Viewing Activity History and Recovering Deleted Files in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams
1

Hello,

I've lost an important Excel file in Teams and think someone on my team might have deleted it by mistake. Is there a way to recover it? Unfortunately, I don't have a backup, as it was a collaborative document on Teams, and it contained a year's worth of work. I'd like to view the file's activity history to identify when and who made the changes, but I couldn't find this feature. At this point, my priority is to recover the file. Can anyone assist me?

2

Hey, sorry to hear that you lost an important Excel file in Teams and think someone might have deleted it by mistake. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.

First, let’s try to recover the file. Since you don’t have a backup, we’ll use the built-in features of Teams and SharePoint. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open the Files tab in the channel where the file was stored.
  2. Click “Open in SharePoint” at the top of the page.
  3. Toggle navigation pane by clicking on the leftmost button on the top left corner.
  4. Go to the Recycle bin.
  5. Find the deleted file, hover over it, and select the checked square box to mark it.
  6. Click “Restore”. The file should be restored to its original location.

If you can’t find the file in the SharePoint Recycle bin, you can also try checking the OneDrive Recycle bin:

  1. Open Files on the left side of Teams.
  2. Select OneDrive.
  3. Click “Open in OneDrive” at the top of the page.
  4. Go to the Recycle bin.
  5. Find the deleted file, right-click it, and select Restore.

Viewing Activity History

To view the activity history of the file and identify who made changes, follow these steps:

  1. Open the file you just restored.
  2. Click “File” in the top left corner.
  3. Select “Info”.
  4. Click “Version History”.
  5. Here, you’ll see a list of all changes made to the file, including the date, time, and the person who made the change.

Preventing Future Losses

To avoid losing your files in the future, consider these tips:

  • Use the “Save a copy” feature in Teams to keep a version history of your files.
  • Backup your files regularly by downloading copies or using a backup service.
  • Set up permissions to limit who can delete files in your team site.

I hope this helps, and you’re able to recover your file. Good luck