The best way to recover recently deleted files on your Mac is by using the Trash Bin. Just follow this simple procedure to recover deleted files from the Trash on Mac: Click on the Trash Bin icon on your Mac to open it up. Search for the files you want to recover. There are two ways for you to recover deleted files on Mac for free without using data recovery software. One way is to undelete files from your Mac Trash bin. When you mistakenly deleted files on Mac computer to the trash, and you didn't empty the trash, you can undelete them from your Trash for free.

We’ve all experienced that horrible stomach-churning pang of dread when we delete a file that we didn’t mean to delete. Or when we realise that the file we trashed last week is the one we need for an important piece of work that’s due to be submitted tomorrow. The bad news is that there’s no Mac undelete feature. The good news is that, most of the time, and depending on what steps you’ve taken beforehand, it’s relatively easy to recover deleted files on Mac.

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Check if the file has really been deleted

The first step is to check if the file is gone. If you dragged it to the Trash but haven’t emptied it recently, it should still be there. Click on the Trash icon in the Dock and inspect the Finder window that opens. If you see the file, drag it out of the Trash and onto the Desktop. If the file isn’t there, things get more complicated, but there’s still hope.

How to recover deleted files on a Mac with Time Machine

This is the part where we remind you that you should have a regular incremental backup plan in place. Preferably, it should incorporate two separate backups to two different destinations, in different physical locations.

If you use a tool that makes a bootable clone, such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, and regularly update the clone, all you have to do to recover a file is mount the clone and copy the file back to your Mac. If you take away nothing else from this article, please understand the importance of backing up your Mac on a regular basis. Your future self will thank you for it.

The simplest way to backup files on a Mac is to use Apple’s Time Machine, which is installed as part of macOS. You set it up once and forget it. Assuming you use Time Machine, it’s very easy to recover individual files. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Time Machine menu in the Mac’s menu bar and choose Enter Time Machine.

2. Swipe upwards with two fingers on your Mac’s trackpad or press the up arrow next to the Finder window that appears in order to navigate to a time before you deleted the file.

3. Once you’ve reached a backup from a time before you trashed the file, click on the Finder window and navigate the Finder in the normal way until you find the file you want to recover.

4. Press the spacebar to preview the file, and if it’s the one you want, click Restore. The file will now be restored to your current Finder and you’ll be able to open and edit it.

How to recover deleted photos on Mac

When you delete a photo in the Photos app, it doesn’t get rid of it straight away. Instead, it outs in an album called Recently Deleted and keeps it there for 30 days. Then it’s removed permanently. So, if the photo you want to recover was deleted less than 30 days ago, all you have to do is go to Recently Deleted, under Library in Photos’ sidebar, click on the photo you’re looking for and press Recover. It will then be moved back to your main Library.

How to recover music files in iTunes

If you delete a track from iTunes, it asks you if you want to move the file to the Trash. If you said no, all you have to do to recover the file is go to the Finder and navigate to your iTunes music folder (usually in Music>iTunes>iTunes Media), find the file and drag it onto the iTunes icon in the Dock.

If you said yes, and the file is still in the Trash, do the following.

1. Launch iTunes and choose Preferences from the iTunes menu.

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Makes sure there’s a checkmark in the box labelled 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library’.

4. Close Preferences.

5. Drag the file from the Trash onto the Desktop.

6. Drag it onto iTunes’ icon in the Dock.

7. When it’s imported, drag the file from the Desktop back to the Trash (a copy will have been added to your iTunes folder).

If you’ve emptied the Trash since you deleted the file from iTunes, you can use Time Machine to find it in the earlier version of your iTunes folder and recover it from there.

File recovery on Mac: How restore older versions of a document

Built in apps on macOS, such as Text Edit and Preview, as well as the iWork apps and many third party applications use a feature of the operating system known as versioning. That means that when you open a file and edit it, macOS retains copies of previous versions of the file so you can revert back to them if you need to.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Open the file.

