Versions, favourites and trash

Drive keeps a history of your changes and protects you from deleting files by mistake. This page explains how to use versions, favourites and the Trash.

Version history

Every time a document is saved, Drive automatically creates a copy of the previous version. It keeps up to 50 versions per document, so that you can go back at any moment.

To check the history:

  1. Select the document and open the Version history (the History tab in the side panel).
  2. Look through the list of versions, each one with its author, date and size.
  3. Click a version to Preview it in read-only mode, without changing the current version.

Restore a version

In the list of versions, choose the one you want and click Restore. That version becomes the current one; the rest stay in the history. You can also Delete old versions you no longer need.

Favourites

Mark the files and folders you use most often as favourites:

  • Click the star on the file or folder card to mark it.
  • Use the Favorites button in the top bar to show only the favourite items.

The star lights up straight away, and you can unmark it at any moment by clicking again.

Trash

When you delete a file or folder, it doesn’t disappear straight away — it goes to the Trash. That gives you a safety net for recovering anything you deleted by mistake.

Recover a file

  1. Open the Trash in Drive.
  2. Find the file or folder you want.
  3. Click Restore to put it back where it was deleted from.

Delete permanently

In the Trash you can Delete an item permanently or Empty trash to free up storage space.