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).

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2025-03-30T19:56:26+00:00

    Craig, in my case the Excel files that I mentioned had updates on a weekly basis and reverted to a version that was months old with all the weekly versions correctly showing in the version history. Maybe it could be that I have been exiting and shutting down my computer before the last change was fully synced and maybe not saved properly?

    Perhaps.

    My understanding is that the autosave function does not work unless files are opened within OneDrive. You must manually save the changes if you work on them elsewhere. Are you working on the original files within OneDrive? Are you working on an old version?

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-30T17:44:33+00:00

    Craig, in my case the Excel files that I mentioned had updates on a weekly basis and reverted to a version that was months old with all the weekly versions correctly showing in the version history. Maybe it could be that I have been exiting and shutting down my computer before the last change was fully synced and maybe not saved properly?

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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. 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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