Microsoft Paint is a computer program developed by Microsoft. You can use it to create new picture files as well as edit picture files saved on your computer. But you can also lose these pictures because of the following reasons:
- MS Paint files were accidentally deleted.
- The computer system was attacked by the virus.
- Accidentally formatted the hard drive or emptied the Recycle Bin.
- Permanently deleted files with Shift + Delete key combinations.
- Lost pictures due to a power outage.
- More…
After knowing why your Paint files were lost, now you can keep reading to find out how to recover lost MS Paint files in Windows 10.
![[Fixed]: Files Get Deleted When Left-Clicking in Windows](https://images.minitool.com/minitool.com/images/uploads/2023/04/files-get-deleted-when-left-clicking-thumbnail.png)
1. Recover Deleted Microsoft Paint Files From Recycle Bin
The first thing you should do when you lost your MS Paint files is to check the Recycle Bin. You can quickly locate the deleted Paint files according to the deleted date.
Once you have found the deleted MS Paint file, you can select and right-click it to choose Restore.
2. Recover Deleted Microsoft Paint Files Using Data Recovery Software
If you cannot find lost MS Paint files in the Recycle Bin, you can use the professional data recovery software – MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover them. This tool supports scanning and displaying various files including pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc., and helps you recover 1GB of data for free.
The detailed steps to recover deleted files in Paint are as follows.
Step 1. Download, install, and launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to get its main interface.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2. Under the Logical Drives section, select the target drive where the deleted Paint files were stored before and click Scan (If you are not sure where the file is located, you can go to the Devices tab and choose the whole device to scan).
Step 3. Preview and select the needed files. Then click Save to store them in a safe place separate from the original path.
Now you have restored your MS Paint files with Minitool Power Data Recovery.
3. Recover Deleted Microsoft Paint Files From Backup
Way 1. Recover Files Using File History
If you have created a backup for the Paint files using File History, you can restore them from the backup file. Here you can see how to restore deleted files with File History.
Step 1. Press Windows + E key combinations to open File Explorer.
Step 2. Click Home > History in File Explorer.
Step 3. Select the files or folders you want and click the green button to restore them.
Step 4. Wait for the process to complete and now you can see the recovered files where they are stored originally.
Way 2. Recover Files From Cloud Backup
Cloud backup, also known as online backup or remote backup, is a good way to back up your data. For example, OneDrive is a very common cloud backup software. If you made a backup of your files to OneDrive, you can log in to your OneDrive account to download the files to your local computer.
4. Recover Deleted Microsoft Paint Files Using Windows File Recovery
Windows File Recovery is a command-line utility designed by Microsoft that can be used to recover deleted or lost files from your computer. You can also use it to try to get lost Microsoft Paint files.
Tip: Windows File Recovery is only available in Windows 20H1 and the later Windows versions. You can click here to check which Windows version do you have.
To know how to use Windows File Recovery, you can refer to this post: How to Use Microsoft’s Windows File Recovery Tool and Alternative.
Bottom Line
This article introduces several ways to recover lost MS Paint files in Windows 10/11. You can recover them from the Recycle Bin, backup files, and restore them by using file recovery software or performing a system restore.
If you have any questions when using MiniTool Power Data Recovery, please feel free to contact us via [email protected].
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.