Deleted file not listed in SharePoint Recycle bin — really?

After spending some time finding a supposedly deleted file in the SharePoint Recycle bin, I finally found out that the file was not deleted in the first place: it was just checked out!

The file was not displayed in the library and I could not find it with PowerShell either — because I was not looking in the checked-out section of the list. Bad mistake!
This can happen if a file has never been checked in before (due to missing required attributes).

Therefore, go to your library settings and navigate to “Manage files which have no checked in version”.

You could also use PowerShell:

$web = get-spweb http://webApp.com/site/yourSite
$list = $web.lists["yourList"]
$list.CheckedOutFiles

I hope this hint will help somebody.