diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 91b0bf82f..99ab3a8b9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ Newest first. `Unreleased` is what is on `main` and not yet tagged.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Google Drive search and recent files leave out what is in the trash
+
+Drive's `files.list` returns trashed files unless the query excludes them, and neither `search_files`
+nor `list_recent_files` did. A document somebody had thrown away came back to the Bot as a match or
+as a recently changed file, with nothing in its line to say it was in the trash, so the Bot could
+answer from it as though it were current. Both now ask Drive to leave the trash out. Reading a file by its
+id is unchanged.
 ### New conversations are still named once some older ones could not be
 
 Every pass of the job that names conversations offered at most twenty of those still without a name.
diff --git a/server/src/plugins/google-drive-rest.ts b/server/src/plugins/google-drive-rest.ts
index e020c0553..52ce99b7b 100644
--- a/server/src/plugins/google-drive-rest.ts
+++ b/server/src/plugins/google-drive-rest.ts
@@ -260,6 +260,16 @@ function fileLine(file: DriveFile): string {
   return `- ${parts.join(" · ")}`;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Only files that are not in the trash.
+ *
+ * `files.list` returns trashed files unless the query says otherwise, so a document somebody had
+ * thrown away came back as a match, or as a recent file, with nothing in its line to say it was in
+ * the trash, and a model answers from what it is handed. A file read by its id is still read, trashed
+ * or not: that is a request for that file.
+ */
+const NOT_TRASHED = "trashed = false";
+
 /**
  * A Drive query string built from what somebody typed.
  *
@@ -267,10 +277,12 @@ function fileLine(file: DriveFile): string {
  * apostrophe in a search term would otherwise end the clause and change the query's meaning —
  * searching for `don't` would become a syntax error at best, and at worst a different search than
  * the one asked for. Escaped, a term is only ever a term.
+ *
+ * Bracketed, so the {@link NOT_TRASHED} joined to it applies to both halves of the `or`.
  */
 const driveQuery = (query: string) => {
   const escaped = query.replace(/\\/g, "\\\\").replace(/'/g, "\\'");
-  return `name contains '${escaped}' or fullText contains '${escaped}'`;
+  return `(name contains '${escaped}' or fullText contains '${escaped}') and ${NOT_TRASHED}`;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -334,7 +346,9 @@ export async function callTool(
       pageSize: String(PAGE_SIZE),
       fields: `files(${FILE_FIELDS})`,
       // Drive's own ordering for "recent". Search leaves it to relevance.
-      ...(query ? { q: driveQuery(query) } : { orderBy: "modifiedTime desc" }),
+      ...(query
+        ? { q: driveQuery(query) }
+        : { q: NOT_TRASHED, orderBy: "modifiedTime desc" }),
     });
     if (!result.ok) return failure(result.message);
 
diff --git a/server/tests/google-drive-rest.test.ts b/server/tests/google-drive-rest.test.ts
index 5ffd6a4c9..303ed020a 100644
--- a/server/tests/google-drive-rest.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/google-drive-rest.test.ts
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ describe("a search becomes the right Drive request", () => {
       "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files",
     );
     expect(url.searchParams.get("q")).toBe(
-      "name contains 'roadmap' or fullText contains 'roadmap'",
+      "(name contains 'roadmap' or fullText contains 'roadmap') and trashed = false",
     );
     expect(calls[0].authorization).toBe("Bearer test-token");
   });
@@ -220,17 +220,22 @@ describe("a search becomes the right Drive request", () => {
 
     const q = new URL(calls[0].url).searchParams.get("q");
     expect(q).toBe(
-      "name contains 'don\\'t ship' or fullText contains 'don\\'t ship'",
+      "(name contains 'don\\'t ship' or fullText contains 'don\\'t ship') and trashed = false",
     );
   });
 
-  test("recent files are ordered by Drive rather than filtered", async () => {
+  /*
+   * `files.list` returns trashed files unless the query excludes them, so a document somebody had
+   * thrown away came back as a recent file, or as a match above, with nothing in its line to say it
+   * was in the trash. Both listings ask Drive to leave the trash out.
+   */
+  test("recent files are ordered by Drive, and filtered only by the trash", async () => {
     const calls = stubFetch({ files: [] });
     await callTool(connection, "list_recent_files", {});
 
     const url = new URL(calls[0].url);
     expect(url.searchParams.get("orderBy")).toBe("modifiedTime desc");
-    expect(url.searchParams.has("q")).toBe(false);
+    expect(url.searchParams.get("q")).toBe("trashed = false");
   });
 
   test("a search with nothing to search for is refused before the network", async () => {