Summary
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OneDrive will stop sending deleted files from the cloud to your local Recycle Bin/recycle bin.
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Instead, you can restore deleted OneDrive files from OneDrive or the SharePoint web Recycle Bin.
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Promotion begins in May 2026; deletions will be faster and recovery will be consolidated in the web Recycle Bin.
If you’re an avid OneDrive user, you’ll know that when you delete a file, a local version of the file will appear in the Trash. So if you want to catch it again, all you have to do is open the bin and grab it again. It’s been like this for a while now and it’s become part of people’s workflow.
Well, Microsoft is about to change how OneDrive deletes files. In an upcoming patch, deleting OneDrive files locally will no longer put deleted files in the Trash. However, before you panic, you will still be able to retrieve the file once it has been deleted.
OneDrive will only start placing files in its web Recycle Bin
Your local files will no longer end up in your local recycle bin
As seen NeowinMicrosoft sent a message through the Microsoft 365 Message Center. titled “MC1269861 – OneDrive: Files deleted from the cloud will no longer appear in the local Recycle Bin or Recycle Bin” detailing what changes when files are deleted in OneDrive:
To improve OneDrive sync performance and make file recovery more predictable, OneDrive will change how cloud-initiated file deletions are handled on-premises devices. When a file that exists locally on a device is deleted from the cloud, it will no longer appear in the local Recycle Bin on Windows or the Recycle Bin on macOS. Instead of recovery, it will be available here OneDrive or SharePoint web trashdepending on where the file is stored
Microsoft claims that this feature will make managing large libraries easier by speeding up the deletion process and ensuring that there is only one version of a file that can be restored.
The change should go into effect in May 2026, and Microsoft notes that deleting OneDrive files in the cloud and deleting files from the device should still work the same. If the cloud version is deleted after May, if you notice that the local versions of OneDrive files are completely gone, double-check the OneDrive trash; it should be there, not in its native place.