2. Click on the File menu and choose Revert to then Browse all versions.

3. You’ll see that the screen changes and looks a bit like Time Machine.

4. To find the version you want to revert to, click on the tick marks on the right of the screen or click on the title bars of the documents on the right of the screen, or click the up arrow to the right of the documents.

5. You’ll see the date of each version displayed below its preview. If the document preview doesn’t display automatically, click Load Version to download it from iCloud.

6. When you find the version you want to revert to, click Restore or to open it as a new document, hold down the Option key and select Restore a Copy.

If you open a document, make changes to it, then decide you don’t want to save them, go to the File menu and select Revert To, then Last Opened.

Data recovery on Mac when you don’t use Time Machine

If you don’t use Time Machine, all is not lost (though we’d suggest you start using it — it’s the easiest way to recover files you accidentally delete).

There are several options when it comes to data recovery software for Mac. One of the best is Disk Drill, which scans your Mac for deleted files, allows you to specify the kind of file you’re looking for — text document, audio, file or video, for example, and lists everything it finds. You can then preview files to check if they’re what you’re looking for and recover them if they are.

The key point when using any data recovery tool is to stop using your Mac as soon as you realise you need to recover a file. When you empty the Trash, files in it aren’t deleted immediately. Instead, the reference to them in the file index is removed and the space they occupy made available for use. If you stop using your Mac immediately, the file won’t be over-written and data recovery software will have a good chance of recovering it intact. The longer you use your Mac, the more chance there is of it being over-written completely.

Free Way To Recover Deleted Files Mac

How to delete files safely

If you want to delete files easily and never worry about removing the wrong ones, use a great tool CleanMyMac X. Its Smart Scan relies on just one button to scan your Mac and then remove all the junk it finds. All the files are 100% safe-to-delete as CleanMyMac always refers to the Safety Database in order to correctly select and remove the junk. Moreover, you can always view the files before removing them and decide whether you really want to get rid of them. CleanMyMac is incredibly easy to use, so give it a try. It's available for a free download here.

Mac data recovery: the last resort

If none of the above solutions work, and if the deleted files are very important, the last resort is to take your Mac to a specialist data recovery company. These services use specialist software to interrogate your Mac’s drive and rebuild lost files. However, it’s a very time consuming and expensive process and a step you should only consider if the files you need are more important than the cost of recovering them or you really can’t live without them. If you do decide to use such a service, research the companies carefully and, if possible get word of mouth recommendations from people you trust. And, as with using data recovery software, stop using your Mac immediately.

To conclude, putting a file in the Trash doesn’t delete it. And even emptying the Trash doesn’t get rid of it completely. There’s still the possibility of recovering it. However, by far the best way of making sure you don’t irreversibly delete a file you need is to make regular backups of your Mac. If you do that using the built in Time Machine, recovering a file or folder you’ve trashed is very easy indeed.

File deletion is a common and necessary computer operation as it is a convenient way to help you get more free space for new data. For instance, people would like to delete the Other in Mac Storage for more space.

However, when you intentionally or unintentionally end up deleting a folder that you didn't mean to delete is not less than a nightmare.

No worries! No matter how you deleted a file on Mac, there're a handful of options for you to get them back, particularly if you realized your mistake quickly.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about how to recover recently and permanently deleted files on Mac with and without software.

Can You Recover Recently or Permanently Deleted Files on Mac?

When you first delete files on a Mac computer, they will be moved to the Trash. At this stage, the files are not deleted but removed to another folder - Trash. You can restore these deleted files by simply clicking 'Put Back' in Trash.

However, if you emptied the deleted files from the Trash, you can't discover it anywhere on the Mac computer or hard drive. Have these files been deleted permanently from your Mac?

Actually, these files still remains on your hard drive. In this situation, the operating system will only remove the references to these files, so that the computer cannot see these files any more and the disk space the files took up is available for any new file. In other words, these deleted files are still on the hard drive until another file or part of another file to take up the same location.

