How to recover WhatsApp documents?

WhatsApp is a social messaging app used by billions of users worldwide to communicate. This app can be used by individuals to find the whereabouts of their loved ones, whereas organizations use WhatsApp to fulfill their commercial goals by advertising their products to reach a large audience.

WhatsApp can be used to exchange various types of content, including messages, images, stickers, videos, audio files, and documents. Due to the end-to-end encryption of messages, people also use it to send confidential documents and critical information.

However, losing important documents from WhatsApp can be frustrating, whether due to intentional or accidental deletion, virus corruption, or any other reason. Fortunately, there are ways to recover deleted or lost WhatsApp documents.

In this blog, we have shared how to get back deleted documents from WhatsApp on Android smartphones. So, let's get started!

How To Get Back Deleted WhatsApp Documents?

If you regularly back up your WhatsApp chat with Google Drive or a cloud storage service, you can use these backups to recover the WhatsApp documents on your Android phone. You can even use a local backup saved in the internal memory or an external SD card inserted in your Android phone.

However, if you don’t have backups, recover them using a reliable Android data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery for Android.

Method 1: Restore WhatsApp Documents from WhatsApp Backup

Like most Android users, if you have set up WhatsApp backups on Google Drive, then you can use this backup to recover WhatsApp Documents. Here's how to restore WhatsApp documents from your WhatsApp backup stored on your Google Account:

• First, uninstall and then reinstall WhatsApp on your Android phone.
• Open WhatsApp and sign up using your phone number. Then, follow the onscreen instructions to set up WhatsApp on your Android phone.
• When prompted, tap Restore to restore the backup from Google Drive. It will take some time to restore your WhatsApp chat.
• Once the process is complete, click Next to set up your profile photo and name. This will restore your default chat history and the lost attachments you deleted from your phone.

Disadvantages of using this method:

• This method restores only the most recent WhatsApp backup; any chats done after the last backup are lost.
• You can’t choose specific documents to restore from the backup.
• Downloading the WhatsApp backup can take time, especially if it’s large.
• This method will overwrite the current WhatsApp chats or data with the backed-up data.

Method 2: Restore Deleted WhatsApp Documents from Local Storage on Android devices

If you haven’t set up WhatsApp to backup the data to Google Drive, your Android phone will save a local backup on the internal memory or an external SD card. 

Here’s how to get back deleted documents from WhatsApp using the local backup:

• Launch File Explorer on your Android device and navigate to WhatsApp > Databases to see the list of backup files. The latest backup file is named msgstore.db.crypt12.
• Rename the latest backup file to msgstore-latest.db.crypt12.
• After making the changes, uninstall WhatsApp from your phone.
• Download and install the WhatsApp application again from the Google Play Store.
• Open WhatsApp and follow the onscreen instructions to set it up on your Android phone.
• WhatsApp will use the existing local backup from the phone memory; tap "Restore" when prompted.
• Once the restoration is complete, your chat history and documents will be available.

Disadvantages of using this method:

• Deleted WhatsApp data is stored in the local backup only for a week. So, if you need to recover them, do so within seven days.
• This method overwrites the current data with the backed-up data.
• Some Android phones delete the WhatsApp database file when you uninstall the app, making this method obsolete. Therefore, the success of this method depends on your Android device, its model, and the OS version.

Method 3:  Use a Professional Tool to Recover WhatsApp Documents with

Sometimes, the manual methods mentioned above to restore WhatsApp documents on Android don't work. Often, you may not have backed up your WhatsApp data on Google Drive or a local backup.

In such a case, use Stellar Data Recovery for Android to recover lost or deleted WhatsApp files. This DIY software thoroughly scans Android devices to retrieve deleted WhatsApp files, documents, chats, and other media from any Android device.

Note: Do not use your Android phone further if you have lost data. These steps will prevent the overwriting of lost data.

The software has an easy-to-use GUI that lets you recover lost or deleted WhatsApp documents from the internal memory of an Android phone. This tool supports all Android devices and OS versions and recovers WhatsApp data after accidental deletion.

Here’s how to recover deleted WhatsApp documents using Stellar Data Recovery for Android:

• Download and install the Stellar Data Recovery for Android software.
• Launch the Stellar Data Recovery software, click the Recover WhatsApp Data module, and select Documents from the 'Select What to Recover' section.

• Connect your Android device to the computer using a USB cable.
• Enable USB debugging on your Android device and connect it to the computer.
• Once it’s done, the Connected Device screen appears. Click Scan.
• To recover WhatsApp data, remove your WhatsApp account to desynchronize contacts from Google and grant WhatsApp the necessary system permissions on your device. Follow the steps and click OK.
• The Disconnect From Google Drive dialog box appears. It will prompt you to take the latest chat backup and disconnect the device from Google Drive. Follow the given instructions and click Next.
• Once the Android device has been scanned, click OK. A list of recoverable data will be displayed on the left.
• Preview the recoverable WhatsApp Documents. Then, select the Documents you want to restore and click Save to browse to any desired location on the local disk to save them.

Conclusion

It is not impossible to recover deleted WhatsApp documents when you have enabled the Backup setting beforehand. Despite WhatsApp providing built-in features to help a user automatically back up WhatsApp data, sometimes you still need data recovery software to restore your lost WhatsApp files or chats.

For a safe and reliable solution, we recommend using Stellar Data Recovery for Android. This program has options for recovering any WhatsApp data lost or deleted on your Android device.