mass restore of all files in OneDrive Recycle Bin?

Question

mass restore of all files in OneDrive Recycle Bin?

Kevin Balint 0

Hello.

I have A TON of files in my recycle bin. Is there a way to restore all files in one go? It appears only 101 files are shown at a time. I'm aware I can scroll down to make additional files show, but I'm finding that, when I do that, the restore process often fails. So, I'm stuck restoring 101 files at a time, which is a very long and tedious process

Thank you!

Kevin

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Craig Long 18,640

Make sure you have adequate cloud storage space for your restored files.

Please see the AI answer for more information.

Kevin Balint 0 Reputation points

2026-10-02T21:21:54.0233333+00:00

No, the AI reply doesn't help. If I select more than the initial 101 files, the restore function fails
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-02T21:38:59.5366667+00:00
This works for me:

Open the OneDrive Recycle Bin on the web.

Hold Shift and select the first file in the list.

Scroll down to the last file in the Recycle Bin list.

Keep holding Shift and select the last file in the list.

Scroll up the page and select Restore.
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-02T21:48:03.0966667+00:00
If that doesn't work, scroll down to the last file in the list. Drag your mouse over the last file until it is highlighted. Scroll up the list, highlighting all the files as you scroll up.

Common Shortcuts to Scroll Up:

Page Up (PgUp)

Up Arrow
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-02T21:53:43.64+00:00

The easiest way to select all files is to click the space in front of "Name". A check mark will show up. However, some users have not been able to find this button.
Kevin Balint 0 Reputation points

2026-10-02T22:06:41.7333333+00:00

No, this doesn't work. Again, selecting more than 101 files causes the restore process to fail
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-02T22:09:24.9966667+00:00

Drag your mouse over about 80 files, or so, until they highlight, then select "Restore". That is easier than checking each one individually.

Scroll down to about 80 files, then highlight them by dragging your mouse over them as you scroll up the page.
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-02T22:15:15.3433333+00:00

Quick way to highlight files: Scroll down to about 80 files, then highlight them by dragging your mouse over them as you scroll up the page.
Craig Long 18,640 Reputation points

2026-10-03T20:36:30.07+00:00

Give it 24 hours for your files to restore. Select all files, click "Restore," and check back the next day to see if any progress has been made.

Answer 2

Since restoring more than the first group of files is consistently failing, I would not continue trying different selection methods in the Recycle Bin. If you have an active Microsoft 365 subscription and these files were deleted within the last 30 days, OneDrive has a Restore your OneDrive feature that can roll the entire OneDrive back to a point before the deletion occurred. This can be much more practical when a very large number of files were deleted at roughly the same time. Microsoft documents this option here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/restore-your-onedrive

Please be aware that this is not simply a “restore everything currently in the Recycle Bin” command. It undoes file and folder activity that occurred after the restore point you select, so changes made after that time can also be affected; files created afterward may be moved to the Recycle Bin.