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How do I delete files in OneDrive Live?

Phyllis Mohr 0 Reputation points
2025-12-14T19:50:23.1+00:00

I teach a class for Outlook online. I had the students email me their PowerPoint presentations, which I downloaded to the OneDrive. Live account. How can I now delete these files, since the class is over and I will never deal with them again?

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Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | Other
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  1. Hendrix-C 16,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-16T21:56:33.83+00:00

    Hi @Phyllis Mohr,

    I greatly appreciate your update.

    Based on your screenshot, you are currently in the Home tab of OneDrive. The recent list in Home tab shows the most recent files you've accessed for convenience purpose but you cannot delete these files directly from there. To remove the files in the recent lists, you need to delete them in your My files tab.

    However, since you mentioned that these are the shared items, to remove them in the Recent list, the only option is that you need to ask the owners of these files stop sharing these files with you. This is an expected behavior of OneDrive since you're not the owner of the files, you can control or edit them on your side. Even if you go to Shared tab, select these files and choose Hide from Shared, the files still remain in the Recent list.

    Hope the above information proves helpful. If you have any questions or need additional help, please feel free to ask them in the comments so that I can continue to support you.

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. Looking forward to your response.

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  2. Phyllis Mohr 0 Reputation points
    2025-12-16T20:54:11.8933333+00:00

    As you can see from the attached, I cannot get checkboxes, and I can't find anyway to turn on checkboxes on.

    User's image

    [Moderator note: personal information note]

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  3. Hendrix-C 16,725 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-14T22:00:13.4+00:00

    Hi @Phyllis Mohr,

    Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

    According to your concern, you can delete the PowerPoint files directly from your OneDrive in just a few steps:

    1- Delete in OneDrive web version

    • For the web version, you can follow the steps provided by Q&A Assist in the previous response which has already shown the step-by-step guidance for deleting files in OneDrive web app.

    2- Delete in OneDrive local folder

    • Open your OneDrive local folder on your computer and locate the downloaded files
    • Select them > Right click > Delete
    • Then go to the Recycle Bin to permanently delete these files. If not, Recycle Bin still automatically removes these files after 30 days.

    Please understand that our initial intervention doesn't always resolve the issue immediately. However, you can try these steps and let me know if they work. If not, we can find a solution together.

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to ask them in the comments so I can continue to support you.

    I look forward to your response.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".      

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  4. AI answer

    2025-12-14T19:51:29.31+00:00

    To delete files in your OneDrive Live account, you can follow these steps:

    1. Log in to OneDrive: Go to the OneDrive website and log in with your Microsoft account.
    2. Locate the Files: Navigate to the folder where you saved the PowerPoint presentations.
    3. Select the Files: Click on the checkbox next to each file you want to delete. You can also select multiple files at once by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking.
    4. Delete the Files: Once you have selected the files, look for the "Delete" option in the toolbar at the top of the page. Click on it to remove the selected files.
    5. Confirm Deletion: You may be prompted to confirm that you want to delete the files. Confirm to complete the deletion process.

    After deletion, the files will be moved to the recycle bin, where they can be restored if needed within a certain period. If you want to permanently delete them, you will need to empty the recycle bin as well.

    If you encounter any issues while trying to delete the files, ensure that you have the appropriate permissions to delete items in your OneDrive account.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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