Deleted files in Microsoft 365 are recoverable for roughly 93 days, and overwritten files can usually be rolled back too. The trick is knowing which bin to look in – and moving before the clock runs out.
Deleted a file
- Go to portal.office.com and open OneDrive (or the SharePoint site the file lived in)
- Open the Recycle bin in the left menu, find the file, select it and hit Restore – it goes back exactly where it was
- Not there? On SharePoint, scroll to the bottom of the recycle bin and open the second-stage recycle bin – deleted items sit there for the remainder of the 93 days
Overwrote a file (saved over the wrong thing)
- Right-click the file in OneDrive or SharePoint and choose Version history
- Every previous save is listed with a date and author – open one to check it, then Restore the version you want
Deleted a lot (or something deleted everything)
OneDrive has a whole-drive rollback: Settings > Restore your OneDrive rewinds everything to a point in the last 30 days. It’s the right tool after a sync accident or ransomware scrambling files – but talk to us before running it on a shared library, because it rewinds everyone’s changes too.
If the file matters and you can’t see it in any bin, stop clicking and raise a ticket straight away – admin-level recovery has its own deadline, and every day counts.