Restore items in the recycle bin of a sharepoint site

When you delete items from a document library or list in Microsoft Teams or SharePoint, they aren't immediately removed. Deleted items go into the SharePoint site recycle bin for a period of time or until they are emptied from the recycle bin. The SharePoint site recycle bin isn't the same as the Windows recycle bin that you see on your desktop.

While items are in the site recycle bin, you can restore items you deleted to their original location. If you're using SharePoint in Microsoft 365, you can even view and restore items that were deleted by someone else, as long as you have edit permissions. 

For info about restoring SharePoint files stored in OneDrive, see Restore a previous version of a file in OneDrive.

Notes: 

• If you delete files or folders that you're syncing, you can restore them from the Windows recycle bin on your PC. To put your Windows recycle bin on your desktop, see Show or hide the Recycle Bin.

• The information in this article also applies to OneDrive (for work or school) files. To learn how to restore files in OneDrive, see Restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive.

Restore items from the recycle bin of SharePoint in Microsoft 365 or SharePoint Server

You can restore items that you delete and items other people delete (as long as you have edit permissions).

Note: Some functionality is introduced gradually to organizations that have opted in to the First Release program. This means that you may not yet see this feature or it may look different than what is described in the help articles.

1. Go to the SharePoint site that the items were deleted from. (In Microsoft Teams, from the Files tab at the top of your channel, select More > Open in SharePoint.)

2. In the Quick Launch bar navigation on the bottom left of the screen, click Recycle bin.

   If you don't see the Recycle bin on the Quick Launch bar, follow these steps:

   • Click Settings , and then click Site contents.

   • The recycle bin is in the top right portion of the Site Contents page.

     

   Note: If you don't see a recycle bin in SharePoint Server 2016 or 2013 — the recycle bin might have been disabled. Contact your farm or server administrator. If you're an administrator, see Configure SharePoint Recycle Bin Settings.

3. On the Recycle bin page, click the box to the left of the items or files you want to restore.

   

4. Click Restore.

   

Note: If you don't see the item you're looking for, and it was deleted recently, a site collection administrator might be able to restore it from the site collection recycle bin. If you're the site collection administrator, see Restore deleted items from the site collection recycle bin.

When an item is restored, it is restored to the same location that it was deleted from. 

Deleted items are retained in recycle bins for a certain period of time. For SharePoint, the retention time is 93 days. It begins when you delete the item from its original location. When you delete the item from the site recycle bin, it goes into the site collection recycle bin. It stays there for the remainder of the 93 days, and then is permanently deleted.

You can restore a list, list item, library, file, or a version of a file to its original location, as long as you have not already deleted its parent. For example, you can't restore a version of a file if the file itself has been deleted. That's because when you delete a file, you delete all versions of the file. Similarly, you cannot restore a file if the library to which it belonged has been deleted. You must first restore the library and then restore the file to the library.

When you restore a library, all of the files that the library contains are also restored. Also, when you restore an item that was originally located in a deleted folder, the folder is recreated in its original location and the item is restored in the folder. Yet, the entire contents of the folder isn't restored.