Everyday tasks

How to delete, restore and empty Trash

Who can use thisMembers and Super Admins

Permissions you need

Soft-delete files and foldersRename, move, and update files

Set by your workspace admin. If you cannot do this, ask them for access.

Deleting in Drive is a two-step safety net. Move to Trash takes an item out of your drive but keeps it. From Trash you can restore it, delete it permanently, or empty the whole Trash.

Items in Trash are permanently deleted 30 days after they were moved there. They still count towards your storage until they are gone.

Permissions: moving to Trash, deleting permanently and emptying Trash need the Delete permission. Restoring an item needs Edit.

Move an item to Trash

Tap the ⋮ on the item and choose Move to Trash (the red entry at the bottom).
Item menu with Move to Trash
On this screen
- Move to Trash – red, last in the list, so it is not tapped by mistake.
Confirm in the dialog.
Move to Trash confirmation
On this screen
- Question – Move to Trash? followed by Project_Readme.md will be moved to trash.
- Cancel keeps the item where it is.
- Delete (red) moves it to Trash. It does not erase it yet.

Look at what is in Trash

Open the Trash tab.
Trash tab with an item
On this screen
- Information bar – Items in Trash are permanently deleted 30 days after they are moved here. Restore anything you want to keep before then.
- Count and Empty Trash – 1 item in Trash on the left; the red Empty Trash button on the right.
- The item – shown as a card with its name and size, and its own ⋮ menu.

Restore an item

Tap the ⋮ on the item in Trash.
Trash item menu
On this screen
- Restore – puts the item back in the folder it came from.
- Delete Permanently – in red; removes just this item for good and cannot be undone.
Tap Restore. The item returns to its original place.
After restoring
On this screen
- Confirmation, bottom right – Restore – Done.
- Trash is empty again – the Nothing waiting to be cleared message returns because nothing is left.

Empty the whole Trash

In the Trash tab, tap Empty Trash at the top right and read the warning.
Empty Trash confirmation
On this screen
- Warning text – All files and folders in Trash will be permanently deleted. This can't be undone and the items won't be available to restore.
- Cancel – keeps everything in Trash.
- Empty Trash (red) – deletes everything in Trash for good.
Confirm. Trash is emptied.
Trash emptied
On this screen
- Success message – Success – Trash emptied successfully.
- Empty state – the tab returns to Nothing waiting to be cleared.
- The space those items used is released from your storage.

Last updated 2026-10-22