How to restore files from the Trash on a Mac

With Finder

1. Open the Trash

   Click the Trash in the Dock.

2. Find what you want

   Sort by Date Added to see the latest first. Hold Command to select several items.

3. Put it back

   Choose File > Put Back to return it to the folder it came from, or drag it out of the Trash to any folder. If Put Back is not offered for an item, dragging still works.

Apple's page Delete files and folders on Mac gives Put Back and dragging, and covers emptying the Trash.

What Strata moved

Everything Strata removes goes to the Trash, and since version 1.0.30 it records where each item came from, so it can put things back after it has quit, restarted or updated.

1. Right after a removal

   The notice at the bottom right of the window has Put Back for the latest batch, and a link, Put back later from Recently Removed.

2. Later, in Recently Removed

   It is under Tools in the sidebar. There, every removal of the last 90 days shows each item's old folder and whether the Trash still holds it. Put Back returns all of a removal that can go back, or one item, and never replaces anything. The room is free, during a trial and after it.

More on both, and on what cannot come back, is in how to put back something you removed.

Folders in the Trash from before

Strata kept no record of what version 1.0.29 or earlier removed, and has none of what another app moved to the Trash. From version 1.0.31, it can still say where many folders probably were.

1. Look in the Trash

   In Recently Removed, under Earlier removals, press Look in the Trash. It looks in your Trash on the startup disk. Strata needs Full Disk Access to read it; if that is off, the room shows Allow Full Disk Access.

2. Read where each was

   Each folder is matched by name with the folders in Strata's scan history, which holds every folder of 10 MB or more from up to 20 recent scans of each place you scanned. It looks at each scanned place's last scan before the folder went to the Trash. A match says where the folder probably was, with the size that scan saw and its size now. When those scans saw folders of that name in several places, Strata lists them and leaves the choice to you.

3. Put it back

   With one likely place, and a folder close to the size that scan saw, Put Back moves it there; it never replaces anything. Files stay unmatched, as do folders under 10 MB, folders no earlier scan saw, folders a later scan found gone and folders far from the size it saw. Drag those out of the Trash in Finder.

The scan history is kept with Strata Pro and the trial, from the scans you run, so the more places you have scanned, the more Strata can match.

After the Trash is emptied

Apple says items emptied from the Trash are permanently deleted, and Strata cannot bring them back either. A backup made before they went can. With Time Machine, following Apple's page Restore items backed up with Time Machine:

1. Open the folder it was in

   In Finder, open a window for the folder the item was in, such as Documents. For something that was on the desktop, skip this step.

2. Open Time Machine

   Search for it with Spotlight. A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.

3. Go back, then restore

   Use the arrows to go back to a backup from before the item was deleted; the timeline on the right shows which one you are in. Select the item and click Restore: it returns to its original location.

Files deleted from iCloud Drive are a separate case: Apple's iCloud guide explains what iCloud.com can recover, within 30 days.

Frequently asked questions