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: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-09T04:39:22+00:00

    Same / similar thing just happened to me, but my Excel file is saved to Google Drive. Not sure if that is lunacy having MS files on Google Drive and expecting support in the event of crisis. Computer crashed and somehow self-saved another Excel file over the top of my business critical file. I've just spent the best part of 3 hours following every recommended step on this forum and googling like a maniac to try and retrieve an earlier version of said file, all to no avail. Then just as I was about to give up, I stumbled on something new which I've seen no mention of anywhere .... so if all else fails try this.

    Using the search function in File Explorer, search for the name of your document (partial name will do) making sure to "Search Results in this PC" rather than selecting a specific folder or drive. When your file appears right click on it and select Show More Options, then Manage Versions. If you're as fortunate as I was, it will produce a long list of versions of the file (I got 100 versions going back around 12 months) - sort them by the Date Modified field and then find the one you want. Hey Presto !

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments