Find lost files in Google Drive

It’s possible that you moved or accidentally deleted the file. To find out what happened to the file or folder, check your activity.

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. On the left, click My drive.
3. At the top right, click Info Activity.
   • If you’re the owner of the file or folder, you can find recent activity and possibly locate the file you want.

Tips:

• If a permanently deleted file meets certain conditions, you can recover it. Learn how to recover a deleted file.
• If you want to check your My Drive activity on a mobile device, open drive.google.com in your mobile browser, navigate to the browser's menu and select ‘Request Desktop Site.'

Many people have more than one Google Account. For example, they can have a work and a personal account.

If you can’t locate a file, make sure that you’re logged into the account where you originally accessed it. Learn how to switch between multiple Google Accounts.

If you can't find a file that was shared with you, it's possible the owner has changed your permissions. With recent updates to Google Drive's sharing model, access is now more consistent, which helps prevent confusion. However, here’s how your access could change:

• Access to the parent folder was removed: The owner may have removed you from the main folder where the file is located.
• The file was moved to a folder you can’t access: If the owner moves the file to a new parent folder, you will lose access.
• The file is in a limited access folder: The new "Limit access" feature for folders is designed to make permissions clearer. If a file is inside a folder with limited access and you haven't been granted access to that folder directly, you won't be able to open the file. You may see the folder grayed out in your Drive list, even if you have access to a parent folder.
  • Tip: To find items with limited access where you have "Viewer" access, in the Drive search bar, enter is:limited_access.

If you believe you should have access to a file, contact the owner and ask them to verify your permissions on the file or the folder it is in.

It’s possible that you were given access to a shared drive by a Workspace account. Any items that you create, upload, or move to a shared drive become the property of that Workspace domain. If your access to the shared drive is removed, you lose access to the items too.

If you can’t find or open a shared drive or a file saved in it, then it’s possible that your access was removed. Contact the person who gave you access, and ask them to restore it or share it with you again.

If a file's original folder is deleted or you lose access to it, the file becomes unorganized and difficult to find. To improve file organization and make files easier to locate or access, the permission system now reduces inconsistencies. This helps with files affected by complex negative access rules and reduces the chance of them being hidden by complex permission hierarchies.

Learn how files lose their folder

A file you own can lose its folder if:

• You create a file in someone else's folder and they delete that folder.
• You share a folder with someone and they delete your file from the folder.

In both cases, the file isn’t deleted. It automatically moves to My Drive.

Find your unorganized files

1. In the Drive search field, enter: is:unorganized.
2. When you find the file, to make it easier to find later, move it to a folder in "My Drive."

Find files you created that are in deleted folders