Microsoft Teams: Recover deleted files from Teams or OneDrive

Tags Teams

The instructions below detail how users can restore deleted files from Teams channels and OneDrive.

NOTES:

  • The restore steps must be completed by an Owner of the files. ITS cannot restore files on your behalf.
  • The retention policy is 90 days. If the files have been deleted for longer than 90 days, they cannot be restored.

These instructions were pulled from the following Microsoft support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/delete-and-recover-files-in-teams-a591d771-89a6-49e2-ab7e-271936fe3c4e#bkmk_recoverfromchannel

Recover a deleted Teams channel file:

  1. Open the channel's Files tab and slect Open in SharePoint at the top of the page.
  2. In SharePoint, select Recycle bin on the left side of the page. This will show a list of all files deleted from every channel in the team.
  3. Select the file (or files) you want to recover and then select Restore at the top of the page.

Recover a deleted OneDrive file:

  1. Open Files on the left side of Teams and then select OneDrive.
  2. Select Open in OneDrive at the top of the pge.
  3. In OneDrive, select Recycle bin on the left side of the page, select the file you want to recover, and then select Restore at the top of the page.

Recover multiple files deleted from a Teams channel:

  1. Open the channel's Files tab and slect Open in SharePoint at the top of the page.
  2. In SharePoint, select Recycle bin on the left side of the page. This will show a list of all files deleted from every channel in the team.
  3. Sort by date.
  4. Select the first item.
  5. Hold Shift and select the last item.
  6. Click Restore.
  7. If the view only shows 50 - 100 items, repeat this process until the files are restored.

How to set up activity notifications to ensure Owners are alerted if files are deleted:

  1. From Teams, navigate to the files and choose 'Open in SharePoint.'
  2. Click on the three dots and choose 'Alert me.'
  3. Enter the user you want to receive the alert.
  4. Select 'Items are deleted' for the Change Type.
  5. Click 'OK' to save the alert.
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