Recovering files

Question

Recovering files

Skyler Siegel Oken 0

I had two files that I was working on extensively - one in Preview and one in PowerPoint. Both were saved to OneDrive with Autosave on - I checked multiple times. When closed, neither saved and are no where to be found. It is ridiculous that this is not the first time this has happened. The iPad has crashed so much that I started using OneDrive as a backup and this is proving to still be inefficient, which is extremely frustrating. Need assistance to find these so that they can be salvaged.

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Answer 1

Aetherin 1,725 Independent Advisor

Hi @Skyler Siegel Oken,

I'm sorry you're experiencing this.

First, I'd like to note that I'm a fellow community member and not a Microsoft representative. However, I'd like to do my best to help you.

I noticed your post is tagged For Education. Could you kindly confirm whether you're using a school/work Microsoft 365 account or a personal Microsoft account? If you have multiple Microsoft accounts signed in, please double-check each one, as the files may have been saved to a different account.

In the meantime, I'd recommend checking whether the files can still be found through OneDrive on the web.

Please sign in to https://onedrive.com and use the Search function to look for the file name or keywords related to the missing files. You may also want to review My files, Recent, Shared, and any folders you accessed recently. If the files are found, please try restoring or opening them from there.

It would also be worth checking the OneDrive Recycle Bin. From OneDrive on the web, open Recycle Bin and look for the missing files. If they are present, select them and choose Restore.

If the files never successfully uploaded to OneDrive, there may not be a cloud copy or version available for recovery. In that case, it's important to verify whether you were working on a local copy instead.

Since one of the files was opened in Preview, it's possible that Preview was accessing a local copy stored on the device, or a file located in iCloud Drive or the Files app, rather than editing the version stored directly in OneDrive.

On your iPad, please open the Files app and check locations such as Recent, On My iPad, iCloud Drive, and OneDrive.

I look forward to hearing back from you. Hopefully we can narrow this down and identify the best recovery path. Please share any updates in the comments and I'll be happy to assist further.

Skyler Siegel Oken 0 Reputation points

2026-08-11T18:18:45.07+00:00

Thanks for your response. I was using a school Microsoft account. The file was not a local copy and it is not in my Recents, Recycling Bin, iCloud, and is not on the OneDrive when I log in through the web version.
Aetherin 1,725 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-12T11:24:57.9033333+00:00

Hi @Skyler Siegel Oken,

Thank you for confirming those details.

Based on what you've checked, the chances of recovering the file are unfortunately quite low. If you are signed in to the correct school Microsoft account and the file cannot be found in any of the locations you mentioned, it usually indicates that the file was never successfully uploaded or synced to OneDrive.

If a file has been uploaded to OneDrive, there is typically at least some trace of it available, such as the file itself, version history, or an entry in OneDrive records.

For future important files when working on an iPad, I recommend opening OneDrive on the web after creating or editing a document to confirm that the file appears there. If a file is visible only in the app but not on the OneDrive website, it may not have finished uploading successfully. It's also a good practice to allow a few minutes for OneDrive or Office to complete syncing before closing the app, check for any pending sync issues or errors, and periodically save a manual copy of important work as a backup.

I understand how frustrating this situation can be, and I sincerely apologize that I am unable to provide a better outcome.

Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout our discussion.