If you've accidentally deleted a file or the contents of a file, you know how bad it feels, especially if you've worked on that file for days, weeks, or even months. Fortunately, deleting a file is not the end of the world. In fact, in most cases you can find the file in the recycle bin and get it back with ease.
The See the Recycle Bin
Double-clicking the Recycle Bin or trash can see everything inside. Did you find the file you thought you deleted? Just drag it back to your desktop and now you can continue your work. If it's not in your recycle bin, there are a few more things you can try to recover the deleted file first. I hope you were backing up. If you do, you can recover an earlier version of your file with the backup's recovery service. It may be the day before, but it's better to lose a day than to lose everything.
Restore Deleted Files Using File History
If you are not backing up, we hope you have File History Backup turned on. If your operating system is Windows* 10, select the Start button. Check Settings > Update & security > Backup > Add a drive, and then choose an external drive or network location for your backups.
To Restore Important Lost File or Folder:
- 1. Type Restore files in the search box on the taskbar, and then check the option to restore your files with File History.
- 2. Search for the file you need and use the arrows to see all its versions.
- 3. When you find the version you want, check Restore to save it in its original location. To save the file in a different location, press and hold ( or right-click ) Restore, select Restore to, and choose a new location.
Didn't make a backup ?
If you haven't made a backup and your file is not in the recycle bin, you can try free or paid applications such as Piriform Recuva* or Stellar Data Recover* and one of the various file recovery programs.
Disk Drill*, a recovery tool option designed for Mac*, is now also available for Windows. It helps with partition loss, hard drive reformat, failed boot, accidental deletion and more.
Another option you can consider: Have you emailed the file to someone? Have you saved a copy on a cloud-based service like DropBox*, iCloud* or SkyDrive*? Then you can get a copy from there. Likewise, even if you lose the latest changes, it's better than nothing. When you realize you've accidentally deleted a photo, document, worksheet, report, or other file, there are many options you can try to recover it. The same goes for your backups, so you'll have more options the next time you need to locate a deleted file.
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