Description

What can you do when you, or a collaborator who shares access to your folder, may have accidentally deleted your files? You can try finding them in the Trash folder of your Box account.

Note: This is not the same as your desktop’s Recycle Bin for Windows or Trash for Macs, which are stored locally on your computer. The files on your Box account, including the Trash folder, are stored in the cloud.

Searching your Box Trash folder

1. Log into UCSF Box using either MyAccess or ucsf.box.com.
2. Click on the downward arrow next to All Files to activate the drop-down list of all your files.
3. Scroll down all the way to the bottom of your drop-down list to locate your Trash folder.
4. Click it.
   
   
5. Look for your missing files or folders in your Trash.
   Note: It's possible the missing file could be located within a deleted folder. To check for this, you will need to restore the entire folder to see the exact files in it.
   
   This is because, when an entire folder is deleted, Box Trash only displays the folder name and the number of files within it, but not the individual file names.
   
6. If you still cannot find your file(s), it's possible that it/they could have been deleted by a collaborator who shares access to your folders.
7. Check for this by clicking Items I Own: You will see the name of the person who deleted your file under the Updated column next to the Name column.
8. If you did not delete the file and did not own it, contact everyone who is or was an editor, owner or co-owner of the file or its folder and have them check to see if it's in their Trash.
   
9. Once you've found your files, you can either (1) restore every deleted file or folder in your Trash by clicking the Restore All button or (2) restore individual files or folders by selecting the checkboxes next to your files and folders and then clicking the Restore button.