Old version recovery not save after December 4th 2025 with one drive

Question

Good day,

This morning I lost all saved verison of my Excel field and I lost more than 2 month of work.

I always use a the automatic save with one drive and I don't catch why there is no version after December 4th 2025

When I go to recover old version, there is no old version after December 4th 2025.

Thank you for helping me

Answer 1

Hi @Martin Biron, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A Forum.

Based on the details you shared that your Excel file’s version history in OneDrive shows no versions after December 4, 2025, and you have consequently lost more than two months of work. I truly understand how important this file is and I appreciate the steps you have already taken to review Version History. 

This behavior can occur when library versioning is limited or changed, when a file is moved or replaced which starts a fresh history, or when edits are made without an active cloud connection so new versions are not captured under the same item. Additionally, storage or compliance settings such as retention policies can change how versions are kept and surfaced in OneDrive and SharePoint.  

Since your account is managed by your organization, please contact your IT administrator to review your permissions and policies. And ask them to check the Preservation Hold library or any backup or third party protection your organization uses. Although OneDrive Restore typically covers approximately 30 days, your admin may still locate recoverable copies through retention or eDiscovery 

• If the issue persists after these checks, ask your IT administrator to submit a support request directly to Microsoft Support team.       
• They can raise a support ticket by visiting: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn 
• Or you can contact Microsoft Support via phone number: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support - Select your country/region own phone number for support.  

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.  

In the meantime, while you wait for support, please follow and check these steps that are tailored to your situation: 

1/ Confirm where versioning stopped and look for alternate copies 

• Open the file in OneDrive on the web, select the file, then select Version history to confirm the most recent timestamp and whether versions after December 4, 2025 are missing. This view also lets you restore any available version.  
• Search OneDrive on the web for possible duplicates or conflicted copies, then check the Recycle bin in case a more recent copy was deleted and can be restored.  
• If this is a work account and the loss happened recently, consider restoring your entire OneDrive to a point in time just before the versions stopped appearing. Review the activity preview first, then apply the restore if the timeline matches your scenario.  
• Refereces: 
  • Restore a previous version of a file stored in OneDrive - Microsoft Support 
  • Find lost or missing files in OneDrive - Microsoft Support 
  • Restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive - Microsoft Support 

2/ Validate versioning and compliance so future edits are captured 

• Open the folder that contains the file in OneDrive for Business, choose Open in SharePoint, go to Settings, then Library settings, then Versioning settings. Ensure creating a version on each edit is enabled and set the number of versions to retain at an appropriate level for your team. Enable and configure versioning for a list or library - Microsoft Support 
• Ask your IT admin to review any retention policies or retention labels that might affect how versions are preserved or shown, especially around early December 2025, and to check audit information if needed.  
• In Excel, confirm AutoSave is on and that the file is opened from OneDrive or SharePoint so changes are continuously saved to the cloud. If AutoSave is off or the file is local, versions will not appear in OneDrive Version History.  

3/ Attempt recovery using Excel and OneDrive recovery features 

• In Excel, review Version History from File then Info to open and restore an earlier version saved to OneDrive or SharePoint.  
• If the app ever closed without saving, use Recover Unsaved Workbooks from File then Info then Manage Workbook, and save any recovered copy with a new name.  
• If the file is in a shared library and corruption or mass changes occurred, use the Microsoft guidance for recovering missing, deleted, or corrupted items in SharePoint and OneDrive for work or school to review additional options including a library‑level restore.  
• References: 
  • View previous versions of Office files - Microsoft Support 
  • Recover an earlier version of an Office file - Microsoft Support 
  • How to recover missing, deleted or corrupted items in SharePoint and OneDrive for work or school - … 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.       

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation. 

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Answer 2

It seems you are experiencing an issue with recovering old versions of your Excel file saved in OneDrive. The absence of versions after December 4th, 2025, could be due to the version history limits set for your OneDrive or SharePoint document library. Admins can configure version limits, which may include expiration periods for older versions. If the version history settings were set to delete versions after a certain time or if the maximum number of versions was reached, this could explain why you cannot find the versions you need.

To resolve this, you may want to check with your administrator regarding the version history settings for your OneDrive. They can provide insight into whether the settings might have contributed to the loss of your previous versions.

Additionally, if you are looking to recover a previous version, you can typically do this by accessing the version history feature in OneDrive or SharePoint, provided that versions are still available within the configured limits.

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References:

• Overview of version history limits for document libraries and OneDrive
• Version history overview