Word Documents Gone

Question

my word documents are gone from Office 2024 and it seems to default to OneDrive

Answer 1

Hi, @Kathy Lombard

Office 2024 itself does not store your Word documents, so they may still be on the PC even if they no longer appear in Word.

Can you check File Explorer and look under "Documents" and "OneDrive > Documents"?

Also, please let me know:

1. Are the documents missing from File Explorer too, or only from Word's "Recent" list?
2. Did this start after you signed into OneDrive or changed your Microsoft account?
3. If you search File Explorer for *.docx, do any of the missing documents appear?

Thanks!

Answer 2

If Word now defaults to OneDrive, the files may still be in OneDrive rather than missing from the PC.

Try this:

1. In Word, save new files locally by going to File > Options > Save.
2. Turn on Save to Computer by default.
3. Set Default local file location to a folder outside the OneDrive folder.

To look for the missing documents:

1. Sign in to the OneDrive website.
2. Use Search everything to search by filename, file type, date, or keywords.
3. Check Recycle bin on the left and restore any files found there.
4. If more than one Microsoft account is used on the PC, check the other account too, because files may have been saved to a different OneDrive.

If Word or Office closed unexpectedly before the files were saved, open Word again and check the Document Recovery pane. Open the most recent recovered version and save it.

For future saves, storing files in OneDrive keeps them automatically saved. If local-only storage is preferred, keep Save to Computer by default enabled and use a non-OneDrive folder.

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