Deleting and Restoring Files with Trash

StretchDrive never deletes your files the instant you click delete. Instead, items go to Trash, where they stay recoverable until you deliberately remove them. This guide covers deleting, restoring, and permanently clearing space.

How deletion works

When you delete a file or folder, it's soft-deleted — moved to Trash rather than erased. It disappears from My Drive but can be brought back at any time. Deleting a folder takes its entire contents with it: every subfolder and file inside is moved to Trash together as one batch, so nothing is left behind.

Moving items to Trash

1. Select the file or folder you want to remove.
2. Choose Delete.
3. The item moves to Trash. If it was a folder, its whole contents go too.

Deleting frees up your storage quota immediately — the space used by the deleted file's versions is released while it sits in Trash awaiting final removal.

Viewing Trash

Click Trash in the top toolbar to see everything you've deleted — both files and folders — most recently deleted first. You'll only see items you have permission to see.

Restoring items

1. Open Trash.
2. Find the item and choose Restore.
3. It returns to its original location.

When you restore a folder that was deleted as a batch, its whole contents are restored together in one action, so you get the entire structure back — not just the top folder. There's one rule: you can't restore something into a parent that is itself still deleted. If you deleted a parent folder, restore the parent first (which brings its children back with it), or restore the parent before the child.

Permanently deleting and emptying Trash

When you're sure you no longer need something:

• Permanently delete a single file from Trash to remove it for good. This erases all of its versions and cannot be undone.
• Empty Trash to permanently remove eligible items in bulk. Emptying removes the files you own; if you're a workspace owner or admin, it can clear all trashed files in the organization.

Permanent deletion is the only action that truly reclaims storage beyond the soft-delete stage and frees quota for good.

A realistic example

You finish a project and delete the Old Drafts folder, which contained a dozen working files. It moves to Trash, and your storage meter drops. A week later a colleague asks for one of those drafts — no problem: you open Trash, find Old Drafts, and choose Restore. The whole folder and all its files reappear in their original spot. Once the project is truly closed and archived elsewhere, you open Trash again and empty it to permanently reclaim the space.

Tips

• Treat Trash as a safety net, not permanent storage — empty it intentionally when you're certain.
• To recover a nested item, restore its parent folder first if the parent was also deleted.
• Emptying Trash is the step that permanently frees quota — do it when you need space back.
• Only Owners (and workspace owners/admins) can permanently delete; regular members can always soft-delete their own items.
• Before emptying, scan Trash once to make sure nothing important is waiting there.

Troubleshooting

"Cannot restore a folder into a deleted parent." The folder's parent is still in Trash. Restore the parent first — doing so brings this folder back with it.

I emptied Trash but storage didn't drop. Only files you're permitted to permanently delete are removed. If some belonged to others, ask an owner/admin to clear them.

I permanently deleted a file by mistake. Permanent deletion can't be undone. If a prior version exists it's gone too. This is why deletes go to Trash first — restore from there whenever possible.

A restored folder is missing some files. Files deleted separately from the folder (in a different action) restore separately. Check Trash for the individual items and restore them too.