Unwanted OneDrive restore

Question

I just spent the last two days removing all the junk that has slowly been building up in my computer. Today, OneDrive asked to sync files, and not knowing any better, restored everything I had removed. Is there a way to revert this? How do I stop this from happening again?

Answer 1

If OneDrive was not enabled when you deleted the files, then it was not syncing at that time, so if you deleted files, the files were not deleted form OneDrive.

If OneDrive is now syncing your files, delete the files on your PC again and that will also delete the files from your OneDrive account online and they will not sync back down to your PC.

You can also log into OneDrive online in a web browser (https://onedrive.live.com/) to delete any files you do not want to sync back down to your PC.

Answer 2

Yes. If OneDrive brought back a large set of files, there are two parts: stop syncing first, then restore OneDrive to an earlier point if needed.

1. Stop OneDrive from changing anything else.
   • Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar.
   • Select Pause syncing and then Quit OneDrive.
   • Open OneDrive Settings > Account > Unlink this PC.
2. If the files were restored from OneDrive and that restore needs to be undone, use Restore your OneDrive.
   • Go to the OneDrive website.
   • Select Settings > Options > Restore your OneDrive.
   • Choose a date before the unwanted restore, or use Custom date and time.
   • Review the activity chart and activity feed, then restore.
3. If only specific files came back and not the whole library, delete them from OneDrive or move them out of the OneDrive folders.
   • If a large deletion is started by mistake, let it complete, then undo with Ctrl+Z or restore the files from the OneDrive Recycle bin.
4. To stop this from happening again:
   • Keep the PC unlinked from OneDrive if the files should stay local only.
   • If OneDrive is no longer wanted, uninstall it from Settings > installed apps > Microsoft OneDrive > Uninstall.

Important:

• Removing OneDrive from the computer does not delete files from OneDrive. Files remain available by signing in to OneDrive on the web.
• If a file was permanently deleted from the OneDrive Recycle Bin, it cannot be recovered.
• When restoring OneDrive to an earlier time, files created after the restore point are moved to the OneDrive Recycle Bin.

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References:

• How to cancel or stop sync in OneDrive
• Restore your OneDrive
• Restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive