Change to Retention Policies for My Drive Trash

Starting October 13, 2020, any file put into a Google Drive My Drive trash will be automatically deleted 30 days from the date the file was moved to trash. Any files already in a user’s trash on October 13 will remain there for 30 days. After the 30-day period, files that have been in the trash for longer than 30 days will begin to be automatically deleted forever. 

Prior to this change, Google Drive My Drive trashed items would be retained indefinitely until the trash was emptied by the user. Please note, files in shared drives trash are already automatically deleted after 30 days. 

Additional details: 

  • As this change takes effect, Google may show a banner with details of the change when you access Google Drive.
  • This change matches the Gmail Trash retention policy. 
  • These changes affect items that are trashed from any device and any platform. 
  • Files deleted via Drive File Stream will be purged from the system trash after 30 days. There is no impact to Backup and Sync behavior.
  • When you select “Move to trash” within a G Suite product that can be accessed through Google Drive such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, those files are moved to the Google Drive trash. 

If you wish to restore deleted files before the 30-day period, follow the instructions from Google support at https://support.google.com/drive/answer/1716222.

Questions? Comments? Open a ticket at TechHelp.fitnyc.edu.