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Hi,
OneDrive has suddenly deleted files in local folders that was not synced with OneDrive.
I installed OneDrive a while ago on my work computer and copied a lot of different files including Visual Studio projects to the OneDriver folder.
Later found out that OneDrive was causing problems for the Visual Studio projects and even though I had marked all folders to also be kept locally it wasn't working correctly.
So I moved all of the Visual Studio projects and several other folders back to the original location to make sure I had them locally.
Time goes by, and today when I turn on my computer I notice a lot of old files have been synced to my Desktop which is synced using OneDrive.
Then I also realize that the files that I moved out of the OneDrive synced folders have suddenly appeared again and old versions from back when I initially copied the folders are being synced again.
When I look at the local folder that is NOT synced with OneDrive, many of the files are gone - just like that - GONE.
There is no way to get the files back and all my recent work is lost.
I have looked in the online Recycle Bin and the Second stage recycle bin and none of the files are there (since they were never in OneDrive but only locally).
It seems like OneDrive has reverted the old actions of when I moved the files to the local folder and now old versions from back then are being synced.
This is completely unacceptable.
I have lost all my recent work.
How do I get my local files that has now been deleted by OneDrive but which was not synced with OneDrive back?
A Microsoft file hosting and synchronization service.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
It happened to me recently. Fortunately I found everything in my Recycle Bin. Onedrive is quite unusable if you want to use it for syncing files.
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UGH! I decided to pay for OneDrive after the initial storage was full a long time ago. I haven't used it in over 18 months but thought that backing up my work files on a cloud would be a smart idea. NOW ONEDRIVE ERASED ALL OF THE FILES I WANTED TO PROTECT. WTH??
Is there any fix to find my files that have been erased off of my computer??? I am so mad right now and on a business trip.
From my experience the OneDrive cloud files take precedence over your local files.
Checking the recycle bins is advised however they may hold only so much and the rest may be deleted forever.
You can restore your online OneDrive, however in your case it will do you no good. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore-your-onedrive
I advise you and others in the same boat to do a file recovery procedure using file recovery software.
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Hi Mariel, did you find a solution? I am having the same problem.
OneDrive synced my files on the cloud from 2months ago and deleted all my files from my local drive. 2months of work gone, just like that. I'm panicking.
When you sign into OneDrive Microsoft assumes you want to sync your online files to your device. If your online files are outdated then you definitely don't want to sync to them.
Old files that have not been syncing should be moved to a new folder or out of OneDrive completely to be kept separate from your current files.
OneDrive does not keep file history older than one month to my knowledge if you keep OneDrive sync always enabled.