The Recycle Bin in SharePoint Online for Enterprises provides a safety net when an entire site collection is deleted. When a SharePoint Online administrator deletes a site collection, it is placed in the Recycle Bin where it is kept for 30 days before it is automatically permanently deleted. This article focuses on how a SharePoint Online administrator can restore a deleted site collection.
Important This article discusses the Recycle Bin in SharePoint Online, which is different from the Recycle Bin in Windows. For information about the Recycle Bin in Windows, see The desktop (overview).
In this article
Overview
As a SharePoint Online administrator, you can view and manage deleted site collections from the SharePoint Online Administration Center Recycle Bin page. From this page, you can view site collections that are currently in the Recycle Bin, see how many days are left before the site collection is permanently deleted, and restore a deleted site collection without contacting Microsoft support.
Important In order to restore a deleted My Site site collection, you must contact Microsoft Support.
To permanently delete a site collection once it is in the Recycle Bin, you don’t need to take any additional action. A deleted site collection is automatically removed from the Recycle Bin after 30 days. You can restore a deleted site collection as long as all of the following conditions are met
- The site collection hasn't been in the Recycle Bin longer than 30 days.
- The usage quota for your SharePoint Online tenant has not been exceeded.
- The storage quota for your SharePoint Online tenant has not been exceeded.
If you try to create a new site collection that uses the same URL as a site collection that is in the Recycle Bin, you will be prompted to permanently delete the site collection in the Recycle Bin before you can proceed. If your usage quota or storage quota are at their limit, you need to either create the needed space by deleting unused items to include items already in the recycle bin, or by contacting Microsoft support to increase the size of your usage quota or storage quota.
In summary, the SharePoint Online Administration Center Recycle Bin gives you greater control over deleted site collections by allowing you to restore a site collection without having to contact support. Deleted site collections stay in the Recycle Bin for 30 days before they are automatically permanently deleted.
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View deleted site collections by using the SharePoint Online Administration Center Recycle Bin page
As a SharePoint Online administrator, you can use the SharePoint Administration Center Recycle Bin to view and restore site collections that have been deleted.
- Navigate to the SharePoint Online Administration Center page.
- On the ribbon, click Recycle Bin to view deleted site collections in the Recycle Bin.
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Restore a deleted site collection by using the SharePoint Online Administration Center Recycle Bin page
As a SharePoint Online administrator, you can restore a deleted site collection as long as the deleted site collection has not been in the Recycle Bin longer than 30 days, a new site collection with the same URL does not exist, and your storage and usage quotas have not been exceeded.
Important By default, items in the Recycle Bin are deleted automatically after 30 days.
- Navigate to the SharePoint Online Administration Center page.
- On the ribbon, click Recycle Bin to view deleted site collections in the Recycle Bin.
- Select the check box next to the site collection that you want to restore.
- On the ribbon, click Restore Deleted Item to restore the deleted site collection.
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