Recover deleted files from Google Drive trash

Limitations of using Google’s native features to restore Google Drive files

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Recovering permanently deleted files from Google Drive requires specific steps:

 Once a file is permanently deleted from the trash, it is typically not recoverable through standard Google Drive tools. 

Administrators can attempt recovery within a 25-day window via Google Admin Console, but this is not guaranteed.

 To avoid permanent data loss, regularly back up your Google Drive files using SysCloud, which offers automated backups and easy recovery options for all data, even after it has been permanently deleted.

Are you looking for ways to recover deleted Google Drive files? Don’t worry, we have you covered!

This article lists all the ways you can recover your lost files and folders from Google Drive using Google’s native features and third-party cloud backup applications.

Don't have time to read the whole article? Use our Google Drive Recovery Wizard to quickly navigate to the section that answers your questions!

Google Drive is a popular online file storage and synchronization service used by individuals and organizations worldwide. With over two trillion files and 2 billion monthly active users, one can imagine the number of files that need to be recovered daily due to factors such as accidental deletions and overwritten documents. Understanding Google Drive Recovery is essential for business continuity.

1. Web browser using the URL https://drive.google.com

2. Google Drive mobile application available via App Store.

3. File Explorer on a desktop if you have installed Google Drive for Desktop. 

A file deleted from any of them would be automatically deleted from all since they are synced regularly.

The answer is Yes! You can easily recover your deleted Google Drive files.

The process of retrieving lost Google Drive files can depend on whether you:

Let’s look at all the different ways in which your deleted files can be recovered in no time.

The simplest way to recover lost files and folders is to restore them from the Trash folder. The deleted files will be retained in Trash for 30 days from the date of deletion.

Step 1: Open your Google Drive – click here to redirect to your Drive – and navigate to the “Trash” option on the left pane.

Step 2: Locate the file(s) to be recovered and right-click on them.

Step 3: Select the “Restore” option from the drop-down menu.

Individual Google Drive users have a total of 30 days to recover the files that were deleted ( <a href="/how-to-recover-permanently-deleted-files-from-google-drive#4" rel="nofollow" >Click here</a> to know how). After this, the files and folders will be permanently deleted from the ‘Trash’ folder and cannot be recovered, unless you have already taken a backup of the files before deletion. However, in some cases, the Google Drive Customer Support can be of help. To avail this support, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Go to the Google Drive Help page for file recovery. Click on "Request file recovery" button at the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Fill the required fields and submit the form.  

The deleted files can be recovered through customer support only within a limited period from the date of deletion and only if the following conditions are satisfied:

You uploaded the file(s) to Google Drive.

You accepted ownership of the file from someone.

However, if you are a Google Workspace user, an administrator can recover your permanently deleted files and folders from the Google Admin Console.

Google Workspace users can recover Google Drive files that are permanently deleted from Trash using the Google Admin Console. The deleted files can be recovered by a Google admin within 25 days of deletion from Trash.

Google Workspace administrators can recover permanently deleted files from:

a) User’s individual Google Drive account

b) Shared Drive (earlier Team Drive)   

Step 1: Log in to the Google Admin Console – click here to go to your Admin Console.

Step 2: Click on the “Users” icon from the Google Admin console in the side panel, under “Directory.” 

Step 3: Select if you want to restore data of “users from all organizational units” or “users from selected organizational units.” Then go under the “last sign-in” of the user(s) you want, and you will get a pop-up saying, “More options.”

Step 4: Select the “Restore data” option from the pop-up menu.

Step 5: Specify the required date range and give the Application as “Drive” and click on “Restore."

Step 1:  Log in to the Google Admin Console – click here to go to your Admin Console.

Step 2: Navigate to “Apps → Google Workspace → Drive and Docs.”

Step 3: Select the option “Manage Shared drives.”

Step 4: Click on “All organizational units” or “Selected organizational units,” depending on what files you want to restore. Highlight file(s) you want restored, then click on the “More” dropdown, then select “Restore.”

Step 5: Choose a probable date range during which the file was deleted and click on “RESTORE DATA."

The deleted files will now be restored to the selected Team Drive.

To know more about Shared Drive, read our article, Shared Drive for the Confused – Google Drive vs. Shared (Team) Drives.

An administrator can recover Google Drive files of a deleted user within 20 days of account deletion.

Follow these steps to recover Google Drive files/folders from a deleted Google account:

Step 1: Restore the deleted Google account. You can now transfer the file ownership to another Google Workspace user.

Step 2: Log in to the Google Admin Console.

Step 4: Click on the option “Google Workspace.”

Step 6: Select the option “Transfer ownership" from the list.

Step 7: Provide the respective username and domain of the users in the ‘From’ and ‘To’ section

You can create custom rules in the Google Admin Console to alert admins whenever file deletions occur in Google Drive. This allows for prompt action to recover critical files before they are lost permanently. 

If you have already taken a backup of your Google Drive files, then you can use the following methods to easily recover your permanently deleted data:

a) Recover deleted files that are backed up using Google Takeout

b) Recover permanently deleted files using Google Vault

c) Recover deleted files from Google Drive using third-party cloud backup tools

Want to know how to back up Google Drive? Read our in-depth guide How to Back up Google Drive.

Google Takeout is a Google application to take a backup of your Google Drive files. The backup taken using Google Takeout will be available in your system as a zip file. To restore it back to your Google Drive follow these steps:

Step 1: Locate the file to be recovered (it should be in your "Downloads" folder, if you downloaded the data from the email sent by Takeout) and right-click on it.

Step 2: Select the "extract all" option from the drop-down menu. This unzips the zip file(s).

Step 4: Click on the “+ New” button on the upper left of the screen and select the option “File upload/Folder upload” to upload the files back to Google Drive.

Once the retention is applied, administrators can download the retained files upon request.

