OneDrive replaces newer versions of files with old versions

I'm on my Windows 365 cloud PC. I figure that if I access the same PC in the cloud using only Files On-Demand, I won't have any old file versions in OneDrive. It's somewhat expensive, though. But, until my home internet speed matches the download and upload speeds of the cloud PC, I will continue using the PC in the cloud, for a while at least.

This has just happened to me. I powered up a machine that hadn't been used for a few weeks and onve drive synced those files losing all my work. Some I have managed to recover from previous versions in one drive. I'd like to know why this has occured as it's not acceptable and to me is a serious bug in onedrive. The idea of onedrive is that you shouldn't lose data like this. I've tried contacting microsoft but they aren't really interested, whicj frankly is not good enough when I am a paying customer for onedrive.

It's broken for sure. Luckily, I always have an internet connection available.

I do understand. I just wanted to make sure we were talking about it in the right place, since this problem seems to be such a simple one to fix for it to be taking more than a year.

"Freeing up all your files using the Files On-Demand "Free up space" feature is a good workaround"

Agree, but it has obvious downsides

"Why have outdated files sitting on your computer when the online OneDrive has the most recent versions?"

I need to have access offline, because I often work offline. I need to make changes from multiple computers because I need to use multiple computers. Having outdated files sitting on the one I'm not using is just a consequence.

"If you work on an old file version, then that becomes the latest version. Just opening an old version may pose a problem. Don't open a file until it has been fully synced and hopefully updated to the newest version from the cloud."

That's the surprising part of this all. I didn't. I'm a software developer and I do understand the complexities of synchronization, so I'm actually quite careful about never updating files unless the latest version is in the computer I'm using (either because it has synched or because I created it in that same device). I have had this issue twice, the last one is the one where I understand what happened better.

Specifically:

1. I was using Device 1 on February, and stopped using it in February too. The files were in synch before I stopped using it (I always make sure before I stop using a device)
2. I worked on Device 2 from Feb to June 13. Again, made sure the files were updated before I started working on it and after I finished.
3. On June 15, I returned to Device 1, I turned the device on and let it synch (as I always do), after the synch process finalized I started opening some files and I noticed several files had lost all the changes made on Device 2.
4. I was able to recover the files going to the version history where the right ones are the second to the last one, and the old (local) one was added as the last version. Weird enough, not with the current date or the date of the last local update, but with the exact same date as the second to the last one (that is the right / new version form my other computer)

Microsoft is aware of the issue, and I'm unable to expedite the fix.

All I have are workarounds. Freeing up all your files using the Files On-Demand "Free up space" feature is a good workaround, in my opinion. Why have outdated files sitting on your computer when the online OneDrive has the most recent versions?

If you work on an old file version, then that becomes the latest version. Just opening an old version may pose a problem. Don't open a file until it has been fully synced and hopefully updated to the newest version from the cloud.