How to Recover Permanently Deleted Excel File from Desktop

How to recover permanently deleted Excel file from desktop? Try Previous Versions, File History, Backup and Restore (Windows 7), or file recovery software.

By Ivy    Updated on February 27, 2026

Due to its great data visualization and analysis capabilities, the Microsoft Excel workbook is widely used all over the world. Many retailers, industries, and businesses rely heavily on it. No one can afford excel file loss and want to know how to recover permanently deleted Excel file from desktop. 

 

Having trouble recovering an Excel file that was deleted by pressing Shift and Delete. Please help me with the steps to recover the sheet.

- Question from Microsoft Community

Are you being bothered by the same or a similar problem? Don’t worry, this article offers 4️⃣ practical solutions to recover permanently deleted Excel files from desktop, even if the Recycle Bin is emptied or not. Try to restore Excel files from backup or use a reliable data recovery software - AOMEI FastRecovery. 

Method 1: Recover permanently deleted excel files without backups

Accidents are always unexpected and happen with no clues. But don’t worry, a reliable Windows data recovery software - AOMEI FastRecovery will take care of your data, even without backup. 

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Follow the easy recovery process to solve the problem of how to restore deleted Excel file from desktop.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI FastRecovery. Hover the mouse over the C: drive and click Scan.

Step 2.  The tool will atomically scan the drive with Quick Scan, displaying all files by Type or Path, and supports sorting through multiple options. 

📍📍📍Notes:
✅ For specific files or folders
, type the file name or the extension in the search box. Or click the filter button to specify the data type (e.g., Images).
Click the Deep Scan button if the Quick Scan fails to locate the desired files. Deep Scan searches every sector of the disk to find more files.

Step 3. Select the deleted Excel files and click the Recover button to recover Excel file deleted from Recycle Bin in a breeze. Don't forget to save the recovered file to a new location.

Method 2: Restore deleted Excel files from File History

File History is a good option to recover permanently deleted Excel files from computers. Be sure to enable File History to backup files every hour by default. 

Step 1. Start Control Panel System and Security File History. Then, click Restore personal files.

Step 2. Select the deleted Excel files you need and click the Restore button. Click the left arrow icon to see earlier versions.

Method 3: Recover the previous version of Excel files

The Previous Versions is a tool that saves copies of your files when the File History or restore point is enabled. You can try to restore the previous version of Excel files.

Step 1. Go to File Explorer, locate the folder where the Excel file was previously saved, right-click the folder and select Properties.

Step 2. Under the Previous Versions tab, select an earlier version and click Restore. The deleted Excel file will come back to this parent folder. 

Method 4: Get deleted Excel file back from Windows Backup 

On Windows 10 or 11, you can try Backup and Restore (Windows 7) to backup and restore deleted Excel files. 

Step 1. Start Control Panel System and Security Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Then, click Restore my files.

Step 2. Click Browse for files/folders and select the Excel files you need.

Step 3. Choose a preferred destination and click Restore to get back deleted Excel files from backup.

Wrap things up

This article describes 4 useful methods and how to recover permanently deleted Excel file from desktop step by step. File History, Previous Versions, and Windows backup could be of some help. Without a backup, you might as well choose reliable data recovery software - AOMEI FastRecovery, and it's more straightforward.

Ivy · Editor
Ivy, our dedicated editor at AOMEI Technology, is committed to providing valuable insights and guidance in data protection. Her mission is to empower everyone with her knowledge of computer backup and recovery, disk cloning, file synchronization, and more. Ivy's goal is to do her best to ensure your digital world remains safe and secure.