01 · Search properly first.
- Use “Search everything”. At the top of the OneDrive or SharePoint website, the search box looks inside files, not just at their names — so a phrase you remember from within the document will find it even if it’s been renamed.
- Check your Recent list. In OneDrive, open Recent in the left menu — if you opened the file lately, it’s near the top with a link straight to wherever it now lives.
- Are you in the right account? A file saved under a personal Microsoft account won’t appear in your work OneDrive, and vice versa. Confirm you’re signed in to the account the file belongs to.
02 · It probably moved, not vanished.
In a shared office, files rarely disappear — someone moves or renames them. Chase it down:
- Look under “Shared with me”. If a colleague owns the file, it lives in their OneDrive, not yours — it’ll show under Shared → Shared with me in OneDrive.
- Check the right library. On a team site, a file moved to a different document library or folder is still there — open the SharePoint site it belongs to and look through its libraries, or search from within the site.
- Someone saved over it? If the file’s there but the contents are wrong, right-click it and choose Version history — you can open or restore an earlier version, and it shows who changed it and when.
03 · Still gone? Check the recycle bins.
If it was deleted, it isn’t lost yet. On a work or school account, deleted files sit in the recycle bin for 93 days before they’re permanently removed.
- OneDrive recycle bin. Open Recycle bin in the left menu on the OneDrive website, tick the file, and choose Restore.
- SharePoint has two. Deleted from a team site? Check the site’s Recycle bin first. If it’s not there, it may be in the site collection recycle bin (the second stage) — but that one usually needs a site owner or admin, so ask whoever runs the site.
- Whole folders missing? Settings → Restore your OneDrive can undo every change across the last 30 days at once — the right tool when a lot of files were moved or deleted together, not just one.
04 · Or let KoalaFix do it.
Nobody should have to run that whole hunt by hand — and finding files is exactly what KoalaFix is built for. Your team member just describes the document they’ve lost, and KoalaFix searches across OneDrive and SharePoint at once — Teams and Outlook too — and brings back where it is. In seconds, no ticket.
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05 · FAQ.
Where do deleted OneDrive and SharePoint files go?
To the recycle bin. On a work or school account they stay there for 93 days, then they’re permanently deleted. SharePoint has two: if a file isn’t in the site recycle bin, check the site collection recycle bin — though that second one often needs a site owner or admin.
A colleague moved or renamed my file — how do I find it?
Use Search everything at the top of OneDrive or SharePoint — it searches inside files, not just names, so a word from within the document still finds it. If the colleague owns the file, it shows under Shared with me. If they saved over it, open the file’s Version history to get the earlier copy back.
How long do I have to recover a deleted file?
On a work or school account, 93 days in the recycle bin. Separately, Restore your OneDrive can undo all changes from the last 30 days — useful when a lot of files were moved or deleted at once, not just a single one.