How to Recover Deleted Excel Workbooks on Windows 11

Updated on Oct 17, 2026 | by Qiling

Quick Navigation:

Find Out Where the Workbook Went
Before You Scan
Scan for a Deleted Excel Workbook
Validate the Restored Spreadsheet
Frequently Asked Questions

A missing spreadsheet may be deleted, moved, or still available as an earlier Office copy. Determine which happened before scanning the drive; a recovery scan cannot replace a workbook that was never saved.

Find Out Where the Workbook Went

Search the original folder and OneDrive account for the workbook name and .xlsx or .xls extension. Check Recycle Bin if you deleted a local file; check the OneDrive web recycle bin if the workbook was synced.

If Excel closed before a new workbook was saved, check Excel's recovery or recent-file options first. Disk recovery tools look for files written to storage, not unsaved calculations still held only in memory.

Before You Scan

Record the original folder and disk. Stop creating workbooks on that disk, particularly if it is C:, and prepare a different physical drive for recovered output.

If you have File History or another backup, browse earlier versions before scanning. Copy a backup version to a new location so the current workbook is not overwritten.

Scan for a Deleted Excel Workbook

Qiling Deep Data Recovery can scan an accessible Windows drive for files that are no longer visible. The steps below use the mode that fits this case; scan results are possibilities, not a guarantee of intact recovery.

Step 1. Check Office and Backup Copies

Open Excel's recent and recovery views, then inspect Recycle Bin and available backups. If the workbook is still missing, install the recovery program on another drive when possible.

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Step 2. Select Fast Scan

Choose Fast Scan for a recent deletion from a local drive. Use Recycle Bin Scan if the file was in an emptied bin; choose USB/SD Scan if the workbook lived on a removable stick.

Choose a scan mode for deleted Excel files

Step 3. Choose the Workbook's Original Disk

Identify the volume by its letter and capacity, then start the scan. Scanning the output drive or the folder you hoped to move the file to will not find a deleted source copy.

Select the disk that stored the workbook

Step 4. Filter and Preview Candidates

Filter for .xlsx and .xls, compare sizes and dates, and preview any supported content. A familiar name alone does not establish that the formulas and sheets remain intact.

Step 5. Save and Open a Copy

Select candidate workbooks, click Recover, and save to the separate drive. Open a recovered copy in Excel and check several worksheets and formulas before relying on it.

Save the recovered workbook on another drive

Validate the Restored Spreadsheet

If Excel reports corruption, try another candidate or a backup version instead of overwriting the original workbook. Keep each attempt under a distinct filename.

If the file was stored in OneDrive, also inspect its version history. A previous version can be more complete than a disk-scan result after heavy SSD use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a disk scan recover formulas from an unsaved new workbook?

Not if the workbook was never written to disk. Check Excel's own recovery copies first.

Why does the recovered .xlsx file have an old date?

It may be a temporary or previous copy. Open it and inspect the actual sheets before choosing it.

Will restoring to the same folder help?

No. During recovery, choose another physical drive so the source is not overwritten.