How to Retrieve Deleted Excel File Not in Recycle Bin?

How do you recover a deleted file that is not in the Recycle Bin?

Excel spreadsheet is nowadays the most widely used data visualization tool, facilitating users to manage their data.

When organizing the Excel sheets, many users tend to gather multiple sheets in a folder and delete those old Excel files.

However, deleting is quite dangerous sometimes. Quite a few users found that after deletion, their Excel files disappeared – they were not in the Recycle Bin.

Why deleted Excel files are not in Recycle bin

Why were deleted Excel files not in the Recycle Bin? There are multiple possible causes.

• You used Shift delete to delete the Excel files permanently. Shift delete is a way to permanently remove a file by bypassing the Recycle Bin.
• The Recycle Bin is about to be full.
• You have emptied the trash bin/the Excel files were removed again from the bin. Emptying the Recycle Bin wipes the bin totally. If so, you need to recover items deleted from Recycle Bin.
• You have removed the Excel files from the external storage devices: external hard drive, USB, SD card, etc. For safety’s sake, data wiped from external devices won’t be thrown into the bin on your desktop.
• You have enabled directly removing files when deleting in Recycle Bin settings. In Recycle Bin Properties, if you have enabled “Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.”, then all data deleted will be permanently deleted, too.
• The Excel files were way too large for the trash bin.

The Recycle Bin has a size limit. When the deleted files exceed the limit, they won’t enter the bin but get removed. Though, Excel files seldom oversize.

How to retrieve deleted Excel file not in Recycle Bin?

 How to recover deleted Excel files after permanent deletion? Here, 3 simple methods requiring backups are ready to help you.

1. Restore deleted Excel files via File History

File History is one of the backup tools provided by Windows. It stores the copies of the files on C: drive, changes you made every hour will be recorded. You could restore your edited/overwritten files or deleted files using it.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > File History.

Step 2. Restore personal files.

Step 3. Find and select the Excel files you deleted > click the Recover button.

Thus to restore deleted Excel files.

2. Restore previous versions of the Excel file folder

Precious Versions is also a tool that requires backup files to reverse the file or folder to an earlier date and thus get the overwritten/removed contents back.

You could restore previous version of files or folders to achieve your data recovery goal.

Step 1. Go to File Explorer > locate the folder where the Excel file was stored.

Step 2. Right-click the folder > Properties > Previous Versions > select a recent version > Restore.

This tool can help you find previous version of Word documents as well.

3. Recover Excel file deleted from Recycle Bin using Windows backup

The Backup and Restore can do some help as well. Not only the c: drive, buy it also back up files on other local drives.

Step 1. Start Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Step 2. Restore my files.

Step 3. Browse for files > select the Excel files you need to restore > Next.

Step 4. Store the recovered Excel sheets in anywhere you like > click Restore.

Thus, you could recover deleted Excel files not in Recycle Bin.

How to retrieve deleted Excel file not in Recycle Bin efficiently

All the 3 approaches introduced above require an available backup or need you to enable it before any data loss accidents happen. But as is known to all, not many people can be that foresighted and make backups of their data.

Given this, and for the sake of efficiency, why not take advantage of a professional data rescue tool for Windows?

MyRecover is your second-to-none option among all the eligible utilities. It facilitates your Excel file recovery process in multiple aspects：

Restore deleted and missing files from HDD/SSD/SD card/USB, etc. 

200+ types of data are supported, including office files, photos, videos, etc. 

Get deleted Excel files and keep their original format, filename, path, etc., intact. 

Support Windows 11/10/8/7, and NTFS/FAT32/exFAT/ReFS.

Step 1. Install and run the software > hover the mouse over the affected drive/partition > click Scan.

Step 2. Sort the files by Size, Type, Date modified, etc.

Step 3. Go to Recycle Bin > select the files you need > click Recover x files. Or go to Other missing files > Excel > select Excel files and restore.

In this way, the question of “How to retrieve deleted Excel file not in Recycle Bin” will be easily resolved. Also, you could use it to restore deleted Word documents.

FAQ

How to retrieve deleted Excel file not in Recycle Bin has been introduced in this post. 4 methods are provided. 

No matter if it was deleted accidentally or intentionally, you could get it back through the methods provided here. With the help of a professional data recovery tool, it is also feasible to recover Excel file deleted from Recycle Bin.

Extra info is ready as well.