Quick Start
- Open the site recycle bin (gear icon > Recycle bin, or append
/_layouts/15/RecycleBin.aspxto the site URL). - Check the top checkbox to select all visible items, or use individual checkboxes for a specific selection.
- Click Restore Selection. Items return to their original location, with all metadata and version history intact.
For restoring hundreds of items across multiple sites, see the limitations section and the Recycle Master section below.
What Is the SharePoint Recycle Bin Retention Period?
SharePoint Online retains deleted items for up to 93 days across both stages of its two-stage recycle bin. Items deleted from a document library or list first go to the site-level first-stage bin, where site members can restore them without admin involvement. After the first-stage retention window (or when the first-stage bin reaches its size limit), items move automatically to the second-stage site collection recycle bin, accessible only to site collection administrators. The combined maximum retention is 93 days from the original deletion date.
Understanding the Two-Stage Recycle Bin
Knowing which stage holds the items you need is the first diagnostic step in any restore operation.
| Stage | Location | Who can restore | Capacity limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-stage (site recycle bin) | Site Settings > Recycle bin, or /RecycleBin.aspx |
Site owners and above | Up to 200 items per page in the UI; no hard item count limit but moves to second stage when 50% of site quota is reached in the bin |
| Second-stage (site collection recycle bin) | Site Settings > Site Collection Administration > Recycle bin (select "Deleted from end user Recycle Bin" view) | Site collection administrators only | Combined first and second stage cannot exceed 200% of the site's storage quota |
How to Bulk Restore Files from the SharePoint Recycle Bin
The native SharePoint Online browser interface supports selecting and restoring multiple items in a single operation.
-
Open the recycle bin for the affected site. Navigate to the SharePoint site where items were deleted. Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right, then choose Site contents. From site contents, you will see a Recycle bin link in the top toolbar. Alternatively, append
/_layouts/15/RecycleBin.aspxdirectly to the site URL. - Filter and sort to isolate the items you need. Use the column headers to sort by Deleted date, Deleted By, or Original Location. If you are restoring everything deleted by a specific user or from a specific folder, sorting by these columns first makes selection faster and reduces the chance of restoring items you did not intend to recover.
- Select the items. Check the box in the column header row to select all items visible on the current page (up to 200). To restore everything on all pages, you will need to repeat this step for each page in turn; the "select all" checkbox does not extend to items on subsequent pages. For a targeted restore, use individual row checkboxes.
- Click Restore Selection. The toolbar button appears when one or more items are checked. SharePoint begins restoring items to their original locations. If an original folder was also deleted, SharePoint recreates the folder structure before placing the file into it. If a file with the same name already exists at the destination, SharePoint renames the restored copy with a suffix rather than overwriting.
- Verify the restore. Navigate to the library or folder where the files lived. Confirm the items appear and open correctly. For critical business documents, spot-check version history to confirm the full version list was restored alongside the current file.
Restoring from the Second-Stage Recycle Bin
If the items you need have moved out of the site-level first-stage bin, or were deleted from a site and are no longer visible to site owners, check the second-stage bin as a site collection administrator.
- Go to Site Settings for the site collection root. Navigate to the top-level site of the site collection (not a subsite). From the gear icon, choose Site settings.
- Under Site Collection Administration, click Recycle bin. This page shows items in both stages. Switch to the Deleted from end user Recycle Bin view to see second-stage items only.
- Select and restore as normal. The selection and Restore Selection process is identical to the first-stage bin.
Limitations of Native Bulk Restore in SharePoint Online
The native browser-based recycle bin works well for restoring a manageable number of items within a single site. It becomes impractical in several scenarios that SharePoint admins encounter regularly:
- Large item counts. The UI paginates at 200 items per page. Restoring 2,000 items requires repeating the select-and-restore operation ten times, with no progress indicator and no ability to resume if the browser session is interrupted.
- Cross-site restores. The native bin operates within a single site collection. If deletions span multiple sites (for example, a folder structure that was incorrectly deleted across a project hub and several subsites), each site must be handled individually through separate browser sessions.
- Filtering by content type or date range. The native UI can sort by date but cannot filter to show only items deleted within a specific date range, or only items of a specific file type, without manual scrolling and visual inspection.
- Audit and reporting. The native bin provides no export of what was restored, by whom, and when. For scenarios requiring a documented restore record (incident response, compliance verification), the native interface gives you no audit trail beyond the SharePoint audit log, which requires separate querying.
See how Recycle Master handles large-scale and cross-site bulk restores
Bulk Restoring Across Multiple Sites with Recycle Master
ShareMaster's Recycle Master indexes the recycle bin across all connected sites and site collections in a single view. Rather than navigating to each site individually and paginating through the native UI, you search across the entire tenant's deleted content from one interface.
The key differences from the native approach:
- Search by filename, original location, file type, deletion date range, or deleted-by user, across all sites at once.
- Select all matching results regardless of page count and restore in a single operation, with a progress indicator and resumable execution.
- Handle both first-stage and second-stage items from the same interface without switching between site-level and site collection views.
- Export a record of what was restored, from which site, and at what time, for compliance or incident documentation.
For a comparison of what Recycle Master provides versus the native SharePoint recycle bin for admin use cases, see Recycle Master vs SharePoint native recycle bin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I restore SharePoint items deleted more than 93 days ago?
No. SharePoint Online permanently removes items after 93 days in the recycle bin (across both stages combined). After that point, native SharePoint restore is not possible. Recovery options are limited to Microsoft 365 Backup (if configured) or a third-party backup solution that captured the content before the deletion date.
Does bulk restoring from the recycle bin preserve version history and metadata?
Yes. Restoring from the SharePoint recycle bin returns the file exactly as it was at the point of deletion, including all version history, metadata column values, and content type assignment. The restore does not create a new version; it reinstates the complete prior state.
Can I restore deleted items to a different location than the original?
Native SharePoint recycle bin restore returns items to their original location only. If you need to recover content to a different library or site, restore to the original location first, then use SharePoint's Move To function (or the guide to moving files between SharePoint sites) to relocate it afterwards.
What is the maximum number of items I can restore at once from the SharePoint recycle bin?
The native UI paginates at 200 items per page, and "select all" applies only to the visible page. Restoring more than 200 items requires repeating the operation across multiple pages. PowerShell (via PnP PowerShell) can automate this for IT-confident admins. Recycle Master handles large-scale bulk restores without the per-page limitation.