# Email Alert When Posts or Pages Are Trashed

> Emails the site admin whenever a post or page is moved to the trash, with who did it and a link to restore it, so accidental or malicious deletions are spotted quickly.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Run everywhere
- Category: [Email](https://wpide.com/library/category/email/)
- Tags: email, alerts, content
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/email-alert-content-trashed/

## Code

```php
$wpide_trash_types       = array( 'post', 'page' );
$wpide_trash_skip_admins = false;

add_action( 'wp_trash_post', function ( $post_id ) use ( $wpide_trash_types, $wpide_trash_skip_admins ) {
    $post = get_post( $post_id );

    if ( ! $post || ! in_array( $post->post_type, $wpide_trash_types, true ) || 'auto-draft' === $post->post_status ) {
        return;
    }
    if ( $wpide_trash_skip_admins && current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) ) {
        return;
    }

    $user = wp_get_current_user();
    $who  = $user->exists() ? $user->display_name . ' (' . $user->user_login . ')' : 'an automated process';

    wp_mail(
        get_option( 'admin_email' ),
        sprintf( '[%s] "%s" was moved to the trash', wp_specialchars_decode( get_bloginfo( 'name' ), ENT_QUOTES ), wp_strip_all_tags( get_the_title( $post ) ) ),
        sprintf( "The %s \"%s\" was trashed by %s on %s.\n\nRestore it from the trash: %s", $post->post_type, wp_strip_all_tags( get_the_title( $post ) ), $who, wp_date( 'Y-m-d H:i' ), admin_url( 'edit.php?post_status=trash&post_type=' . $post->post_type ) )
    );
} );
```

## Notes

Limit the post types with the list at the top; trashing by administrators can be skipped with $wpide_trash_skip_admins.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Email Alert When Posts or Pages Are Trashed" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/