Tips to increase the success rate of deleted file recovery on Mac:

• Stop using the hard drive where you have deleted files, including saving new files and editing existing files. Because the chances for successful data recovery depend greatly on the remainder of the data which has not overwritten yet. If the deleted files are entirely overwritten, even the professional data recovery software or specialized data recovery labs are unable to recover them. So, what is worth noting that if you deleted files on the Macintosh HD, you should shut down your Mac computer as soon as possible.
• Perform Mac file recovery right now. If you have no backup of your hard drive or backup has itself corrupted, the most reliable way is to download and install a professional data recovery software to recover deleted files on Mac.

After knowing that it's possible to recover deleted files on Mac, now, let's dive right into the solutions to make it true.

How can I Recover Recently or Permanently Deleted Files from Mac without Software?

As Apple is always doing to bring good experience for Mac users, there are some methods you can practice recovering your deleted files without any software. Check out the details as below.

Method 1: Restore deleted files from Mac Trash

Files that you've deleted are often sent to the Trash. The Trash will hold your deleted files until you empty the Trash. So, if you haven't emptied the Trash, you have two options to get them back.

Restore deleted files with 'Undo Move'

If you haven't done any other operation on this Mac, the file deletion can be cancelled.

• 1. Open Finder.
• 2. Click Edit from the menu bar.
• 3. Click Undo Move of 'Your file name' from the drop-down menu.

Now, check the location where you deleted the file. You will see the file put back.

Restore deleted files from Trash

If you have already done other operation after deleted a file, don't worry. You can also restore it from Trash.

• 1. Open Trash folder.
• 2. Locate the file you deleted.
• 3. Right click the file and select Put Back from the context menu.

You can restore any deleted file as long as you can find it in Mac Trash. However, if the files aren't in Trash folder, you need to try other methods to recover them.

Note: Some users may be interested in recovering deleted files with Terminal, i.e. by inputting command lines in Terminal app. In fact, it's possible but not necessary. The command is only helpful when the deleted files are still in Trash folder. In addition, the command is same as the 'Put Back' feature via a right-click.

Method 2: Recover deleted files from Time Machine backup

Time Machine is a native data backup tool of Apple which is especially useful to avoid unexpected data loss. If you have turned on Time Machine on this Mac computer, it's very likely that you can restore deleted files from Time Machine backup.

How to restore deleted files from Time Machine?

• 1. Connect the drive that you used to do Time Machine backup to the Mac computer.
• 2. Open the folder that you deleted files from. For example, if you have deleted files from Documents folder, open the Documents folder.
• 3. Click the Time Machine icon from the menu bar.
• You can also launch Time Machine from Launchpad, or go to Apple > System Preferences... > Time Machine.
• 4. Browse the items in the backup folder by using on the screen up/down arrows or using the timeline at the edge of the screen. If you want to find files of the older version, using timeline to navigate the files is faster. You will be able to see a lot of snapshots of this whole folder and how the folder changes.
• 5. Select the one that contains the files you deleted.
• 6. Click Restore.

However, what if you haven't enable Time Machine backup? How can you recover deleted files without Time Machine backups? Let's continue.

Method 3: Recover deleted files from iCloud Drive

iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple Inc., which securely stores your photos, videos, documents, music, apps, and more and keeps them updated across all your devices. iCloud offers a way to restore deleted files, whenever you deleted them on iCloud.com, your iOS device, or your Mac.

Note: You can restore files you deleted from iCloud Drive in the last 30 days. After that point, files are gone for ever. Moreover, you can't recover files you permanently removed.

How to restore deleted files from iCloud?

