen. If you were a member, Trello usually allows you to click it. If your new account is an Admin of the Workspace, navigate to Workspace Settings > Boards and filter by "Closed" to reopen it.

If your old email was the only Admin and that account has been deleted or is inaccessible, Trello Support usually cannot grant admin rights to another account for security reasons. If you are a Workspace Admin on your current account, you can typically grant yourself access to boards within that Workspace.

Kira Zingmark

Hi, thanks for the quick response.

I can see the Closed Board in the list, but all I originally did was accidently Unstar the board when opening the Trello app on my phone. The old Admin Account is no longer accessible as it was for an old email I haven't had access to in many years. I have been accessing it every few days for several years on my current account.

Is there some process to at least give me a copy or fork of the old board? I can confirm with staff over a ticket any details about the old board, including specific content changed recently (including individual columns and fields specifically).

Martin Runge

Unfortunately, that's not possible. Trello needs a board to be "Open" in order to access the Copy Board menu. You cannot export or clone data if the board is closed.

Have you tried on a desktop browser rather than the mobile app? Sometimes, the "Re-open" button appears in the web UI while the mobile app hides it due to permission-syncing issues.

To open an official support ticket for Trello:support.atlassian.com/contact

Please select Trello from the product list and choose the most relevant category, "Account help".

Kira Zingmark

Thanks for your assistance. I'm gonna go the Support Ticket route like you suggested and see if I have any luck. I appreciate the support tips.