How to Recover Deleted Google Docs [6 Ways]

Are Google Docs deleted forever?

What if you have deleted a Google Doc by accident? Do you know how to recover deleted Google Docs? 

In fact, Google Drive allows you to keep deleted docs for 30 days unless you have manually deleted these files forever. But you still can restore permanently deleted Google files with offline Doc downloads with data recovery software.

How to recover deleted Google Docs

Here, 5 ways are provided to recover deleted or lost Google Docs, including Google Drive Trash, File History, Google Drive Help, Google Admin Console, and a powerful data recovery tool.

▶ Option 1. Recover deleted Google Docs from Google Drive Trash

Google Drive Trash keeps deleted files for 30 days, so you can easily recover deleted files within those 30 days. This is how we recover deleted Google Docs:

Step 1. Go to Google Drive.

Click "Drive" after logging into your Google Account.

Step 2. Click "Trash".

click "Trash" on the left sidebar.

Step 3. Click "Restore" to recover it.

Find the deleted Doc you want to recover. Then right-click it and click "Restore".

▶ Option 2. Recover deleted Google Docs by File History 

Although permanently deleted files cannot be recovered through Google Drive Trash, you can restore files through backups. File History allows users to restore permanently deleted files from prepared backups. 

Step 1. Open the Control Panel and click “System and Security”.

Step 2. Then, select the “Restore your files with File History”.

Step 3. Click the “Restore personal files”.

Step 4. “Restore” your selected files to the previously saved path.

▶ Option 3. Recover deleted Google Docs via Admin Console

If you are a Google Workspace user, you can recover deleted files from its Admin Console. Google Workspace admin can restore permanently deleted files and folders. Contact your admin to recover a file permanently deleted in the last 25 days.

Please note that deleted Google Docs are cleared from the Google system and can no longer be recovered.

Step 1. Sign in to your G Suite Admin account. Go to the Admin console and click Users.

Step 2. Find the user whose Drive data you need to restore. After that, click the "RESTORE DATA" button.

Step 3. On the popup window, select the date range for the data you want to restore. You can flexibly choose the deleted files from the last 25 days. Then click the "RESTORE" button.

▶ Option 4. Recover deleted Google Docs by Contacting Google Drive Help

Google Drive Help provides you with various technical services, including Docs recovery. You can try the following steps:

Step 1.  Go to Google Drive Help, and sign in with your Google account.

Step 2. Fill in the required box > click I consent to allow Google to attempt to recover files… > Submit. Then continue.

Step 3. You will receive an email from Google Drive Help to confirm your request. You may receive the deleted Doc within 48 hours.

▶ Option 5. Recover deleted Google Docs with MyRecover

If you feel urgent to restore the Docs immediately, you may ask for help from professional data recovery software - MyRecover.

You can quickly and accurately recover deleted data within 3 steps. Please download it to see how to recover deleted Google docs on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Windows Server computers now!

Step 1. Launch MyRecover and hover the mouse over the disk used to store your Google Docs. Then click Scan to run a quick and deep scan.

Step 2. You can select the Docs you need to recover. Type the document names to quickly locate your deleted Docs.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder and select the Google files you want to restore. Then click “Recover x files” and save these restored files in a new location.

▶ Option 6. Recover Google Docs Using Google Vault

If you have a Google Vault license, it would be much easier to recover Google Docs deleted from Google Wordspace over 30 days.

Go to https://vault.google.com/ and log in to your account. Then, click Matters->Sales Drive Retention->Search. After that, select Drive from the Service. Follow the instructions to fill in the information to find the deleted Google Docs. Then, click Search. Finally, find the deleted files and download them.

Bonus tips - How to prevent Google files from being lost?

Although this article provides 5 practical ways for Google Docs recovery, it is better to backup important files in advance to prevent data from being lost caused by recovery failure or other accidental occasions.

Thus, you are recommended to save an offline copy and backup it to the local or cloud for essential and significant files. To add an extra layer of protection to your data, you can try free backup software for Windows, AOMEI Backupper.

Conclusion

From what has been discussed above, this post provides a variety of options to solve the problem of how to recover deleted Google Docs, not only recently deleted files but also permanently removed ones. You can choose one which is the most convenient and suitable for you. Please remember to keep an offline download in advance and then back up it to other secure devices.