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Handling an accidental mass delete of SharePoint files

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Handling an accidental mass delete of SharePoint files

Runbook for a mass delete of SharePoint files by a sync client, script, or user: stop the bleeding, pick the right restore tool, and recover it safely.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-mass-delete-recovery-runbook

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01

Stop the cause first

Before restoring anything, make sure it cannot happen again in the next ten minutes.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-mass-delete-recovery-runbook

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02

Pick the restore tool

There are three built-in tools and they are not interchangeable.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-mass-delete-recovery-runbook

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03

When it is a sync-client wipe specifically

Two wrinkles. First, the user's PC may still have the files locally if the deletion was in the cloud (someone else removed them and the client mirrored it). Copy them out before signing back in. Second, if Known Folder…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-mass-delete-recovery-runbook

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04

Past 93 days, or emptied from the recycle bin

The built-in path is exhausted. What remains:

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/sharepoint-mass-delete-recovery-runbook

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