Deleting a file in your Drive does not destroy it immediately — it moves it to the Trash, a safety net for accidental deletes.
How it works
- Deleting a file or folder in Drive moves it (with everything inside) to Dashboard → Trash.
- Trashed items can be restored with one click for 30 days — they return to where they were. If something with the same name has appeared at the destination in the meantime, the restore tells you instead of overwriting.
- After 30 days, trashed items are purged automatically and permanently — the file itself included, not just the entry. There is no recovery after that.
- Impatient? Each row also has a delete permanently action that skips the waiting.
What deletion does to shares
Any share link pointing at a trashed file stops working the moment the file is deleted. Restoring the file does not revive old links — create a fresh share instead.
What the Trash is not
- It is not extra storage: trashed files still count against your storage quota until they are purged — emptying the Trash is how deleting frees space.
- It is not a backup: for anything important, the Trash's 30 days are a grace period, not an archive.
Files never expire on their own
Outside the Trash, FileMv never deletes your files on a timer. The only paths to deletion are your own delete, or a moderation action against content that broke the rules — see Reporting content.