How to Restore Deleted Excel Files from Recycle Bin

When you delete a file, the file isn't deleted completely. It just is put into the recycle bin. By default, a deleted object can be restored within 180 days. So, users can restore deleted files from the recycle bin within 180 days easily. People often delete unwanted files, but they are not likely to have the habit of regular deleting files from recycle bin. Therefore, since there are a load of files in the recycle bin, how to restore deleted Excel files from recycle bin efficiently and quickly? Read on this post and you will know.

To restore files from recycle bin, the first step is to open it. The simplest way is to double-click the icon of the recycle bin on the Desktop. If there is no icon on the Desktop, you can search it in the search box on the taskbar. Then press the Enter key to open it. Want to put its shortcut into the Desktop Windows 10? There is an article for reference: Show or hide the Recycle Bin.

Situation 1: Restore an Excel file

If you know the file name, search it in the input box on the right and press "Enter". Then choose the file you want to restore and right-click it to choose "Restore". The deleted files will be put back to their original location.

When you are not sure about the file name, you can sort Excel files by item type to filter the deleted files. In this way, the Excel files are distinguished from other types of files to reduce filtering time.

Steps:

a. Open the recycle bin.

b. On the View tab, click "Sort by", and choose "Item type".

c. Find and select the Excel file you want to restore.

d. Right-click it and click "Restore".

Except for sorting files by Item type, you can also sort them by name, Original Location, Date created, etc. When searching for Excel files, there is one more trick to use. That is, use the function of "Group by". It's a quick and convenient method when you know the specific type of file you want to restore. The location of "Group By" is the upper right of Sort by's. In the "Current view" column, click on the "Group by", select "Item type", and scroll down to find the location of the Excel file. Then you can see that the Excel files are arranged according to specific file types.

Situation 2: Restore multiple Excel files

When restoring multiple Excel files from recycle bin, it is time-consuming to search for file names one by one in the search box. So, in this situation, utilizing the "Sort by" function of the recycle bin to distinguish Excel files from others is more time-saving and efficient. In the meantime, using Shift and Ctrl can make your selection process easier.

When the documents you need to restore are arranged together, you can use the Shift key to select all at one time instead of click them one by one. Below are the steps to use Shift key for restoring files:

a. Click "Sort by" and choose "Item type". Then find the location of Excel files.

b. Click the first one of a set of files, then hold down the Shift key, and click the last document of the set of files.

c. Click on the Restore all items or right-click the selected area to choose "Restore". Then all selected files would be returned to their original folder.

When the files are not arranged together, use the Ctrl key to select them first and then restore them at one time. Here is the step to do this:

a. Click "Sort by" and choose "Item type". Then find the location of Excel files.

b. Click one of the files we want to restore, hold the Ctrl key down, and then choose other files you need one by one.

c. Click on the Restore all items or right-click the selected area to choose "Restore". Then all selected files would be returned to their original folder.

Tips for distinguishing similar Excel files

When the file you want to restore have other files similar to it, you can choose to restore all of them. But it is a better choice to compare which is more suitable to restore. The Recycle Bin provides simple and effective functions for classification according to different information of the files. Using these functions wisely can improve the efficiency of restoring Excel files from the recycle bin.

The layout named details is useful since it can display corresponding information of all the files, so that you can compare them easily. On the View tab, select details in the layout column, you can see the detailed information of each file, such as "Date deleted", "size" and "Date modified", etc. Judge which files you want to recover by comparing this information. For example, if the filenames are the same, it's recommended choosing the larger file since a file of a larger size contains more content.

Besides, you can add or reduce the information items of the file by Add columns. On the View tab, in the current view column, click Add columns. You can select information items like the original location, perceived type, owner, etc.