Delete and restore files in Google Drive

To delete your Google Drive files, move them to the trash. Files in trash will be automatically deleted subsequently 30 days. Y'all tin restore files from your trash earlier the xxx-day time window. Y'all tin as well permanently delete them to empty your trash. If you delete, restore, or permanently delete multiple files or folders at once, information technology might take time for you to observe the changes.

Put a file in trash

To remove a file from your Drive, you tin put it in your trash. The file will stay in your trash for thirty days before existence automatically deleted.

If y'all're the possessor of the file, others tin can view it until you permanently delete the file. If you're not the owner, others tin can see the file even if you empty your trash.

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Bulldoze app.
  2. At the bottom right, tap Files Files.
  3. Side by side to the file you want to delete, tap MoreMoreand thenRemove.

Empty your trash

You tin permanently delete an individual file or empty your unabridged trash. Afterward deleting a file, anyone yous've shared the file with volition lose access to information technology. If you desire others to be able to notwithstanding view the file, you can requite buying to someone else.

  1. In the upper left, tap Menu Menuand thenTrash.
  2. Side by side to the file you'd like to delete, tap MoreMoreand then  Delete forever.

Empty your entire trash

To empty your unabridged trash, go to drive.google.com on a computer.

Recover a file from trash

If you put a file in your trash merely decide that you still desire it, you tin can put information technology back in your Drive.

  1. In the upper left, tap Bill of fare Menuand thenTrash.
  2. Next to the file yous'd like to save, tap MoreMoreand thenRestore.

Annotation: If you lot're not the owner of the file, contact the owner to have them restore it.

If yous can't recover your deleted file

If y'all delete a file and need to become it back, contact a Drive specialist. To detect your file, call or chat with u.s.a..

You deleted something and want it dorsum

If you lot deleted something recently using Google Drive or the Google Drive desktop app, you might be able to restore the file yourself.

Restore from your Trash

  1. Open up your Google Bulldoze App.
  2. Tap the file you'd like to recover.
  3. TapRestore.

Y'all can't detect something & you don't think you deleted it

Try these steps

Check the activity panel

  1. Open your Google Drive App
  2. On the left, tapMy Drive.
  3. At the meridian right, tap InfoInfo.
  4. Scroll down and look for your file.

Try an advanced search

  1. Open your Google Drive App.
  2. In the search bar, tap the icon to the far correct.
  3. Use the avant-garde search options to find your file, like "type:spreadsheets."

If the steps above didn't help, consider these special cases:

If y'all created the file

If you lot created a file in Drive and can't find it, it may be orphaned. An orphaned file might have lost all of its parent folders. The file still exists simply is harder to find.

How files lose their folder

  • You lot create a file in someone else's folder and they delete that folder. The file isn't deleted. It'southward automatically moved to your My Drive.
    Important: Only yous can delete the files you lot own.
  • You share a folder with someone and they remove your file from the binder. The file isn't deleted, information technology's automatically moved to your My Bulldoze.

Find your orphaned files

  1. In the Drive search field, enter: is:unorganized possessor:me
  2. When yous detect the file, movement it to a binder in My Bulldoze so it's easier to find next time.

Search now

If someone else created the file

When someone creates a file, they tin delete, rename, and restore information technology. Contact the person who created the file and ask them to restore it or share it with you again.

If it was in a folder someone else created

If someone deleted that binder, you won't see that binder in your Drive anymore.

Find files you created that are in deleted folders

Find all files that are in deleted folders

To brand that file easier to find in the time to come, drag it into a folder in "My Drive."

More on how to discover files

Did you attempt advanced search?

To refine your search in Drive, open up Bulldoze on a computer and utilize a search phrase with one of these options:

Search for Case
Exact phrase

"Use quotes around an exact phrase"

1 or another

tacosOR nachos

Exclude a give-and-take

Water but not lakes:

water-lakes

File owner

Files Dad owns:

possessor:dad@gmail.com
They shared files

Files Mom shared with you:

from:mom@gmail.com
Yous shared files

Files you shared with Mom:

to:mom@gmail.com
Starred items

is:starred

Deleted items

is:trashed

File type

Spreadsheet file type:

type:spreadsheet

Time frame

Before or after January eighteen, 2015.

before:2015-01-18

after:2015-01-eighteen
Title

championship:"The championship goes here"
App

Files opened in Google Drive:

app:"Bulldoze"

Which files can be recovered?

We can aid yous recover recently deleted files for a limited fourth dimension if you use Google Drive with a consumer account (and non an account through your work, school, or other grouping) AND one of these is truthful:

  • Yous created the file.
  • You uploaded the file to Google Drive.
  • You accustomed buying of the file from someone.

If y'all use an account through your work, school, or other group, contact your administrator for help.

If your Google Business relationship was deleted, yous might not be able to recover your files.

If y'all think that someone accessed your Google Bulldoze without your permission, we recommend taking steps to make your account more than secure.

If yous need to recover mails from Gmail

Learn how to recover emails from Gmail.

Contact u.s.

To contact us, sign in to your Google Account.

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