How to restore an overwritten excel file?

Hello. Unfortunately, in this situation, previous versions cannot be restored.

When you overwrite a file, the old version is completely overwritten on the disk; therefore, unless you have a backup, there is virtually no way to recover it.

Based on the details provided (no OneDrive/SharePoint, no File History/Previous Versions, and nothing relevant in Excel’s Unsaved files folder), there is no Microsoft-native way to restore the earlier content of that overwritten workbook.

Excel and Windows can only recover an earlier version if at least one of these was true before the overwrite:

1. AutoRecover/AutoSave had created a separate recoverable version that still exists, and
2. The file was stored in a location with Version History (OneDrive/SharePoint/Teams), or
3. Windows File History/backup or a restore point captured an older copy of the file.

The context shows the supported recovery options:

• If AutoRecover had a copy and the file was closed without saving, it could be recovered via File > Info > Manage Workbook > Recover Unsaved Workbooks, then Restore or Save As. This does not apply when the file was successfully saved and closed with the new changes.
• If the file were in OneDrive/SharePoint, Version History could be used to restore a previous version.
• On Windows or macOS with AutoSave and cloud storage, Version History in the app could roll back to an earlier version.

Because:

• The file was saved normally (not “closed without saving”),
• There are no previous versions in Windows’ “Previous Versions” tab,
• The file is not in OneDrive/SharePoint (no cloud Version History), and
• The UnsavedFiles/AutoRecover folder does not contain an earlier copy of this workbook,

the earlier version is not available through Excel, Windows, or OneDrive/SharePoint recovery features.

The only remaining possibility would be a non-Microsoft backup (third‑party backup software or disk/file recovery tools). Those are outside the documented Microsoft recovery methods and are not guaranteed to work.

For future protection, enable one or more of these:

• Store important workbooks in OneDrive or SharePoint so Version History is available.
• Ensure AutoRecover is turned on so unsaved work can be recovered if Excel or Windows crashes.
• Use Windows backup/File History or another backup solution to keep historical copies of files.

References:

• Recover an earlier version of an Office file
• What is AutoSave?
• Restore a previous version of an Excel file