• 1. Open a browser, such as Safari, and visit iCloud website: https://www.icloud.com/. You will need to log in with your Apple ID.
• 2. Once logged into iCloud.com, click the Settings button.
• 3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, below the Advanced section, and then click Restore Files. You will see a list of deleted files with their previous location in iCloud Drive, size, and the time remaining until they expire.
• 4. To restore a deleted file, tick the box beside it and then click Restore. After the deleted file has been successfully restored, iCloud will display a message confirming it.

Through any one of the methods above, you can recover deleted files on Mac without any third-part software. Hopefully, if one of the methods doesn't work, one of the other ones will.

Besides that, we will also cover some methods to recover a certain deleted file type in the following part.

How to Recover Deleted Photos on Mac?

So, you've deleted a precious photo or an entire folder of photos from your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and more. 'Can I get permanently deleted photos back?', you may ask. Actually, there are a few ways you can try to recover deleted photos on Mac.

1. How to recover deleted photos from Photos app

If you deleted a photo from the Photos app on Mac, you have a 30-day grace, during which you can restore deleted photos easily.

• 1. Open Photos and click Recently Deleted on the left sidebar.
• 2. Select the deleted photos you'd like to recover.
• 3. Click Recover in the top right corner.

2. How to recover deleted photos from iPhoto?

Perhaps, you are still using iPhoto, which Apple replaced with Photos in 2015. And you've deleted photos from that program, then you can recover these lost/missing picture in iPhoto:

• 1. Open iPhoto and click on Trash in the Sidebar.
• 2. Select those deleted photos and right-click to choose 'Restore to iPhoto Library'.

How to Recover Deleted Email Messages from Apple Mail?

Apple mail is a built-in utility which can be used to access email accounts from various other free email service providers including Apple's iCloud, Outlook, Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc. But deleted emails are a common accident. Luckily, Apple Mail has a Trash folder that you can recover recently deleted emails.

• 1. Open Apple Mail and click View from the menu bar and choose Show Deleted Messages.
• 2. Click on the Trash button in the sidebar and then you will see the list of all your deleted emails.
• 3. Right-click the email you want to recover, then choose Undelete to restore your deleted emails to your inbox.

How to Recover Deleted iTunes Songs on Mac?

Music files are largely managed on Mac computers using iTunes. It can be devastating when you wanted to delete several items in iTunes but ended up with deleting the entire library. Now all your music songs are gone. If this happens to you, you are able to recover those deleted iTunes library files with the following steps:

• 1. Get to the desktop of your Mac and click on the Go menu at the top and select the option that says Go to Folder. Alternatively, you can also press the Command + Shift + G key combo to open it.
• 2. When the Go to Folder box opens, type in the following path and hit Enter. Make sure to replace username with your own username.

Note: For earlier OS versions, look for Home > Music > iTunes Media > Music.

• 3. When the path opens, you will see your entire iTunes music library. You will find your deleted music file here in this folder.

How to Recover Deleted Contacts on Mac?

If you've deleted contacts from the default Contact app in macOS, then you can follow the steps here to recover deleted Contacts file on Mac.

• 1. Tap on Edit.
• 2. Click Undo Delete Card option.

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But please remember: This operation can only be done before making any other edits in Contacts.

How to Recover Deleted Downloads/Documents Folder on Mac?

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Downloads folder, as we all know that it is a default location in every macOS where stores all downloaded files. However, when you clean up files and folders, you may accidentally delete the whole Downloads folder. Even worse, the whole Documents folder disappeared suddenly.

To recover deleted Downloads, Documents or any other folder on Mac, you can firstly check the Mac Trash. If you have already emptied the Trash and can't find the deleted folder, then you can check Time Machine backups if you created one. However, if none of the two methods helps, you can still find some deleted file recovery software.

How to Recover Deleted YouTube Videos on Mac?

Imagine a situation where a very crucial video is mistakenly deleted by you during video editing, sharing or uploading from your Mac, Google Account or channels. Keep calm! Let's go through some video recovery solutions to help you out.

Method 1: Recover deleted YouTube videos from the Help support

Don't hesitate to send an email to the support team to restore lost or deleted YouTube videos from your channel. They can help you get all deleted YouTube videos back.

