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♻️ Restore a Deleted File or an Earlier Version
Get back something you deleted, or undo a bad edit.
✅ Before You Begin
- You need an active NEO A&M College account with SSO access
- An internet connection is required
- The name of the file, or roughly when you last had it
- 🕐 Estimated time: 10 minutes
🗑️ Restore a Deleted File 🕐 ~3 minutes | Act promptly
⚠️ Note: These steps come from Microsoft’s current published documentation rather than from a walkthrough on a NEO computer. The button names should match; if yours differ, tell the Help Desk so this article can be corrected.
- Go to onedrive.com and sign in with your NEO account.
- Select Recycle bin in the list on the left.
- Select the file, then Restore.
- It returns to the folder it was deleted from.
🚨 Warning: Deleted files do not stay in the recycle bin forever. Recover anything you need as soon as you notice — not next month.
💡 Tip: Deleting a file on your computer deletes it from OneDrive everywhere, so the recycle bin on the website is where it goes regardless of which device you deleted it from.
🕐 Go Back to an Earlier Version 🕐 ~3 minutes | For bad edits
OneDrive keeps previous versions of a document. If a change went wrong, you do not need a deleted-file recovery — you need this.
⚠️ Note: These steps come from Microsoft’s current published documentation rather than from a walkthrough on a NEO computer. The button names should match; if yours differ, tell the Help Desk so this article can be corrected.
- Right-click the file, in File Explorer or on the website.
- Select Version history.
- Pick a version by date and open it to check it is the one you want.
- Select Restore to make it the current version.
💡 Tip: Restoring an old version does not lose the newer one — it is kept in the history too, so you can change your mind.
⚠️ Note: This is usually the answer when somebody says a colleague “deleted half the document”. Nothing has been lost; it just needs rolling back.
🔧 If You Cannot Find It 🕐 ~3 minutes
- Search OneDrive on the website rather than in File Explorer — it searches everything in your account.
- Check whether the file was in a Teams channel rather than your own OneDrive. Team files have their own recycle bin.
- Check whether somebody else owned it. A file shared with you lives in their storage, and only they can restore it.
- Contact the Help Desk with the file name and roughly when you last had it.
🚨 Warning: If a file was subject to a legal hold, an audit, or an open investigation, tell the Help Desk that when you report it. Recovery in that situation is handled differently.
📞 Still Need Help?
If you encounter any issues not covered in this guide, please contact the NEO A&M College IT Help Desk:
🌐 Helpdesk Portal: support.neo.edu
📞 Phone: (918) 540-6099
📧 Email: neosupport@neo.edu
📍 Walk-in: I.T. Services, Library/Administration Building, 2nd Floor, Room 216
🕐 Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM