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OneDrive didn't save my word document

Anonymous
2021-05-11T23:50:44+00:00

I've been reluctantly using OneDrive for a series of word documents for a project. I did not want to, but every time I tried to make it just a word document I'd open the file again and it'd be 'set' to OneDrive. Yesterday I was working on this for hours, and recording a lot of information from meetings with three different people, and the word document was on 'OneDrive mode' - the autosave was on, and I was signed in to my account. However, when I opened the document today, all that information is gone, and all my different documents are just Word files, not OneDrive files. I've tried using the recover unsaved files option, it says there are no unsaved files. I've tried signing in to OneDrive to look at the version history, it says there is none. I am at a loss, and incredibly angry right now. OneDrive would not let me not use it, as every time I opened the document it was a OneDrive file regardless of what I did, but then it loses all my work?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-05-12T20:20:00+00:00

    Hi Louie,

    Thank you for your response. 

    1. This is not the first time that this has happened with one of my documents - in the past, I have found that if I open the documents by going through file explorer, it usually does not have the most recent version of my document, but if I right click on the word app icon in my taskbar and open the document through there, it'll be the most recent version. However, I accessed the document through this right clicking method, and it was not the most recent version.
    2. The word file is not a shared file.

    3. Yes, through the the desktop application.

    1. I do not use a browser for any of my files.
    2. By OneDrive mode I mean the autosave is on and and I can access a version history. 
    3. I should be, but I'm not quite sure how to check.

    I managed to recover the file in question and find the version with the most recent changes - I opened Word, and scrolled down the "recent" until I found the file with the modification time that matched when I was working on it. However, it was quite far down, and doesn't explain why the most recent version of the file was one without all the saved changes.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-05-12T23:35:21+00:00

    Thank you for the response and the information provided. We acknowledge that you’re able to recover the fine in question with the most recent changes. It may have something to do with the sync issue or the files that were opened also in Word. Since it’s confirmed that the file is saved directly to OneDrive and has the AutoSave feature automatically on, you can also view the previous versions of a file and make sure that it reflects the changes that you’ve made, by following the steps here: View previous versions of Office files.

    Then, making sure that you’re connected to a stable Internet connection can help in syncing all the changes to OneDrive accordingly. If you can also create a backup of your files or have them save to your local storage, it can also help in making sure that you keep your files secured from being lost.

    If you may have other questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to let us know.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-05-12T18:28:24+00:00

    Hi SophiaC_04,

    Thank you for posting here at the Microsoft Community Forum.

    We got your concern about the Word document that was not saved in OneDrive. We understand how you feel and of the importance this matter to be addressed. Allow us to check on this and we’ll assist you in the best way we can.

    We acknowledge and appreciate the steps you’ve done so far in trying to recover the files. Based on the description in the post, it may be a syncing issue or may be related to the Autosave function since it was mentioned that it’s always on. For us to learn more about the situation and isolate this at the same time, we’d like to ask the following questions:

    1. Is this the first time that this happens with a Word document that was not saved?
    2. May we confirm if the affected Word document is a shared file with other users that are also working on it?
    3. Just to clarify, you are working with the document through the Word desktop application. Is that correct?
    4. How are you accessing OneDrive files? Is it through the Windows File Explorer where you’re account signed into it or from a browser via https://onedrive.live.com/?
    5. When you mentioned that the document was on OneDrive mode, do you mean the document is automatically being saved to OneDrive whenever changes are made?
    6. Are you signed into your account in OneDrive on a single device only?

    Please be informed that the questions above can help us narrow down the cause of this concern. We’ll provide further recommendations in our next reply. We’d love to hear from you soon.

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