Lost several day's worth of work in an Excel file?

Anonymous
2023-09-11T07:06:01+00:00

I opened, edited and saved a file in Excel several times last week without issue. This included adding a new sheet, then editing it over several days.

The file is in my work account's OneDrive.

Today I opened that same file to find that all my recent work (the whole sheet) has vanished; it seems to now be a version from 2 months ago, according to the last saved date. So naturally there is nothing in version history, and I cannot find any way to check for unsaved recent changes, but in any case, it was saved and opened again several times last week without issue, so I wouldn't expect unsaved recent changes to contain anything except perhaps the most recent edit.

How is this even possible!! Is there any way to recover the many hours of work I have lost?

My device is Windows 11, I have a personal account and a work account on the machine (and I have checked; it wasn't saved in my personal OneDrive).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | Other | Windows

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.

0 comments

56 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-11-27T16:04:03+00:00

    POTENTIAL FIX

    This just happened to me on a work computer - my file was saved on my work OneDrive and nowhere else. The computer installed an update overnight and this morning I had lost a months worth of changes though I know I use and save multiple times a day. Here's what I did:

    In the altered excel file: File -> Options -> Save (in left panel)

    I saw that my AutoRecover file location is set to C:\Users*Username*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel - investigating this folder, I saw not one file related to the file I lost, so I looked to see if it was saved locally instead:

    C:\Users*Username*\AppData*Local*\Microsoft\Excel\TemporaryBackupFile

    and VOILA! Only one file in the folder and it was the last version of my file (last saved yesterday) labelled with today's date included before the file name. I just Saved As another version to my OneDrive AND my hard drive so I have more than one copy in case this happens again.

    I hope this helps if it happens to anyone else again!!

    Was this answer helpful?

    30+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-02T17:55:17+00:00

    I officially love you! I had the same issue as everyone else. A file that I work on daily and save daily showed I hadn't touched it in over a month. All the data gone. This worked!!!!! Thank you!

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2025-01-10T02:18:00+00:00

    Same thing just happened to me was working on onedrive with autosave. Tried all steps from the other answer did not worked. (WIN11)

    But following steps worked.

    1. Find you file on onedrive.
    2. Right Click on the file
    3. Go "One drive" tab
    4. Click on "View Online"
    5. Go "File" and "Version History"
      or
    6. Right click on one drive icon next to the clock.
    7. Click "View Online"
    8. Open Your File that you need to recover
    9. Go "File" and "Version History"
      You will find all the version you worked on and got saved by onedrive.
      It is too late now but I hope it will help in the future and others too.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2025-02-06T13:48:44+00:00

    woooow this worked Thanks a lot I was half dead with brain running crazy

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2025-02-11T20:30:38+00:00

    My faith in the world is restored. It's so reassuring that when MS ruins someone's day, we the people stick together and solve it. Thank you so much @guestasaurus.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments