How-To

How to View Deleted Posts on Reddit

By Brian Burgess

Published December 8, 2023

When a helpful Reddit post gets removed, it can be frustrating. So, we’ll show you a couple of ways to view deleted posts on Reddit.

Reddit is a great social media site that allows you to find and comment about virtually anything. However, one annoyance is following a thread and coming across a deleted post. Once a post is removed, though, you can take steps to view deleted posts on Reddit.

For example, you can try to find the deleted Reddit posts using the Wayback Machine or even Google to find a cached version of the page with the deleted posts.

So, in this guide, we’ll show you the different options you have when a Reddit post is deleted from the platform so you can have a shot at seeing the original content.

Viewing Deleted Posts on Reddit

It’s important to note that once a post is deleted from Reddit, the content is permanently gone. Furthermore, Reddit doesn’t offer an official way to view deleted posts.

Instead, you need to get creative and try the Wayback Machine (archive.org) or Google to find the cached version of the website with deleted posts. Please note that these options will only work with a browser on your desktop computer or mobile device. You can’t use the Reddit app to find deleted items.

Use the Way Back Machine

The Wayback Machine is a time capsule for web content. It continuously crawls sites and web pages and caches them so you can view older versions of web content. If the Wayback Machine has a copy of a Reddit post before it got deleted, you can use the service to read that content.

To use the Way Back Machine

1. Head to the Way Back Machine site.
2. Paste the full URL for the post you were trying to read before it was deleted and press Enter.
3. If you locate an archive of the post, select a date and timestamp — the highlighted dates on the calendar are when the Wayback Machine made a copy of the entered post.
4. Once you select the date and time stamp, the Reddit page will appear, and you should be able to read the deleted post. If not, try selecting an earlier time to find the content.
5. For example, you might see the post but run into an error where the Wayback Machine hasn’t archived it. In that instance, you may need to go further back or closer to the present date until you find it.
6. You can also click the link to search all pages archived under the URL to read the deleted post.

View Cached Copies of Deleted Reddit Posts with Google

If the Wayback Machine doesn’t work or have the right post archived, you can turn to Google. The search giant also keeps cached versions of web pages you can view using the proper search prompt commands.

To View Deleted Posts on Reddit with Google

1. Head to the main Google page.
2. Type the following command in the search bar where you replace “URL” with the link to the deleted Reddit post.

   cache:URL

3. For example, here we are trying to find the cached version of a Reddit post about Windows XP, so we enter the following and press Enter:

   cache:https://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/10bivcx/windows_xp_good_or_bad/

   

4. Google will open a cached page for the post if available. You can tell it’s a cached page as the search results will include “webcache.googleusercontent.com” before the search query.
5. Scroll through and read the post, and see if you can find the content you want.

Viewing Deleted Reddit Posts

When researching something on Reddit, it can be frustrating when a post you’ve seen before with valuable information is deleted. While Reddit doesn’t provide a native way to view deleted posts, you can hopefully find what you’re looking for with some sleuth work using the above options.

It’s important to mention that these tips may or may not get the results you are looking for. However, these methods are worth a shot. Also remember that quickly deleted posts are not likely to be viewable. For instance, posts deleted before Google or the Wayback Machine have a chance to archive them won’t be recoverable.