How to Fix: Files Missing from Google Drive

With Google Drive, you can recover deleted shared files on your device. While working with Google Drive, it is common that sometimes a random key is pressed and somehow Google drive files disappear from the Drive. Many people have faced this situation when they are unable to find some specific files in the Drive.

Some people consider that the files missing from Google Drive might get deleted, but that’s not always the case. There is a chance that maybe you relocated the file to some other folder mistakenly. In such cases, it becomes important that you get some help to find those missing files.

How do I find missing files in Google Drive? So, we are going to help you to resolve this problem and get a perfect solution for this issue. In this guide, you will certainly find a method that works precisely in your situation. Let’s see how it works.

Google Drive File Missing Solution 1 – Check the Activity Panel

At first, the easiest place to look for the missing files is the Activity Panel. To check the Activity Panel follow the steps:

Step 1. Access the official Google Drive site > Login with your Google account.

Step 2. Click on the My Drive option on the left of the Screen.

Step 3. Then tap on the Info icon and scroll down until you find your missing file.

Google Drive File Missing Solution 2 – Try Incognito Mode

The Incognito mode is just a partial fix for the Google drive files missing problem, but hopefully, you will recover all your lost files with this method. The steps are given below:

Step 1. In the first step, you have to open a new incognito window on your computer.

Step 2. Login to your Google account and go to Drive. There is a more than 90% chance that all the missing files will automatically show up in the Incognito Mode.

Step 3. Open up any file in a folder and then close it > Then go back to the standard browser window and close all the tabs.

Step 4. Open Google Drive again and your file will show up now. You might have to repeat this process again and again for every file.

Google Drive Missing Files Solution 3 – Restore Google Backup

Another recommended way is to use DroidKit to retrieve data from your Google backups. It can find the important data such as messages, call logs and WiFi passwords, photos, contacts, WhatsApp chat history and calendars that you have backed up to the Google account and extract them to your device or computer easily. With an intuitive UI and step-by-step wizard, DroidKit makes the retrieving process easy for everyone to follow and no technical knowledge is required.

Please follow the detailed steps below to google doc disappeared problem:

Step 1. Download and install the latest version of DroidKit and launch it on your computer > Choose Data Extractor mode > From Google Account option.

Step 2. Then select the Google Backups option > Messages (You can choose the types of data that you want to recover, here we just take messages as an example) > Please click the “Next” button.

Step 3. Login to your Google Account with the correct email and password (If your Google Account is turned on the two-step verification, you need to turn it off before signing in).

Step 4. Then, you need to sign in to your Google account on the website, click on “Continue” and wait for the authorization to be successful. After that, please click the “I have authorized” button in the software.

Step 5. You can view the backup files. Please select a backup to download > Then, click the “Next” button.

Step 6. Now you can view the content of the messages and select the messages that you want to retrieve and tap on the To PC button (if you want to retrieve it to your Android phone you need connect your device to computer).

Step 7. Now your text messages extract successfully.

You can also follow the Video Tutorial to find the missing files from Google Account (Here we take contacts for example in this video).

Google Drive File Missing Solution 4 – Try a Different Browser

The users can also have a check on the browser they are using to access Google Drive. If the files are missing from Google Drive, then you must try the following method to see if they are still missing:

Step 1. Check if the browsers you are using have some issue with the connection that might be leading to this problem.

Step 2. Select another browser from your computer > Open and login to your Google Drive on this browser.

Step 3. If there was a problem with your previous browser than in a  different browser all your files will show up instantly.

Google Drive File Missing Solution 5 – Restore from Your Trash

Some of you might think that Google Drive deleted my files. Well, that can be true. But don’t worry; even if Google deleted your files, you still have a chance to get those files back to your Drive. The below-mentioned steps will help you to restore your files from Trash:

Step 1. On your computer, open your Google Drive website.

Step 2. When the page opens up, locate the missing file from your drive.

Step 3. Once you find the file right click on it > Select the Restore option to get the file back in your Drive.

Google Drive File Missing Solution 6 – Restore from Admin Console

If none of the above methods works to find the files missing from Google Drive, then your last hope might be the Google Admin Console. To restore your file or folder by using the Admin Console, follow the steps as:

Step 1. Sign into the Google Admin Console using the Administrator account > Go to Apps and select the G Suite > Then tap on the Drive and Docs option.

Step 2. Click Manage Team Drives > Click on Filter to choose a Filter option.

Step 3. On the right side, you will see the Restore option next to the Team Drive name.

Step 4. Select the data range for the file restoration > Click on Restore Data.

Google Drive File Missing Solution 7 – Submit Request to Google Drive Support

If you are the owner of the file or folder missing from Google Drive, you can also seek help from Google Drive Support. Follow the below method to know how to achieve it:

Step 1. Search and enter the “Google Drive Help” page.

Step 2. Click Contact us on the top right corner > Click “Missing or deleted files” > Choose Email support.

Step 3. Fill in the information about your missed file > Click “SUBMIT” to send your request to Google Drive Support.

The Bottom Line

In the article, we discussed the effective methods to resolve the Google drive folder is a missing problem. You can give it a try to any of the above solutions. Hope these methods can help you to get your missing file back to the Drive. If you have other useful methods that can solve this Google Drive file missing problem, we’d like to hear it in the comments below!