How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Simple to Advanced

Knowing how to recover deleted files on Windows can save a situation that feels catastrophic. Whether you accidentally deleted a document, emptied the Recycle Bin without checking, formatted a drive by mistake, or discovered a file is simply gone without remembering deleting it — there are multiple methods to recover deleted files on Windows, and which one works depends on exactly how the deletion occurred and how quickly you act. This guide walks through every method to recover deleted files on Windows in order from the simplest (the Recycle Bin) to the most technically involved (data recovery software), so you can work through them systematically without wasting time on approaches unlikely to succeed in your specific situation. You’ll find the complete rundown in our Complete Guide to Windows Software.

Stop using the affected drive immediately. This is the most important instruction in this entire guide for how to recover deleted files on Windows. When a file is deleted, Windows marks the space it occupied as available but does not immediately overwrite it — the file’s data remains on the drive until new data is written to that location. Every new file written, every application launched, every web page loaded potentially overwrites the space where your deleted file was stored. The faster you act and the less you use the drive after deletion, the higher the probability of successfully recovering deleted files on Windows.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Method 1 — Recycle Bin

The first and most obvious place to check to recover deleted files on Windows is the Recycle Bin. When files are deleted using the Delete key or right-click → Delete, they are moved to the Recycle Bin rather than permanently removed — they remain there until the Recycle Bin is emptied or the individual files are deleted from the Recycle Bin.

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop (if it is not visible, search for Recycle Bin in the Start menu)
2. Look for the file you want to recover. The Recycle Bin shows deleted files with their original location in the Original Location column
3. If the file is there: right-click it and select Restore to return it to its original location, or drag it to any folder to place it somewhere specific
4. If multiple files need recovering: select all of them (Ctrl+A for all, or Ctrl+click for specific files) and then right-click → Restore

If the Recycle Bin has been emptied, the file was deleted with Shift+Delete (which bypasses the Recycle Bin), or the file was on an external drive, USB, or network location (files deleted from these go directly to permanent deletion without the Recycle Bin), proceed to the next method to recover deleted files on Windows.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Method 2 — File History

File History is Windows’ built-in backup system that automatically saves copies of files in your Libraries (Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos) and on the Desktop at regular intervals, to an external drive you designate. If File History was enabled before the deletion occurred, recovering deleted files on Windows this way is simple:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where the deleted file was stored
2. Click the History button in the File Explorer toolbar (Windows 10) or right-click the folder and select Restore previous versions (Windows 10 and 11)
3. A list of previous versions of the folder appears, timestamped. Click through them to find a version that contains the deleted file
4. Select the file and click the green Restore button to recover it to the original location, or drag it to a different location

If File History shows no previous versions, it was either not set up before the deletion or the external drive used for backup is not currently connected. Check whether File History is enabled in Settings → Update and Security → Backup. If it was never set up, our guide on the best backup software for Windows covers how to prevent this situation in future with automatic backups.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Method 3 — Cloud Sync Recovery

If the deleted file was stored in a synced cloud folder — OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive — the cloud service likely has a copy in its own trash or version history, even if you have already emptied the Windows Recycle Bin.

• OneDrive: Go to onedrive.com, sign in, click the Recycle Bin in the left panel. OneDrive retains deleted files for 30 days (93 days for Microsoft 365 subscribers). Select the file and click Restore. Our OneDrive not syncing guide covers recovery if OneDrive sync was not working when the file was deleted.
• Dropbox: Go to dropbox.com, click Files in the left panel, then click Deleted files. Dropbox retains deleted files for 30 days (180 days on higher plans). Select the file and click Restore.
• Google Drive: Go to drive.google.com, click Bin in the left panel. Google Drive retains deleted files for 30 days. Right-click the file and select Restore. If sync issues prevented the file from uploading before deletion, our Google Drive not syncing guide covers the troubleshooting steps.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Method 4 — Previous Versions (Shadow Copies)

Windows creates automatic shadow copies — point-in-time snapshots of volumes — through System Restore and Volume Shadow Copy Service. These shadow copies can contain previous versions of files even if File History was not set up. Here is how to check for previous versions to recover deleted files on Windows:

1. Navigate to the folder where the deleted file was stored in File Explorer
2. Right-click the folder and select Properties
3. Click the Previous Versions tab
4. If any previous versions are listed, select the one from before the deletion occurred and click Open to browse it or Restore to replace the current folder with that version

If no previous versions appear, shadow copies were not being created for this drive. System Restore must have been enabled before the deletion for this method to work.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Windows: Method 5 — Data Recovery Software

When the methods above have not recovered the deleted file, dedicated data recovery software scans the drive directly for file data that still exists in unallocated space. Our guide on the best data recovery software for Windows covers every tool in this category in detail, but for immediate use:

1. Download Recuva (free) from the official Piriform/CCleaner website onto a different drive than the one containing the deleted file — installing on the same drive risks overwriting the data you are trying to recover
2. Launch Recuva’s wizard and specify what type of file you lost and where it was stored
3. Run a Deep Scan for the best chance to recover deleted files that were deleted some time ago
4. Green-highlighted results are likely fully recoverable; yellow are partially recoverable; red are likely unrecoverable
5. Select the files to recover and save them to a different drive than the source — not back to the drive being scanned

Success rates for data recovery software to recover deleted files on Windows vary based on how much the drive has been used since deletion. A file deleted an hour ago on an SSD that has had minimal use since has a high recovery probability. A file deleted weeks ago on a drive that has been used heavily may be unrecoverable regardless of the software used. After recovering your files, enable a backup solution immediately — our guide on the best cloud backup service covers the automatic offsite backup options that make this situation unnecessary in future.