Summary
“NO! I did not mean to delete THAT FILE!” Does that sound familiar?
Don’t panic! Absolutely everything that is deleted in SharePoint will end up in the recycle bin. Whether it’s a page, file, list item, entire list or entire document library, it will end up in the recycle bin and you will be able to restore it.
This will walk users with contribute or site editor access in restoring deleted items.
Body
Overview
This articles explains how users with contribute and site editor permission can restore deleted items.
How to Restore
- On the Site contents page, click the Recycle bin link.
- To select the items you want to restore, click the check icon to the right of each one.
- Click Restore.
How long are deleted items kept in the Recycle Bin?
In SharePoint in Microsoft 365, items are retained for 93 days from the time you delete them from their original location. They stay in the site Recycle Bin the entire time, unless someone deletes them from there or empties that Recycle Bin. In that case, the items go to the site collection (Second-stage) Recycle Bin, where they stay for the remainder of the 93 days unless:
- the site collection Recycle Bin exceeds its quota and starts purging the oldest items
- the items are manually deleted by the site collection administrator from the site collection Recycle Bin (for info about doing this, see Delete items from the site collection Recycle Bin)
Note: Items in the Second-stage Recycle Bin can only be viewed or restored by either the Site Collection Administrator or the SharePoint Administrator.