Accidentally Deleted My Documents Folder! Can I Recover It? | 6 Ways

These days, people store their data—like favorite movies, e-books, photos, videos, and personal information—on their Windows computer or external storage devices. However, almost every computer user will experience data loss at some point. Besides issues like system crashes, virus attacks, and corruption, one of the most common reasons for data loss is accidentally deleting a folder with pressing the "Shift + Delete" shortcut. This shortcut quickly and completely removes unwanted folders and all the files in them.

However, if you later regret doing this, you won’t be able to recover the deleted folder from the Windows Recycle Bin. Let’s learn how to recover deleted folders on Windows! Here are 6 ways to restore deleted folders on Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 along with a complete guide.

What to do if I accidentally delete my documents folder on a Windows PC?

My documents folder missing! Don't worry. If you accidentally delete documents folder on Windows 10 or other versions, there are 6 ways to get it back.

Method 1. Recover permanently deleted folders with AOMEI FastRecovery

Running data recovery software is the first and best way to recover accidentally deleted documents folder and files on Windows computers. If you lost your files, whether due to accidentally deletion, a sudden computer shutdown or a hard drive crash, it doesn't matter. You can easily recover lost folders with AOMEI Fast Recovery.

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What should I do if I accidentally deleted my documents folder? You can follow the steps to recover lost data:

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI FastRecovery. Choose the exact partition or disk where your data lost and click Scan.

Step 2. Then, the recovery tool start to scan and search. lt will execute the “Quickly Scan" first to find your deleted data fast, and then execute the “Deep Scan" for searching other lost data.

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bins and other missing files will be displayed. Please select the file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path to save your recovered files.

Step 5. Wait patiently for this process of recovering ends.

Method 2. Recover deleted folders on Windows from Recycle Bin

If you delete your folders by right-clicking on them in Windows, the system moves them to the Recycle Bin when you press the Delete key. You can easily restore these files to their original location by right-clicking on them in the Recycle Bin and selecting "Restore."

However, if you permanently delete files or empty the Recycle Bin, you lose the references to those files on your computer. But this doesn’t mean you can’t access the deleted files on your PC. You can also run a reliable data recovery tool like AOMEI FastRecovery to get the data back.

Method 3. Recover missing folders and files from Previous Versions

Except for the above methods, it is possible to go back to an earlier version of Windows 10 or 11 if you have Windows restore points. This version from before is sometimes called a shadow copy. How do I use a Windows system restore point to get back lost folders? Read on to find out:

Step 1. Start File Explorer/This PC. Locate the folder which is used to save the deleted file.

Step 2. Right-click it and then select Properties > Previous Version.

Step 3. Select the folder version which is exactly the one before you delete it, and click Restore to restore deleted files to the previous version.

Method 4. Recover deleted folders with File History

File History is also a tool on Windows that helps you recover deleted folders and files. It regularly creates copies of the files in your Desktop, Libraries, Favorites, and Contacts folders. Recovering deleted folders with File History is easy:

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security and click File History.

Step 2. Select Restore personal files. It will open file history recovery window.

Step 3. Click the left arrow to locate your deleted files, and click the Restore to original location icon to restore deleted files from Recycle Bin.

Method 5. Recover lost and missing folders from Backup and Restore

If your files are not in the Recycle Bin, they might be permanently deleted. You can use Backup and Restore to recover documents folder on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7.,. You can also use this method to retrieve files lost due to a system crash or accidental overwrite. Just make sure the backup feature was turned on first. Here are the exact steps for recovery:

Step 1. Go to the Control Panel, and select System and Security > Backup and Restore in turn.

Step 2. Click Restore my files.

Step 3. Click Browse for files to choose the file you want to recover, and then click Next.

Step 4. Specify the saving path for your recovered file, and click Restore.

Method 6. Recover deleted files from the backup

If you've configured data backup on a cloud platform such as Google Backup, Dropbox, or OneDrive, it is easy to recover deleted folders on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7..

Conclusion

What should I do if I accidentally deleted my documents folder? We hope you can recover the deleted documents folder with the 6 methods we suggested. If you’re using Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, you have access to many helpful tools to protect your files. However, if you don’t have important files on your computer, you might not need to turn on Windows Backup and Restore. In that case, you can try AOMEI FastRecovery software instead.