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SharePoint Online is a cloud service like OneDrive for Business, Skype for Business, Exchange Online, Delve, Microsoft Teams, Office Online, etc., available as a stand-alone subscription or a part of Microsoft 365. It is known for being the user’s go-to document management and collaboration platform.
Most organizations are now using SharePoint and making the most of its utilities like sites, site collections, lists/libraries, etc. The overall data size is quite large, with information being produced and communicated daily between several users at a workplace. In such a scenario, data deletion due to errors or accidents is pretty common. The user may often unintentionally delete any data from any site or list. However, if the deleted SharePoint data is vital to the business, it could be an adverse situation.
The situation is under control if you are still under the retention period. Yes, that’s right, SharePoint allows its users to recover deleted SharePoint data in SharePoint Online for 93 days. Even if you have deleted an entire SharePoint site, that’s recoverable. This article will guide you through the detailed procedure to recover deleted data in SharePoint Online.
Read Also: SharePoint Document Management Best Practices
In SharePoint within Microsoft 365, deleted items reside in the Recycle Bin for a span of 93 days post their removal from the original location. Throughout this period, they remain in the site Recycle Bin unless deliberately deleted or the Recycle Bin is emptied. Following this, the items shift to the site collection Recycle Bin, maintaining a presence for the remaining 93 days—unless certain conditions occur.
These conditions include site collection Recycle Bin surpassing its quota, triggering the removal of the oldest items, or manual deletion by the site collection administrator. It is noteworthy that the site Recycle Bin storage contributes to the site collection storage quota and the List View Threshold, with an allocated space of 200% of the site collection quota, these values are unalterable.
Also, SharePoint Online safeguards content backups for an additional 14 days beyond actual deletion. If restoration proves elusive via the Recycle Bin or Files Restore, administrators possess the option to seek restoration from Microsoft Support within this 14-day timeframe.
Follow the given steps to recover a deleted document in SharePoint Online-
If you do not find the Recycle Bin on the Admin page, then you can use the following method:
If there is no Site Settings option, click Site information>>View all site settings.
Restoring from the Recycle Bin involves a few key principles:
If you have deleted the complete site and want to restore them, then you can complete the process at SharePoint Admin Center. Here is the process –
If you are not aware of the deletion of data and are unable to find the data, then there is another way to retrieve the data.
The recovery of deleted data from SharePoint Online is relatively easy, provided you are under the 93 days retention period. The deleted document, file, list, or other data is stored in the first-stage Recycle Bin. If not found there, you can check the second-stage Recycle Bin. However, it is always safe to have a backup for SharePoint data if you cannot recover the deleted data. The right SharePoint Migration tool can securely backup all your SharePoint Online data.
I had lost my SharePoint data while updating and I used the method of site collection Recycle Bin from this blog. Great info with quick and easy steps. Also used the SharePoint Migration tool on your recommendation. Awesome tool.