Now that we're living in a mostly digital world, it's a lot easier than it used to be to accidentally delete that precious family photo or important bank statement. One slip of the finger, and whole folders of files can disappear into the digital ether.

If you're hit by such a mishap, don't panic. If you keep calm and act fast, you might be able to get your files back. In fact, you can explore a few different methods in order to restore your data. From tools built into your operating system to third-party apps you can download for free, here's how to rescue those files.

Dropbox

You can recover deleted files from Dropbox with a couple of clicks.

David Nield/Popular Science

Nowadays, you really have no excuse for not backing up everything that's on your computer and phone. The available apps are so comprehensive and easy to use that you barely have to do anything at all to update the spare copies of your data. What's more, backups happen to be your best protection against any accidental file deletion, not to mention other potential problems like ransomware.