Method 2: Recover deleted YouTube videos from archive.org

Archive.org is a service designed to store the majority of pages and group them by dates and updates. Therefore, this is where you should go in the next place if you've unintentionally deleted an uploaded video.

• 1. Access your YouTube email account and find the relevant information about your deleted or lost videos.
• 2. Copy the deleted or lost video's URL.
• 3. Open a browser, go to archive.org.
• 4. Paste the URL of the deleted YouTube video on the search field and click on Browse History.
• 5. The page redirects you to YouTube video upload history where you can find the video files you previously uploaded.
• 6. Download the video file and upload it again (of course back it up too).

How to Recover Deleted/Disappeared Notes on Mac?

The Notes may disappear or get deleted on your Mac due to macOS upgrade or mistaken deletion. It won't go to the Trash. So, where you can find deleted/disappeared Notes on Mac? Let's have a look:

Note: Files will only be kept for 30 days at the Recently Deleted Folder before being permanently deleted.

• 1. Open the Notes application and click the 'Recently Deleted Folder' on the left menu panel.
• 2. Choose Edit from the menu bard at the top of the screen and click on Undo Trash Note.

If you can't find the deleted Notes from the Recently Deleted Folder, then you can check if they are in Time Machine backup.

How to Restore Files from a Deleted User Account?

Mac user account disappeared? Accidentally deleted your user account? Can't log in to access your data stored on the account? Have no fear, we've got the. That's to say, if you want to restore these eleted files, you should first show this folder in Finder and then put files back.

How to recover files deleted from an external drive?

• 1. Show hidden files in Finder.
• It's a little different to show hidden files on different Mac operating systems.
• If you're running macOS Sierra or later, open Finder and simply press Command + Shift + . (the period key).
• If you're running earlier OS X, you need to run the following commands.
• Press Enter. Then type in:
• 2. When you find the deleted files in .Trashes, you can restore them simply.

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How Do I Recover Deleted Files On My Mac For Free

However, what if you have emptied Trash or have no backup of the deleted files? Don't worry. In that case, you still can undelete files on Mac with Mac data recovery software, like iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a free Mac data recovery software that helps recover deleted files from hard drives, external hard drives, USB hard drives, memory cards, and other storage devices. It supports recovering deleted photos, documents, videos, emails, music, etc. And it can also recover lost files from unreadable drives, unmountable drives, formatted drives, as well as lost partitions. It is fully compatible with macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra/Sierra and earlier.

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• Recover deleted photos, documents, audio files, videos, emails, etc.
• Recover deleted files from HDD, USB, flash drives, SD cards, etc.
• Recover deleted files from APFS, HFS+, exFAT & FAT32 formatted drives.
• macOS Catalina supported.

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Video tutorial: how to recover deleted files with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

Tutorial: recover deleted files on Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

• 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac.
• 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
• 3. Choose the drive or partition where you have deleted files.
• 4. Click on Scan button to start the scanning process.
• This Mac data recovery software supports two scan modes: quick scan and deep scan. To recover deleted files, the program will choose quick scan by default. If you didn't see the deleted files after quick scan, you can also manually try deep scan option at the bottom of the interface. By running deep scan, it will search the select partition or disk sector by sector in order to find as many files as possible.
• 5. Preview the files in the searching results and choose files that you want to get back.
• 6. Click Recover to recover those deleted files from Mac.

Verdict

In this article, we have presented several solutions to recover deleted files on Mac with and without software. In most cases, you can restore deleted files through the native features on Mac, such as Trash, Time Machine, or restore features in some apps. In other cases, if these features won't help, you can still find a deleted file recovery software, like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, to recover deleted files. According to your specific situation, you can try one or more of the solutions till you get back the files you want.

Anyway, the best solution to prevent unwanted data loss is to make a regular backup.

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• How to recover deleted and lost email files