When you start cleaning up a folder that you use frequently on your Windows PC, it’s easy to delete what you want to keep.
Whether it’s your Desktop, Documents folder, Downloads, or something else, you can definitely make a mistake when you’re trying to quickly get rid of files you no longer need.
Fortunately, our tutorial will show you how to restore items from the Windows 7 Recycle Bin so that you can continue to edit or use them as needed.
How to return an item from the Windows Recycle Bin
- Double click on the shopping cart.
- Select the file you want to recover.
- Right-click on the selected file, then click Restore.
Our guide continues below with more information on how to recover items from the Windows 7 Recycle Bin, including images of these steps.
Many files that you delete in Windows 7 are not removed from your computer.
Some files are permanently deleted, such as very large files, but Windows will warn you not to permanently delete files in such situations.
Deleted files are sent to a folder called trash. This behavior serves as a kind of protection in case an important file is accidentally deleted.
So, if you have deleted a file that you want to recover now, you may have found it in the trash, but you don’t know how to proceed.
Our guide below will walk you through the process of restoring files from Windows 7 Recycle Bin to their original location.
How to restore an item from the Windows 7 Recycle Bin to its original location (Illustrated Guide)
The steps in this guide assume that you have a file (or files) in the trash that you no longer want to delete.
Following these steps will restore this file to its location before it was sent to the Trash. Please note that you can restore multiple items from the Recycle Bin at the same time.
Step 1: Find the trash can icon on your desktop, then double-click the icon to display it.
NB. If you don’t see the Recycle Bin on your desktop, it might be hidden.
If you right-click an empty space on your desktop, click Personalize, and then click Change desktop icons on the blue sidebar, you’ll see a menu below where you can enable the trash icon.
If you are having trouble finding this list, you can read this article to learn how to turn on trash.
Step 2: Click on the file that you want to restore from the trash.
You can hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click additional items to restore them. You can also select all files in the trash by pressing Ctrl + A on your keyboard.
Step 3: Right-click on one of the selected files, then select the restore option.
This will return all selected files to their original location.
Note that you can also select the option to restore selected items from the blue bar at the top of the folder.
Now that you know how to recover items from the Recycle Bin in Windows 7, you’ll be able to undo any accidental deletion that may have occurred so you can continue using your files.
Need to find files that are on your computer, but they are in the AppData folder that you are having a hard time finding? Learn how to find the Windows 7 AppData folder and access some important files that you may need to save, edit, or back up.