OneDrive recycle bin: how to get deleted files back

Two recycle bins, two places to look

A file deleted from the OneDrive folder on your PC that was on your disk goes to the Windows Recycle Bin, like any other file. A file deleted in the cloud, including files that were online-only, does not appear in the Windows Recycle Bin: it is only in the OneDrive recycle bin on onedrive.com.

How to restore from the OneDrive recycle bin

Sign in at onedrive.com with the same Microsoft account, open Recycle bin in the left pane, select the files or folders and choose Restore. They go back to their original folder and, if OneDrive syncs on your PC, they come back there too.

How long you have

For personal accounts you can restore files or folders deleted within the last 30 days. For work or school accounts the limit is 93 days, and administrators can change it. After that they are gone for good, so act today.

"OneDrive deleted all my files": what to check first

When a whole folder seems to vanish, stop before doing anything else: do not empty a bin, do not delete the OneDrive folder, do not reinstall. Then check in this order. Is the PC still signed in to the same Microsoft account? Was OneDrive unlinked, removed, or was the backup of a folder stopped? Sign in at onedrive.com and look in Desktop, Documents and Pictures, then in the recycle bin. In most cases the files are in one of those places.

If you removed OneDrive, or deleted the OneDrive folder, and the Desktop is half empty: the files that were online-only were never on the PC, only placeholders. They are still in your OneDrive. In our tests, unlinking took 19 of 37 files off the PC, all of them online-only, and deleted none in the cloud.

If the files are not in either bin

Often they were never deleted. If you unlinked OneDrive or stopped the backup of a folder, online-only files simply are not on the PC any more, but they are still in your OneDrive. Open onedrive.com and look in Desktop, Documents and Pictures before assuming the worst.

After you get them back

Make the restored files local and copy them to a folder outside OneDrive, then check the copy. A file that exists only in one place, cloud or PC, is one mistake away from being lost again.

Previous versions of a file

If a file is not deleted but overwritten or damaged, look at its version history: on onedrive.com right-click the file and choose Version history. You can open or restore an earlier version without touching the current one.

Restore your whole OneDrive

With a Microsoft 365 subscription you can also restore your entire OneDrive to an earlier point in time, within the last 30 days. It is useful after a mass deletion or a sync problem that touched many files at once. Everything changed after that point is undone, so copy anything new first.

Emptying the bin is final

When you empty the OneDrive recycle bin, or delete a file from it, treat it as gone. Before emptying it to free space, make sure what is inside is really not needed, or that you have a checked copy outside OneDrive.

How to avoid it next time

Keep a copy of the files that matter outside OneDrive, on your PC or on an external disk, and check that the copy is complete. A sync service copies mistakes too: delete a file in one place and it disappears everywhere.

How Salvako does it for you

Salvako does these steps in the right order and shows you the numbers. The free Check reads, without changing anything, where every file really is, how many are online-only and how much space you need. The verified copy brings every file to the destination you choose and compares each copy with the original, by size and SHA-256 fingerprint. If the PC switches off, it resumes where it stopped.

Then the guardian keeps watch: it updates the copy and warns you when files become online-only again or the storage gets close to the limit. You keep using OneDrive as before, and your files never leave your PC.