How to Recover Recently or Permanently Deleted Google Docs?

Google Docs is the online free service to help users create and edit documents, even collaborate with others, it is the cloud-based version of Microsoft Office Word. Therefore, many users prefer to manage their documents in Google Docs.

But what if you deleted a Google Docs by accident and want to get it back? Is it possible or is there any solution to recover a recently even recover a permanently deleted Google Docs? Yes, we have.

Is It Possible to Recover Deleted Google Docs?

Yes, it is possible to recover both recently and permanently deleted Google Docs.

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

For permanently deleted Google Docs, Google Drive doesn’t allow restoring the forever deleted Google Docs, but 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 Recently Deleted Google Docs?

Without “Delete Forever”, your deleted Google Docs will be still saved in Trash folder in Google Drive. To recover a recently deleted Google Docs within 30 days, all you need to do is to find and restore the file.

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.

 

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs?

Though we are not allowed to recover permanently deleted Google Docs from Google Drive, 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. In this case, we have 3 ways to recover a permanently deleted Google Docs.

#1 Using Cisdem Data Recovery (on MacOS)

Cisdem Data Recovery is a Mac data recovery program to recover permanently deleted files from Mac 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, 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 200+ 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 images before recovery. 

Main Features of Cisdem Data Recovery

• Recover recently and permanently deleted files, formatted and lost files;
• Restore 200+ types of files: documents, videos, audios, images, archives, ebooks, etc.;
• Quick (Basic) and Deep (Advanced) scanning;
• 5 recovery modes designed for different data loss situation;
• Fast scanning and recovering;
• Preview files before recovery;

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs on Mac?

1. Download and install Cisdem Data Recovery;
    Free Download
2. Choose a recovery mode, you can start with Basic Data Recovery, it can start a quick scanning in a short time. Also, you can try Advanced Data Recovery or other modes to get a satisfied result; 
3. Choose the drive where you once saved the Google Docs and click Scan to start the scanning; 
4. Go to the Document folder, find Docx or Doc sub-folders which store the deleted Google Docs, find the file and check its information; 
5. Select the Google Docs found by Cisdem and click Recover to restore the permanently deleted Google Docs on Mac.

#2 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;
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. 

#3 Using Wise Data Recovery (on Windows)

Wise Data Recovery is professional Windows program to recover 1000+ types of files, it offers both free and Pro versions, but you are recommended to purchase its Pro version to utilize full features.

User can utilize this tool to restore documents, graphics, videos, audios, emails and other files from Windows local drives, external storage devices, there are 2 scanning modes available: Quick and Deep. Wise Data Recovery works on Windows 10 and earlier.

Main Features of Wise Data Recovery 

• Restore files from both local and external drives;
• Recover recently and permanently deleted files;
• Restore files in 1000+ formats: video, audio, photo, document, email, etc.;
• Quick and deep scanning;

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Google Docs on Windows

1. Download and install Wise Data Recovery;
2. Choose the drive where you saved the deleted Google Docs on your Windows PC;
3. Choose Quick and Deep Scan;
4. Find or use the Search feature to find the deleted Google Docs, select the files and click Recover to restore them onto your Windows PC.

 

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 “put back” files in 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 or other storage device. As you can see, it is always right to back up file in case of any data loss.