To know how Google Vault works click here.

Step 1: Log in to Google Vault using your admin credentials – click here to open Google Vault. Click on the “Matters” pane.

Step 2: Create a new matter and name it. (A description is optional). Click on “Create.”

Step 3: Click on the “Search” module on the left pane → Choose “Drive” as the type of application and provide the email address of the user who has lost the file. 

 You can also filter the files based on date range and advanced terms.

Step 4: Click on the “Search” button to list all the files with the specified search conditions.

Step 5: Click on the “Export” option to export all the files.  

Step 6: Click on “Download” after completing the export process.  To download a specific file: open the file to see a preview, then click the “Download” button at the top right-hand corner.  

Once the file is downloaded as a zip file, administrators can send it to the respective user and ask them to upload it back to their Google Drive.

No self- recovery for shared files: If you delete a file which was shared with you, it will not be available in your trash to restore. You will have to ask the owner to re-share the file.

Limited data recoverability time: Files that were permanently deleted from the Trash can be restored only within 25 days of deletion by the Admin and within 30 days from the Shared Drive.

No granular Google Drive restore: These features do not let you select the file(s) that need to be recovered. It automatically restores everything that was deleted during the specified date range leading to a clutter of unnecessary files in your Drive, consuming storage space.

Lost sharing permissions: You cannot recover the file/folder share settings.

No recoverability: If it is a personal Google account, there is no way for you to recover the deleted file.

Data loss: The advanced search option does not let you view the missing file if you don’t own it.

A third-party cloud backup application like SysCloud is an effective and reliable option to effortlessly restore deleted Google Drive files. SysCloud provides completely automated cloud to cloud backup and recovery using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Organizations can now back up and recover data for unlimited domains using SysCloud.

Restore permanently deleted data: Recover Drive files even if the user account is permanently deleted.

Customized restore: Directly recover a single file, a complete folder, or your entire Drive back to its actual destination.

Point-in-time restore: Restore a previous version of  a file from a specific point in time with all its sharing settings and folder structure intact. 

Self-user restore: Provide self-service Google Drive restore for end users, resulting in faster data recovery and reduced load on IT administrators.

Cross-user restore: Restore files to another user’s account.

Usage reports: Audit all activities performed within the application and generate reports

Step 1: Log in to the SysCloud application using your admin credentials.

Step 2:  Navigate to the “Archives”  in the menu bar and select the user account from the user archives whose data you want to recover.

Step 3: Click on the Drive icon next to the user's name to navigate to the app archives.

Step 4: Select the required files and click on “Restore."

Your deleted Google Drive files are now restored with all the sharing permissions and folder structure intact.

1. Can I recover deleted photos from Google Drive?

Yes, you can recover deleted photos, documents, PDFs, audios, videos and any other type of file supported by Google Drive using the various Google Drive recovery methods explained in the article.

2. How long do files stay in Google Drive?

Individual Google Drive users have 30 days to recover the deleted files. ( <a href="/how-to-recover-permanently-deleted-files-from-google-drive#4" rel="no-follow">Click here to know how</a> ). After this, the files and folders will be permanently deleted from Trash and cannot be recovered, unless you have already taken a backup of the files before deletion.


Google Workspace users can contact their admins, who can recover permanently deleted items within 25 days of deletion from Trash. To know how to recover files from the Google Admin Console, <a href="/how-to-recover-permanently-deleted-files-from-google-drive#adminconsole" rel="no-follow" >Click here</a>


3. How can I recover overwritten files on Google Drive?

To recover a previous version of any Google-format file (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.),

Open the file in Google Drive → Click “File” → “See Revision History” and retrieve the desired version of the file you want to restore.

To recover a previously saved version of non-Google format files,

Right click on the file in Google Drive → Click “Manage Versions” → Retrieve the desired version of the file you want to restore by clicking the ellipsis icon on the right side and click “Download”.

4. Can I recover Shared files that are deleted from Google Drive?

Yes, you can recover deleted Shared files from Google Drive. <a href="/how-to-recover-permanently-deleted-files-from-google-drive#shareddrive" rel="no-follow" >Click here</a> to know how.

By default, Google Drive offers 15 GB of storage, for free. This can be increased through purchasing a Google One account, which has different storage plans according to your needs.

Yes. If you download the Google Drive for desktop app, you can set files from your “My Drive” folder in Google Drive to be accessible offline. You can also sync your Drive and computer files, depending on how you set your preferences in the application. 

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How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files from Google Drive for Business

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Learn how admins can recover permanently deleted Google Drive files using Google Vault, Google Takeout, Drive Trash, and third-party cloud backup tools.

Recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive for Business

An in-depth article on how admins can recover permanently deleted Google Drive files using Google Vault, Google Takeout, Drive Trash, and third-party cloud backup tools.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files from Google Drive for Business

Introduction to Google Drive recovery

Can you recover deleted Google Drive files?

How to recover deleted files from Google Drive trash

How do you recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive?

I. How to recover Google Drive files that are permanently deleted from Trash – When you do not have a backup

1. For individual Google Drive users – Google Drive customer support

2. How to recover permanently deleted Google Drive files using the Google Admin console

a) How can a Google Workspace administrator recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive?

b) How can a Google Workspace administrator recover permanently deleted files from Shared Drive (Team Drive)?

c) How to recover Google Drive files from a deleted account

II. How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive – When you have a backup

a) How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive using Google Takeout backup

b) How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive using Google Vault

Following are the steps to recover deleted files from Google Vault:

Limitations of using Google’s native features to restore Google Drive files

c) How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive using third-party cloud backup tools

Why should you use third-party backup tools to recover permanently deleted Google Drive files?

Following are the steps to recover deleted files that are backed up using SysCloud:

Frequently asked questions