You can restore deleted Google Drive files or Gmail messages for one or more users for a date range you specify. This helps ensure that, if a user accidentally deletes important data, that data is not permanently lost.

Note: If a user removes a file in Drive or deletes a message from the Gmail Inbox, the item moves to the Trash, where the user can easily recover the item. When the user or the system empties the Trash, this actually deletes the item. You can then restore the deleted item.

Here are some things to consider when restoring deleted data:

  • You can restore data for an individual user on that user’s detail page, or for up to 10 users on the Users list page.
  • You can select a date range to restore data from up to 25 days ago.
  • If a user provides others with access to any Drive item, when you restore that item, the access is not restored. The user can re-enable access as needed.

Note: If your Google Apps account includes Drive storage quotas for users, you can’t restore a user’s Drive data if that user’s Drive is full.

To restore an individual user’s data:

  1. Sign in to the Google Admin console. 
  2. Click Users, and then click the individual username. Or, search for the user in the search box.
  3. Click Admin Undelete icon.
  4. Select the date range for the data you want to restore.
  5. Select the type of data you want to restore: Drive or Gmail.

    Note: If you leave the date range fields blank or don’t select a data type, an error message appears.

  6. Click Restore Data.
  7. On the status screen, click Close.

To restore data for multiple users:

  1. Sign in to the Google Admin console. 
  2. Click Users.
  3. Check the box to the left of the name for each user whose data you want to restore.

    Note: You can select up to 10 users. If you select more than 10, the restore option disappears.

  4. Click Admin Undelete icon.
  5. Select the date range for the files you want to restore.
  6. Select the type of data you want to restore: Drive or Gmail.

    Note: If you leave the date range fields blank or don’t select a data type, an error message appears.

  7. Click Restore Data.
  8. On the status screen, click Close.

To confirm that you successfully restored the items, check the user’s Drive folder or Gmail Inbox. Note that it can take up to one hour for restored messages or files to appear.