How to Recover Recently or Permanently Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days? (2024)

Google Docs is a cloud-based productivity platform to create, edit, store and collaborate on a document, it is the best free alternative to Microsoft Office Word. It has a lot of useful tools and can be accessed across different systems, which makes Google Docs one of the best word processor.

But what if you deleted a Google Docs by accident and want to get it back? Is it possible to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs after 30 days? You will find all the solutions for deleted Google Docs in our guide.

 Best Data Recovery for Windows and Mac

Recover Recently and Permanently Deleted Google Docs

• Recover recently and permanently deleted Google Docs
• Repair corrupted Google Docs
• Recover unsaved Google Docs as well
• Restore 1000+ file types: docs (Google Sheets, Google Slides), images, videos, audios, archives, etc.
• Fix damaged videos and photos automatically
• Support data recovery from both internal and external hard drive
• Preview Google Docs, photos, documents, video and audio before recovery
• Recover files to local drive or to cloud platforms

Free Download macOS 10.9 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7

Can We Recover Deleted Google Docs?

Yes, we can.

For recently deleted Google Docs, Google Drive can keep it in the Trash folder for 30 days, as long as you didn’t click the “Delete Forever” or “Empty trash” button in Google Drive Trash, you can recover it anytime within 30 days of the date of deletion.

But can we recover deleted Google Docs after 30 days? Luckily, yes. For permanently deleted Google Docs that moved to Trash bin for 30 days, Google provides eDiscovery service Google Vault to restore directly from Google Drive. If you have backed up or once saved the Google Docs to your computer offline, you can still recover it using a data recovery tool. 

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days?

We can restore a Google Docs from a backup or offline copy, because we possibly once created or edited the Google Docs in local folder before uploading to Google  Drive. Also, we can use Google Vault to restore permanently deleted Google Docs from Google Drive. Now, check the following guide to get your deleted Google Docs back even after 30 days.

#1 Using Cisdem Data Recovery (Windows and Mac)

Cisdem Data Recovery for Windows and Mac is a data recovery program to recover permanently deleted files from internal or external hard drive. As long as you once saved a Google Docs on your hard drive, no matter it is on your Mac, Windows, USB drive, SD card or storage devices, Cisdem is able to restore it.

Not only recovering permanently deleted Google Docs, Cisdem Data Recovery can also recover other 1000+ types of files, including video, audio, photo, archive, ebook, document and so on. It can list the file name and file size, also allows users to preview documents before recovery. Even it can repair a corrupted Google Docs.

Main Features of Cisdem Data Recovery

• Recover recently and permanently deleted files, formatted and lost files
• Restore 1000+ types of files: documents, videos, audios, images, archives, ebooks, etc.
• Recover unsaved and corrupted Office/Google documents
• Repair damaged photo/video files
• Recover files from iCloud
• Search specific files with filter tool basing on keyword, file size, date created, date modified
• Preview files before recovery
• Recover files to local drive or cloud (Dropbox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, pCloud, Box)

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days?

1. Download and install Cisdem Data Recovery.
   Free Download macOS 10.9 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
2. Go to PC Recovery, select the hard drive where you deleted the Google Docs and click Scan. 
3. Go to Type > Documents > Docx or Doc to find a permanently deleted Google Docs. Or use the filter tool to find Google Docs faster.
4. Preview the Google Docs if it can be opened.
   
5. (Optional) If the Google Docs cannot be previewed, it is corrupted, repair it before recovery.
6. Select the files and click Recover.

#2 Using Google Vault

If you have subscribed Google Vault, you can use your license to recover a deleted Google Docs after 30 days from Google Workspace. It is designed to retain, search and export data from Gmail, Google Drive, Groups and Chat. 

How to Recover Deleted Google Docs after 30 Days from Google Drive?

1. Visit https://vault.google.com/ and sign into.
2. Go to Matters > Sales Drive Retention > Search.
3. Choose Drive from the Service list.
4. Then fill in information to search deleted Google Docs on your Google Drive, and click Search.
5. Browse the found files and download to specified location to restore.

#3 Using Google Drive Backup

If you have created a Google Drive folder on your device to store the files and stopped syncing before deleting the Google Docs, you can restore the permanently deleted Google Docs from this backup.

1. Find the Google Drive folder on your device.
2. Locate the deleted Google Docs, then click "+" to upload this file to your Google Drive again.

#4 Using Time Machine (on MacOS)

There is another way to recover permanently deleted Google Docs on Mac, using the backup program Time Machine, if you have enabled it to manage your data on a regular basis.

Time Machine is used to back up your files on Mac internal disk to an external storage device, once you have set up it, it will back up your files automatically on a fixed schedule, also it can restore a deleted file by offering a backup copy of the deleted file.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs with Time Machine?

1. Go to Applications > Time Machine, launch the program and enter Time Machine. Or just click the icon in menu bar. 
2. Go to Documents, find or search to find the deleted Google Docs on your Mac.
3. Use the Timeline to select a version of the deleted Google Docs, press the Space bar to preview different versions and choose.
4. Then click Restore to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs to your Mac. 

#5 Using File History (on Windows)

Working the same as Time Machine on Mac, File History is the Windows built-in program to back up files, it helps to recover permanently deleted files if you have enabled this feature.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs on Windows

1. Open the Start menu, type "restore files" and hit Enter.
2. Find the Google docs in the folder where you stored the files.
3. Click on Restore button to recover permanently deleted Google Docs on Windows.

How to Recover Recently Deleted Google Docs?

If you didn’t empty the trash or manually delete the Google Docs in Trash bin, the deleted Google Docs will be still saved in the Trash folder of Google Drive. To find and recover a recently deleted Google Docs within 30 days, all you need to do is to check out the files in Google Drive Trash bin and restore.

1. Login into your Google account.
2. Go to Google Drive by clicking on Drive icon.
3. Then click on Trash.
4. Find the recently deleted files in Trash folder, right click on the deleted Google Docs and choose Restore to recover the recently deleted Google Docs.
5. Go back to My Drive and find the recovered Google Docs.

Extended: Restore Previous Version of Google Docs

With Google Docs, you can also see version history and are allowed to restore the previous version of a Google Docs, the steps are easy as following.

1. Login into your Google Account.
2. Go to Google Drive, open a document with Google Docs.
3. Go to File > Version history > See version history.
4. Find the version you want to restore, click on the three dots button and choose Restore this version.

Conclusion

It is easy to recover a recently deleted Google Docs, you can restore within Google Drive by putting back files to Trash folder. And it is still possible to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs, as long as you have a backup copy of this file or once saved this file on your Mac, Windows, or other storage device. As you can see, it is always right to back up file in case of any data loss.