UW-Madison Google Workspace - File Recovery

This timeline only applies to current UW-Madison affiliates. It does not apply to former affiliates (ex: former employee, former student) who lose access to their account as part of the deactivation process. 

• Trashed files: 30 days from the date the file was trashed.
  
• Deleted files: 25 days from the date of automatic deletion from the trash folder. Files are irrecoverable after this date.

Learn more about trashing files.

Before requesting access to another user’s files, please ask the file owner to transfer ownership of any shared or collaborative files before they lose access to Google Workspace.

File owner: Learn how to make someone else the owner of your file

File collaborator: If the file owner is still eligible for the service, please reach out to them for file access. This is required before we can facilitate other file recovery options. If they are not eligible for the service, please proceed to step 2.

If you’re unable to reach the file owner, please follow these steps to find missing files before submitting a file recovery request:

1. Search for files using keywords.

2. Search for files using the owner's name.

   • Type owner:name (ex: owner:bucky badger) in the search bar.
     

   • This search will only show files that were shared with you.

   • Files that were not shared with you will not appear. 

3. Check the trash folder to make sure the files were not mistakenly deleted.

   • View your My Drive trash folder and restore missing files.

   • View the Shared Drive's trash folder and restore missing files.  

4. Check for unorganized files.

5. View additional recommendations for locating lost files.

Once you find missing files, we recommend moving them to a Google shared drive. This will reduce the risk of losing access to shared files due to a file owner's account completing the deactivation lifecycle. 

If you exhausted all file recovery options and still need help, please submit a file recovery request. 

Folders and files will be restored to the user's Drive folder in the same location as before it was deleted.