Google Drive Trash Retention Reduced by 10,000 Years

As of October 13, 2020, all files placed in Google Drive trash will be permanently deleted after 30 days. Previously, these files would be retained indefinitely unless manually deleted by the user. Learn what this means for Google Workspace users moving forward.

Here’s an update you need to keep in mind!

Google has changed its retention policies for files stored in Google Drive trash. Up until October 13, 2020, all trashed files would be retained indefinitely unless users chose to empty their trash manually. Now, however, files placed in Google Drive trash will be permanently deleted after 30 days.

According to Google, this change was implemented to match the policies of other Google Workspace products and services, such as Gmail, to ensure behavior is consistent and predictable for users across all Google Workspace products.

While admins can still restore deleted files and folders from an active user’s trash for up to 25 days, data loss incidents due to human error and malicious activities are inevitable. Therefore, it’s important that you back up and protect mission-critical data to minimize the negative impacts of data breaches so as to maintain business continuity.

Protect your Google Workspace data and your business with Spanning — the top-rated backup and recovery solution in the Google Workspace Marketplace. Spanning Backup for Google Workspace provides an enterprise-class, automated backup and recovery solution for essential Google Workspace products such as Gmail, Drive (including Team Drives), Calendars, Contacts and Sites.

Spanning provides powerful yet easy-to-use capabilities for both administrators and end users. With Spanning’s unlimited retention capacity for backups coupled with comprehensive protection, you can rest assured that all your organization’s Google Workspace data is fully backed up and protected.

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