OneDrive doesn't overwrite files?

Question

For my school work I am using OneDrive to be extra safe and have my work saved in a cloud. My Problem is when i edit a pdf file and save my changes OneDrive just saves another version of the pdf which takes up a lot of space on my OneDrive. How do I resolve my issue?

Answer 1

Dear David,

You can access previous versions of your files on OneDrive using the Version Historyfeature. This will help you manage and access the different versions of your files. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Sign in to OneDrive with your school account.
2. Navigate to the file you want to view previous versions for.
3. Right-click on the file and select Version history from the context menu.
4. In the Version History pane, you will see a list of previous versions of the file. You can select a version to view, restore, or delete it. If you have the OneDrive sync app installed on your PC, you can also access version history directly from File Explorer by right clicking the file and selecting Version history.

Please understand that our initial response may not always fully resolve the issue. If you notice any errors, please do not hesitate to inform me. With your help and additional details, we can work together to find an effective solution.

Have a great day and take care! 😊 

Sincerely, 

Naren | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Hi Jonathan!

Thank you for your explanation. I am using a school account so i can't upgrade the storage space. But now I have another Problem because I can't see the re-uploaded files on my OneDrive. I am only able to see the latest version of all the files but not all the previous versions that are being uploaded every time I save. Is there any option to access these re-uploaded files?

Answer 3

Hi David Glöckner,

Thanks for visiting Microsoft Community.

OneDrive and Office do not provide PDF editing capabilities. This means that when you edit a PDF file, it is not saved in real-time to a copy like an online Word document. Instead, the entire file is re-uploaded to OneDrive after editing, similar to a "Save As" operation. Therefore, if you want to save space, you need to manually delete the old version of the PDF file.

Additionally, are you accessing OneDrive with a personal account or a school account? If it is the former, you can subscribe to Microsoft 365 Personal or Family to get ample storage space up to 1TB. See Buy Microsoft 365 Family & Personal Subscriptions, and Office 2024 - Microsoft Store

I hope this helps clarify the situation.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist