Are you looking to recover a permanently deleted file from Google Drive?
When you delete a file in Google Drive, it will be sent to your trash.
Items in your trash will be automatically deleted after 30 days.
Hence, you can restore the file within 30 days.
However, if the file has been in the trash for more than 30 days, you won’t be able to recover it yourself.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to recover deleted or permanently deleted files from Google Drive.
- How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive
- How to recover deleted files from Google Drive
How to recover permanently deleted files from Google Drive

- Go to https://support.google.com/drive/contact/file_recovery.
- Click on the “Contact us” button at the bottom of the page.
- Sign in to your Google account.
- Enter your first and last name.
- Agree to the terms.
- Click on the “Submit” button.
After you’ve submitted the form, wait for a few days for Google’s response.
Google can only attempt to recover the file(s) if you are the owner of them.
You are the owner of the file(s) if you created, uploaded, and accepted ownership of them.
If you don’t own the files that are permanently deleted, Google will not be able to recover them for you.
Google can only recover files that are deleted recently.
They cannot recover files from Gmail or Google Photos.
How to recover deleted files from Google Drive

- Go to https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive.
- Sign in to your Google account.
- Select “Trash”.
- Right-click the file that you want to recover.
- Select “Restore”.
After you’ve selected “Restore”, the file will be restored to its original location.
You can select “Show File Location” to go to the file’s location.
Otherwise, you can scroll through your drive to find it.
Do note that you can only recover files that are deleted within 30 days.
If the file has been deleted for more than 30 days, it will be permanently deleted from your trash.
If that’s the case, you need to contact Google if you want to restore it.
Further reading
How to Center Text in The Middle in Google Docs