How to Access the Recycle Bin in SharePoint

Accidentally deleted a file in SharePoint? You’re not alone. Over 68% of data loss incidents are caused by accidental deletion — and most people don’t realize SharePoint quietly saves everything in a two-stage safety net before it’s gone for good.

The Recycle Bin in SharePoint is your undo button for deleted files, folders, list items, and even entire libraries. Whether you deleted something moments ago or weeks back, there’s a solid chance it’s still recoverable — if you know where to look.

This guide walks you through every method to access the SharePoint Recycle Bin: as an end user, as a site owner, and as a global admin. No fluff, no jargon — just the exact steps you need.

What Is the SharePoint Recycle Bin?

SharePoint uses a two-stage Recycle Bin system to protect your data:

• First-Stage (End User) Recycle Bin — This is where files go immediately after you delete them. Each user and site collection has one. Items stay here for 93 days by default.
• Second-Stage (Site Collection) Recycle Bin — When items are deleted from the first-stage bin, or when a site owner/admin purges them, they move here. Items in this stage also count toward the 93-day total.

Together, these two stages give you a 93-day recovery window from the original deletion date. After that, items are permanently deleted and unrecoverable through the standard interface.

Quick Stat: SharePoint Online is used by 200+ million people as part of Microsoft 365. Despite that scale, a significant portion of users don’t know the second-stage bin exists — meaning they assume data is gone when it isn’t.

How to Access the SharePoint Recycle Bin (End User)

This is the fastest method for recovering your own deleted files.

Step 1: Open your SharePoint site in a browser.

Step 2: On the left-hand navigation panel, look for “Recycle Bin” listed below the site content menu.

If you don’t see it, click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right → Site Contents → scroll down to find Recycle Bin at the bottom left.

Step 3: You’ll see a list of deleted items showing the file name, original location, who deleted it, and the deletion date.

Step 4: To restore an item, check the box next to it and click Restore at the top of the page. The file returns to its original location automatically.

Step 5: To permanently delete an item, select it and click Delete. This moves it to the second-stage bin.

Pro tip: You can sort by “Date Deleted” or filter by file type to find items faster — especially useful if the bin has hundreds of entries.

How to Access the Second-Stage (Site Collection) Recycle Bin

The second-stage bin is only accessible to site collection administrators. This is where items go after they’re removed from the first-stage bin — and it’s often overlooked during recovery attempts.

Step 1: Navigate to your SharePoint site.

Step 2: Go to Site Settings → under Site Collection Administration, click Recycle Bin.

Step 3: At the top of the page, you’ll see two tabs:

• End User Recycle Bin Items — shows items deleted by users that are still in the first stage
• Deleted from End User Recycle Bin — this is the second-stage bin

Step 4: Click “Deleted from End User Recycle Bin” to view items in the second stage.

Step 5: Select items and click Restore Selection to recover them.

Important: Items restored from the second stage return to their original location, not back to the first-stage bin.

How to Access the Recycle Bin via SharePoint Admin Center

If you’re a Microsoft 365 global administrator or SharePoint administrator, you have broader visibility across all site collections through the admin center.

Step 1: Go to admin.microsoft.com and sign in with your admin credentials.

Step 2: In the left nav, expand Admin centers → click SharePoint.

Step 3: In the SharePoint Admin Center, go to Sites → Active sites.

Step 4: Click on the name of the site collection you want to manage.

Step 5: In the site details panel, click “…More” → then navigate to the site’s Recycle Bin through the site URL: https://yourdomain.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite/_layouts/15/AdminRecycleBin.aspx

Step 6: From here you can view, restore, or permanently delete items across the entire site collection.

Note: Global admins can also use PowerShell via the SharePoint Online Management Shell to bulk-restore items from the recycle bin — especially useful when dealing with large-scale accidental deletions.

How to Access the Recycle Bin in SharePoint On-Premises

If your organization uses SharePoint Server (on-premises) rather than SharePoint Online, the process is similar but there are a few differences.

For end users:

Navigate to your site → Left-side navigation → Recycle Bin (same as Online).

For site collection admins:

Go to Site Settings → Site Collection Administration → Recycle Bin.

Key difference: On-premises SharePoint allows admins to configure the retention period. The default is still 30 days (not 93 like SharePoint Online), but administrators can extend this up to 93 days or more depending on storage configuration.

Stat to know: Organizations running SharePoint on-premises report 30% longer recovery times compared to SharePoint Online users, largely because of delayed discovery and manual backup processes.

How Long Do Files Stay in the SharePoint Recycle Bin?

Understanding the retention window helps you act fast when something critical gets deleted.

