If something in Google Drive is moved to the trash, you'll see a warning and you may lose access to it at any time. Read one of the following sections to learn how to restore it to your Google Drive from the trash. When you restore something, it'll be recovered in Google Drive on the web, to the Google Drive folder on your computer, and to your mobile devices.
Owners
If you're the owner of something and you’ve placed it in the trash, you'll see a warning that reads "This item is in your trash" when you open the doc or file.
If you’d like to restore a doc or file to your Google Drive:
- Search for it in the Trash.
- Select the file(s) or doc(s) you’d like to recover.
- Click the Restore button.
Editor
If you see a warning that reads "This item is in the owner's trash" when you open a doc or file, you may lose access to this item if the owner permanently deletes the item from their trash.
To restore this item, contact the owner.
- If you have the doc or file open, click the blue Share button. Or, go to your Google Drive, and select the item for which you're seeing this warning.
- Click the Share icon above your list of items.
- The sharing settings dialog lists the owner’s email address.
- Email the owner and request that they remove the item from the trash.
Commenter / viewer
If you see a warning that reads "This item is in the owner's trash" when you open a doc or file, you may lose access to this item if the owner permanently deletes the item from their trash.
If you only have comment or view access to something, you can make a copy of the document to make sure you don’t lose anything important.
- Open a doc or file for which you see the trash warning.
- Go to the File menu.
- Selecting Make a copy... and a copy of the item will be created in your Google Drive.