Urgent: Files Reverting to Older Versions on OneDrive

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  If I do not notice and apply updates to an outdated file, it could end up being quite a mess.

I hope that you can find out what is causing the OneDrive to overwrite a good save with an outdated version.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

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!

Dear Microsoft Support,

I am reopening this question because I am having the same issue at the moment. All of my Excel-documents that I have saved in OneDrive are now set to an older version somewhere around June 2024. This is absolutely terrible because those Excel-sheets were huge and I used them on a daily basis. It is almost impossible to start from scratch.

Please let me know if there are any issues around OneDrive and let me know if you can restore all of the Excel files,

This is a very big break of trust in OneDrive.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Rick

You have clearly done the right thing here and I have been doing the same thing, most importantly make sure you’ve done a backup on and then external hard drive before switching on a laptop or something that hasn’t been used much, to prevent that machine overriding the current data

Microsoft are really kicking this can down the road and seem complacent in not doing a single thing to rectify this very big problem, I think it needs more awareness by other means to make sure everyone who has a one drive account, they are at serious risk of losing much of their data unless they are keeping everything backed up well away from any Microsoft product,

I really hope this very poor situation of losing data makes the much bigger awareness nationally by the more powerful means of publicity as this seems to be hiding behind Microsoft smoke screen

I just had this problem happen.

My Environment:

1. I occasionally use a computer in my Work Van, turning it on every few days as needed. I don't leave it on all the time. It has OneDrive sync.
2. I have other computers on all the time in my business. They use the same One Drive account sync.

Oh No:

Today, I turned on my Work Van computer and it started the usual OneDrive sync. But at the end of the sync, it UPLOADED an old version of a spreadsheet I knew I was updating later in the office! Oh no!

Survival:

Fortunately, I found a backup of the newer file version on my NAS in the office. My NAS performs nightly PC backups that include OneDrive files physically on my hard drive (not the OneDrive cloud files that have not been downloaded).

My Process Improvement:

1. I will continue to back up my computers daily so that the "state" of OneDrive files on each computer is preserved.
2. I will ensure my Van computer OneDrive files are synced (uploaded) before I turn the Van computer off. Hopefully, this will ensure old files are NOT uploaded when I turn the computer back on, particularly for the files I have edited in my office.
3. I will carefully monitor what the Van computer does when I turn it on. If it does bad things, I should cancel the OneDrive sync immediately. I should turn the Van Computer on every few days to get the latest OneDrive sync.
4. I should bring the Van computer into the office for an overnight backup to the NAS at least once per week, which also does a OneDrive sync and I can ensure all is working properly, including backups.

Other people:

Others may have laptops or computers they turned off for weeks or months. I have a few of those too. When they are turned on again with OneDrive auto-sync, there could be catastrophic syncing!! I'd watch carefully and have my other computer backups ready!

Rogue One (drive):

If I get a rogue OneDrive auto-sync, I can probably quickly repair my files, even if I notice the problem after a few days. I use my backups or dig through One Drive version control one file at a time.

Sleeping Better at Night:

I feel more comfortable with reliable, nightly NAS computer backups that include recently edited OneDrive files.

Whew!