Urgent: Files Reverting to Older Versions on OneDrive

Anonymous
2024-05-25T06:34:20+00:00

Dear Microsoft Support,

I am experiencing an issue where many of my recently used files on OneDrive have reverted to older versions over the past few months. It is only today that I have discovered this issue. I access OneDrive on two PCs, my phone, and frequently online at work.

Typically, I notice a file has been overwritten with an older version when I check the version history and see two entries with the exact same date and time. Often, the overwritten version’s file size matches that of an older version from a few entries back on the list. There is no consistency in the dates and times when this issue occurs. It seems to be happening randomly. I've found that this has occurred with hundred's of my files.

This problem has been very frustrating and has significantly undermined my confidence in OneDrive. Could you please advise me if you're aware of any such issues and if you're working to resolve them. Also, can you please advise me as to how I can prevent this from happening in the future?

Thank you for your assistance.

Regards,

Michael

Edit: Further to the above, I've also discovered that OneDrive doesn't sync automatically between my PC and Laptop when I make changes to files. I have to quit and then re-start OneDrive on the other computer in order for it to sync and receive the updated file. It also doesn't automatically sync when I attempt to restore to a previous version. In order for it to update the file back to the pervious version I have to quit and re-start OneDrive (or possibly just pause and resume syncing, which I never tried).

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  1. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2025-03-30T02:37:06+00:00

    You don't need to open a file to have it sync to OneDrive. All files in the OneDrive folder update when they start syncing. So I worry about old file versions that haven't synced to OneDrive in some time.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-30T00:01:17+00:00

    Hi Craig,

    Nope that is not the problem. Although I do access my OneDrive files on more than one computer, the files in question were not accessed on the other computer so the OneDrive files should not have been outdated. Note also that the files reverted to versions that were months old, and there were many versions in between showing in version history. I don't trust storing files exclusively to the cloud. Since this problem happened, I have started backing up to a local drive. Having said that, I still need to be vigilant to ensure that I have not resurrected an old version. Ross

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  3. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2025-03-28T02:29:52+00:00

    I believe the problem is that you boot up a PC with outdated OneDrive files that replace the most recent versions.

    I will make two suggestions, which you may consider only workarounds:

    1. Make all your files cloud-only using the Files On-Demand Free up space feature. Once you work on a file, make sure you free it up to make it cloud-only.
    2. If you have a business account, you can get a free one-month trial of a Windows 365 cloud PC so you can work with your online files in your personalized File Explorer in the cloud instead of on onedrive.com. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-365/business/windows-365-free-trial

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-03-28T01:30:50+00:00

    I also have had the problem of files reverting to previous versions.

    Here are some examples of files reverting to previous versions:

     On March 25, I opened an Excel file that had been most recently saved on March 6, 2025, showing a size of 93.2 KB.  When opened I opened this file, it showed the version that had been saved on 11 Nov 24.  Both files were the same size of 93.2 KB.

    There had been seven updates to this file from November 4^^to March 6.

    I noticed that the March 5^^save had saved two of this same file at the same exact time of 4:26 pm.  The one that it had elected to be the most recent was the one that was the 11 Nov 24 version and not the one that had just been saved.

    This problem has been happening to other files from time to time.  Last week I had another file that did the same double save (with the same save time) with the old file showing as the most current file.  This supposed most current file was also several months old.  File sizes in this case were vastly different.  I finally found the correct version through version history.  The change was significant, and I had thought that I lost months worth of data.

    I know what to look for now when I notice this error, but this is quite concerning.  If I do not notice and apply updates to an outdated file, it could end up being quite a mess.

    I hope that you can find out what is causing the OneDrive to overwrite a good save with an outdated version.  I am losing confidence in OneDrive and I am taking steps

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-03-23T14:29:55+00:00

    You should be able to open your iCloud account, find your files/folder and look for historical versions and find your most recent version and restore it. That happened to me. A very big file reverted back to a version about eight months prior and I could never have recreated all the updates. I was in panic mode. I was able to easily get my most recent update this way and it hasn’t happened again. Good luck!

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