A few important nuances:

• The 93-day clock starts at the original deletion date — not when the item moves from stage 1 to stage 2.
• If your site collection storage limit is exceeded, SharePoint may automatically purge the second-stage bin to free space — even before the 93-day mark.
• Admins can shorten the recycle bin retention period, but cannot extend it beyond 93 days in SharePoint Online without a third-party backup solution.

Industry benchmark: Research shows that 34% of companies never test their data recovery process until they need it. By then, the window is often closed.

How to Restore Multiple Files at Once

If you need to bulk-recover deleted items — for example, after a major accidental deletion event — SharePoint supports selecting multiple items at once.

In the first-stage bin:

• Click the checkbox in the top-left column header to select all visible items
• Or hold Shift and click to select a range
• Click Restore Selection at the top of the page

Using PowerShell for bulk restore:

For admins managing large-scale deletions across multiple sites, PowerShell offers the most efficient path:

Connect-SPOService -Url https://yourdomain-admin.sharepoint.com

$recyleBinItems = Get-SPODeletedSite

Restore-SPODeletedSite -Identity https://yourdomain.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite

This is particularly useful when an entire site has been accidentally deleted — not just individual files.

What Gets Stored in the SharePoint Recycle Bin?

Not all deletions go to the Recycle Bin. Here’s what does and what doesn’t:

Goes to Recycle Bin:

• Files and folders
• List items and document library items
• Pages and web parts
• Entire lists and libraries (when deleted)
• Site collections (when deleted by admin — separate admin recycle bin applies)

Does NOT go to Recycle Bin:

• Files deleted via PowerShell or API calls (unless specified)
• Items removed by automated retention policies (Microsoft Purview/Compliance)
• Versions of files (only the item itself, not previous versions — version history is separate)
• Items in external sharing links

Key stat: Microsoft reports that version history and the Recycle Bin together recover over 90% of accidental data loss scenarios in SharePoint environments. Knowing both systems exist is half the battle.

Common Reasons You Can’t Find Items in the Recycle Bin

You’ve checked the bin and the item isn’t there. Here’s what likely happened:

The 93-day window has passed. Once expired, items are gone permanently from the standard interface. A third-party backup tool would be your only remaining option.

The item was deleted via an automated process. Scripts, workflows, and compliance policies often bypass the Recycle Bin entirely.

Storage limit was hit. If the site collection exceeded its storage quota, SharePoint may have auto-purged the second-stage bin to free space.

Someone already permanently deleted it. Any site collection admin can empty the second-stage bin manually.

The item never existed in the bin. Certain actions — like overwriting a file with the same name — don’t create a Recycle Bin entry; the original is simply replaced.

SharePoint Recycle Bin vs. OneDrive Recycle Bin

A common source of confusion: SharePoint and OneDrive each have their own separate Recycle Bins.

If a file was stored in someone’s OneDrive (not a SharePoint team site), it won’t appear in the SharePoint Recycle Bin. You’d need to access their OneDrive directly or through the OneDrive admin center.

Usage stat: As of 2024, OneDrive has 1 billion+ files synced daily across Microsoft 365 tenants — making accidental deletion one of the most common IT support requests globally.

Tips to Avoid Accidental Deletion in SharePoint

Prevention saves more time than recovery. A few habits that make a real difference:

Turn on versioning. Version history is separate from the Recycle Bin. With versioning enabled, you can roll back to previous versions of a file without needing to restore from the bin. Go to Library Settings → Versioning Settings → Enable Major Versions.

Set up alerts. SharePoint allows you to create email alerts when items are deleted. Go to a library → Alert Me → Set an Alert → choose “Items are deleted” as the trigger.

Restrict delete permissions. Not everyone needs the ability to permanently delete. Review permission levels and limit who has “Full Control” on critical libraries.

Use Microsoft 365 Backup (if available). Microsoft has rolled out Microsoft 365 Backup as a paid add-on that extends recovery capabilities beyond the 93-day window — a significant improvement over relying solely on the built-in bin.

Audit deletion activity. SharePoint’s audit logs (available in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal) track who deleted what and when. Enable this for high-value document libraries.

Conclusion

Accessing the SharePoint Recycle Bin is straightforward once you understand the two-stage system. For most users, the first-stage bin in the left-side navigation covers the majority of recovery scenarios. For larger-scale deletions or items that have already been cleared from the end-user bin, site collection admins have a second safety net through the admin Recycle Bin.

The key numbers to remember: 93 days, two stages, and storage quota can override both. Act fast, check both stages, and if you’re managing SharePoint for a team, enable version history and audit logs before you need them.

If your deleted item isn’t in either bin and the 93-day window has passed, a third-party backup solution or Microsoft 365 Backup is your only remaining path.