How to recover deleted google docs files

Google Docs is the online free service to help users create and edit documents, even collaborate with others, it is the cloud-based version of Microsoft Office Word. Therefore, many users prefer to manage their documents in Google Docs.

But what if you deleted a Google Docs by accident and want to get it back? Is it possible or is there any solution to recover a recently even recover a permanently deleted Google Docs after 30 days? Yes, we have.

• Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Google Docs?
• How to Recover Recently Deleted Google Docs?
• How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days?
• Extended: Restore Previous Version of Google Docs

Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Google Docs?

Yes, it is possible to recover both recently and permanently deleted Google Docs after 30 days.

For recently deleted Google Docs, Google Drive can keep it in the Trash folder for 30 days, as long as you didn’t perform the “Delete Forever” action in Google Drive Trash, you can recover it anytime within 30 days of the date of deletion.

For permanently deleted Google Docs that moved to Trash bin for 30 days, if you have backed up or once saved the Google Docs to your computer offline, you can still recover it using a data recovery tool.

How to Find Recently Deleted Google Docs?

Without “Delete Forever”, your deleted Google Docs will be still saved in Trash folder in Google Drive. To find and recover a recently deleted Google Docs within 30 days, all you need to do is to check out the files in Google Drive Trash bin.

1. Login into your Google account.
2. Go to Google Drive by clicking on Drive icon.
   
3. Then click on Trash.
   
4. Find the recently deleted files in Trash folder, right click on the deleted Google Docs and choose Restore to recover the recently deleted Google Docs.
   
5. Go back to My Drive and find the recovered Google Docs.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days?

Though we are not allowed to recover permanently deleted Google Docs from Google Drive, we can restore a Google Docs from a backup or offline copy, because we possibly once created or edited the Google Docs in local folder before uploading to Google Drive. In this case, we have 3 ways to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs on Mac or Windows.

#1 Using Cisdem Data Recovery (Mac and Windows)

Cisdem Data Recovery is a data recovery program to recover permanently deleted files from internal or external hard drive. As long as you once saved a Google Docs on your hard drive, no matter it is on your Mac, Windows, USB drive, SD card or storage devices, Cisdem is able to restore it.

Not only recovering permanently deleted Google Docs, Cisdem Data Recovery can also recover other 200+ types of files, including video, audio, photo, archive, ebook, document and so on. It can list the file name and file size, also allows users to preview documents before recovery. 

Main Features of Cisdem Data Recovery

• Recover recently and permanently deleted files, formatted and lost files
• Restore 200+ types of files: documents, videos, audios, images, archives, ebooks, etc.
• Quick and Deep scanning
• Search specific files with filter tool basing on keyword, file size, date created, date modified
• Preview files before recovery
• Recover files to local drive or cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, pCloud, Box)

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs on Mac or Windows?

1. Download and install Cisdem Data Recovery.
    
   
   Free Download   
   
   Free Download
2. Go to Disk Data Recovery, select the hard drive where you deleted the Google Docs. 
   
3. Click Scan to start the scanning. Use the filter tool to find Google Docs faster.
   
4. Preview and select the Google Docs files to recover, you can restore to local drive or to cloud.
   
   

#2 Using Time Machine (on MacOS)

There is another way to recover permanently deleted Google Docs on Mac, using the backup program Time Machine, if you have enabled it to manage your data on a regular basis.

Time Machine is used to back up your files on Mac internal disk to an external storage device, once you have set up it, it will back up your files automatically on a fixed schedule, also it can restore a deleted file by offering a backup copy of the deleted file.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs with Time Machine?

1. Go to Applications>Time Machine, launch the program and enter Time Machine.
2. Go to Documents, find or search to find the deleted Google Docs on your Mac.
3. Use the Timeline to select a version of the deleted Google Docs, press the Space bar to preview different versions and choose.
4. Then click Restore to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs to your Mac. 
   

#3 Using File History (on Windows)

Working the same as Time Machine on Mac, File History is the Windows built-in program to back up files, it helps to recover permanently deleted files if you have enabled this feature.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs on Windows

1. Open the Start menu, type “restore files” and hit Enter.
2. Find the Google docs in the folder where you stored the files.
3. Click on Restore button to recover permanently deleted Google Docs on Windows.
   

Extended: Restore Previous Version of Google Docs

With Google Docs, you can also see version history and are allowed to restore the previous version of a Google Docs, the steps are easy as following.

1. Login into your Google Account.
2. Go to Google Drive, open a document with Google Docs.
3. Go to File>Version history>See version history.
   
4. Find the version you want to restore, click on the three dots button and choose Restore this version.
   

Conclusion

It is easy to recover a recently deleted Google Docs, you can restore within Google Drive by “put back” files in Trash folder. And it is still possible to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs, as long as you have a backup copy of this file or once saved this file on your Mac, Windows, or other storage device. As you can see, it is always right to back up file in case of any data loss.

Connie Wisley

Connie has been writing for Mac productivity and utility apps since 2009. Each review and solution is based on her practical tests, she is aways energetic and trustworthy in this field.

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