Recover Word file version

Question

While working on a Word file, at the end of the editing process I renamed it and saved it in another folder intended for final files. Unfortunately, the folder was located in OneDrive rather than on the computer’s local disk. As a result of this mistake, the file is no longer present in the OneDrive folder, neither when accessing it from the desktop application nor through the OneDrive website.

Moreover, the file still appears in the list of recent documents in Word, but it cannot be opened, as Word indicates that the file may have been renamed, moved, or deleted.

Consequently, I contacted the computer’s customer support service, but they were unable to assist me, as no previous version of the file is available on the computer. I then attempted to contact Microsoft customer support; however, the support service was limited, and since my profile is part of an educational institution, it is not possible to contact direct customer support.

Therefore, my only remaining option is to seek assistance here.

Answer 1

Hello Alessandro Bressan
Thank you for posting question to Microsoft Q&A Forum.

According to your provided information, please consider checking these suggestions - if you could not find the file you expected - then it's likely that this Word file could not be recovered. This forum is peer-to-peer support, so I will not be able to check any internal system from Microsoft's side to check/recover this file for you.
1.Check AutoRecover folder: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/recover-files-in-office-for-mac-6c6425b1-6559-4bbf-8f80-4f038402ff02

2.Restoring OneDrive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore-your-onedrive-fa231298-759d-41cf-bcd0-25ac53eb8a15
This option I am giving here might not help you as if you saved the latest document in your local computer, this option will not help at all as it could restore back to the last moment you saved the file on OneDrive. However, this function will also affect the other files if you are editing multiple times and saving to OneDrive - as it brings back your OneDrive back to that moment (any newly created document will be gone as well). However, I am still writing it here in case you do not have any newly created documents up to the moment the Word file was lost.

If these options could not help you, then it's unfortunately gone. My apology for any inconveniences caused by this issue.

Please feel free to leave any comments/updates/questions if you have.

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