Did you delete a sheet tab and now need to restore it? This post is going to show you how to recover your deleted sheets in Google Sheets.

Several things can go wrong when working on a spreadsheet. One of those things that can be deleting a sheet unintentionally. Fortunately, the spreadsheet has tools that help to ratify most missteps that may occur.

If you’ve deleted the wrong sheet, and you want to find out how to restore it, this article is for you. By the end of these, you will learn different approaches to restoring a deleted sheet.

Get your copy of the example workbook used in this post and follow along.

Restore Deleted Sheet Tabs with Undo Command

For this method, you only need to use the undo command in Google Sheets to restore the deleted sheet.

You can find the undo command in the toolbar.

The undo command is also in the Edit menu.

But the easiest method for using the undo command is through the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z.

Using the undo method will only work if deleting the sheet was the last action performed. When you carry out two or more steps after deleting the sheet, this method won’t restore the deleted sheet.

📝 Note: Using the undo method will only work if deleting the sheet was a recent action performed. You will need to undo any other actions performed after the deleted sheet in order to get the sheet back.

Restore Deleted Sheet Tabs with the Version History

The Version history is a Google Sheets feature that allows you to access every change made to the spreadsheet file right from when it was created.

It’s a cloud backup log of all the changes the file has undergone since its existence.

It doesn’t matter whether you delete or add something because the Version history feature stores all changes in chronological order. 

As such, you don’t only know which changes occurred, you also know when and where every change occurred.

You will find the Version history command under the File menu.

From the Version history menu dropdown, select See version history. You will also find the keyboard shortcut to simplify this process is Ctrl + Alt + Shift + H.

The Version history window is also accessible via the Last edit command.

When the Version history window opens, you will see the current view of your spreadsheet exactly as it appears.

On the right-hand side of the window, you will find a list of all the modifications made to the sheet right from when it was created. Each change is grouped by date and time.

Our sample spreadsheet originally had two sheets. At the moment, the current view in the history pane shows there’s only one sheet.

To restore the deleted sheet, select the most recent version of the file in the history pane that has the deleted sheet and click on the Restore this version button which appears at the top of your window when a previous version is selected.

You will be prompted to confirm that you want to set the previous version as the current version of the document. Click on the Restore button.

Now the deleted sheet is back in your file.

If you go back to the Version history window, this will be the current version of the file. Also, you will find a hint that lets you know the file was restored from a previously created version.

Setting the previous version of a file as the current version doesn’t remove or delete the older current version of the file’s Version history. It only replaces the current version of the file, but all other versions remain available if you ever need to reference them sometime in the future.

💡 Tip: You can easily reference older versions of a file by naming them.

To name a specific version, identify the version you want to name, click on the three dots next to it, and select Name this version.

When you give versions a name, it will help you remember a particular version that you might want to restore later.

Conclusions

Deleting a sheet is a very common task when organizing your workbook. Unfortunately, you might find you need the sheet back later on.

When you want to recover a deleted sheet, you can use the undo command if the deletion was a recent action. The Version history feature, also lets you recover a deleted sheet from any period since the file was created.

Have you ever needed to restore a deleted sheet tab? Do you know any other ways to recover a deleted sheet? Let me know in the comments section!