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How to recover a deleted email from Gmail's Bin (or Trash)
Deleting an email in Gmail doesn't destroy it. It moves to the Bin, where it sits for 30 days before Gmail removes it for good. Within that window you can put it back where it came from. This guide covers the desktop browser version, with the mobile app under Variations.
What you'll need: A Gmail account, and an email you deleted less than 30 days ago. If you emptied the Bin yourself after deleting it, skip to Troubleshooting.
Open Gmail in your browser
Go to mail.google.com and sign in if you aren't already.
Open the Bin
In the left-hand sidebar, click More to expand the full list, then click Bin.
Find the email
The Bin lists everything you've deleted in the last 30 days, newest first. Scroll until you see the one you want.
If there's a lot in there, type a word from the subject or the sender's name into the search box at the top of the page. Gmail searches within the Bin while you have it open.
Select it
Tick the checkbox to the left of the email. A row of icons appears in the toolbar above the list.
Move it back to your inbox
In that toolbar, click the Move to icon (a folder with an arrow pointing into it), then click Inbox.
The email disappears from the Bin. A small confirmation appears at the bottom-left of the screen, with an Undo link in case you picked the wrong one.
Check it's back
Click Inbox in the sidebar. The email is back in its original position by date, not at the top, so you may need to scroll down to the day it first arrived.
Variations
Tick the checkbox next to each one before clicking Move to. To restore everything in the Bin, tick the checkbox at the very top of the list to select the whole page, then move them in one go.
The Move to menu lists all your labels, not only Inbox. If the email originally lived under a label, pick that label instead and it goes straight back there.
Tap the three-line menu (☰) at the top-left, scroll down and tap Bin. Open the email, tap the three dots (⋮) at the top-right, tap Move to, then choose Primary (or Inbox, depending on how your inbox is set up).
Troubleshooting
Three things to check before assuming it's gone. First, it may have been archived rather than deleted: click All Mail in the sidebar, which shows every message you still have. Second, it may be in Spam, which also clears itself after 30 days. Third, run a search for a word you know was in it with in:anywhere in front, which looks in every folder including the Bin and Spam:
in:anywhere invoiceOnce an email leaves the Bin it's removed from your account, and nothing in Gmail's settings brings it back. Google does offer a message recovery tool for personal Gmail accounts, but it's aimed at mail that went missing because someone else got into your account, and it isn't available for Google Workspace accounts. Treat it as a long shot rather than a plan.
If you use Gmail through work or school, ask your administrator instead. Workspace administrators can restore deleted mail for a limited period after it leaves the Bin.
You're probably looking at the menu inside an open email rather than the toolbar above the list. Go back to the Bin list, tick the checkbox, and use the Move to icon in the toolbar. Alternatively, drag the email from the list onto Inbox in the sidebar.
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