Recover Deleted Folders/Files from SharePoint
- Dan Jakubiak
Files and Folders that are deleted in SharePoint are sent to the recycle bin. Items in the recycle bin can be restored up to 93 days after deletion. The Recycling Bin is only accessible through the website.
If a file is manually deleted from the Recycling Bin, it will be sent to a semi-hidden, second-stage recycling bin. Continue Below to learn more.
Access to the Recycle Bin
Every member of the SharePoint site can visit and use the Recycle Bin. Members can restore files that were deleted by someone else.
Members cannot see files that are hidden from them when they enter the Recycle Bin. For example, if a user can’t see the contents of the “Payroll” folder, that user will not be able to see items deleted from that folder.
SharePoint on your computer
SharePoint and OneDrive both use the same OneDrive App on your computer.
Open OneDrive
Windows: by clicking the OneDrive cloud icon on the right side of your taskbar.
MacOS: clicking on the OneDrive cloud icon in the top menu bar.
Click Recycle Bin. You will be brought to the Recycle Bin page of the OneDrive Website.
Continue by following the instructions in the section below, start at Step 4.
SharePoint Website
Navigate to s.uconn.edu/sharepoint and sign in with your UConn email address and NetID password.
Click on your SharePoint site.
Click on Recycle bin in the left column.
Select the folders/files you would like to restore. Click Restore.
You will not be able to see what files are in folders in your recycle bin. You have to restore the folder first and then open the folder to see its contents.
Second Stage Recycling Bin
As a last resort, items manually deleted from the Recycling Bin are sent to a secondary recycling bin.
To access this bin, scroll down to the very bottom of your regular Recycling Bin.
You may see the above link for a second, but then have more binned files load and need to continue scrolling down to the absolute bottom of the bin.