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OneDrive Files Missing: How to Recover Lost OneDrive Files?
Found your OneDrive files missing? Check out this troubleshooting guide and easily recover lost OneDrive files with 4 feasible methods.
By Lora / Updated on April 2, 2024
“Why have my OneDrive files disappeared?”
To seek convenience during work and life, considerable users will subscribe to and purchase cloud storage services to make sure they could access their vital files everywhere they want.
For instance, using OneDrive, one can view, check, edit, and share files on multiple devices, including computers and phones. The changes you made will also appear on other ends, which is really convenient and user-friendly.
However, this brings troubles as well. Once the files get missing or deleted, they will not stand or fall alone on only 1 device, but get removed from everywhere, which is pretty horrible.
OneDrive Files Disappeared
A series of folders are all empty! All of the files are missing. The folders and subfolders are present, but all the files in these folders and subfolders are simply gone.
- Question from Microsoft Community
Plenty of users are being bothered by the OneDrive files missing issue and don’t know why or how to perform OneDrive file recovery.
Reasons why OneDrive files missing from your account
Several factors lead to file loss from OneDrive. Then, solutions according to these reasons will be introduced in the next part.
▩ Wrong account. You might have signed into the wrong Microsoft account.
▩ The shared file/folder was deleted. If the lost files were shared with you, they might have been deleted by the owner.
▩ Poor activity. According to Microsoft, if the account has been in an inactive state for 2 years, the files in it may get deleted. Some users have reported that "OneDrive deleted all my files" might have met this issue.
▩ Sync problem. The files might haven’t been synced properly due to Onedrive versions, filename length, permissions, etc.
▩ Deletion. You might have accidentally deleted the Onedrive files and they exceeded 30 days or were emptied from the Recycle bin.
Troubleshoot: OneDrive files missing issue
Corresponding solutions are prepared as well. Try and find one helpful to your situation and learn how to recover lost files in OneDrive.
1. Check if you have logged in to the correct account
As mentioned above, you might have logged into an incorrect Microsoft account. Thus you have no access to your own files.
Check if the account is wrong and re-log into your OneDrive account.
Click the profile icon > Sign in with a different account > log in.
2. Connect the owner to share them with you again
OneDrive supports data sharing to facilitate working cooperation. You could view, and sometimes edit the files shared by others on your OneDrive. Go to Shared > Shared with you > check the files.
If the lost OneDrive file was shared by others, when the owner deletes the file from their drive, this file will be inaccessible to you right away. Thus, you may find it lost from your end, and see a notice of “This folder is empty.”
Just go and connect the file owner and regain access to recover lost OneDrive files.
3. Recover lost OneDrive files by fixing the sync problems
If the above situations don’t match yours, you may have a sync issue. The files might haven’t been properly synced yet, or you have met a OneDrive sync pending issue.
Some fixes may help.
- Check your network connection.
- See if you are using the latest version of OneDrive.
- Shorten the filenames if they were too long.
- Pause syncing and then resume syncing.
4. Fix OneDrive files missing issue by recovering deleted OneDrive files easily
If all these given fixes are not suitable for you, other efficient approaches are necessary now. Since the files were not inaccessible due to the wrong account, collaboration, and sync issues, they might have been deleted.
Then how to recover lost files in OneDrive that were deleted?
Commonly, it is feasible to restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive from its recycle bin in 30 days; or, restore from the desktop Recycle Bin if it hasn’t been emptied yet.
However, data easily gets permanently deleted due to the time limit, not to mention that many users have no idea how to get them back since they have accidentally emptied the Recycle Bin.
Given this, professional Windows data recovery tools come to help. Using an efficient app, you won’t be bothered by data loss issues anymore, since it scans the hard disk for deleted and missing files effectively.
MyRecover, facilitating users to perform OneDrive file recovery, is a good option for you.
Fix the OneDrive files missing issue without difficulties
- Restore 200+ types of deleted and missing files from internal/external HDD/SSD/memory card, and USB flash drives.
- Scan, select, and restore wanted files in only 3 steps quickly.
- Support file recovery while scanning, no need to wait for a complete scanning result.
- Compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7/Server.
Step 1. Install and run this app > Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.
Step 2. It supports sorting the detected files by Date modified, Type, Size, and Path, etc.
Step 3. Go to Deleted files > find the Onedrive folder > choose the deleted or missing OneDrive files > click Recover x files.
Thus you could recover lost OneDrive files in a breeze. It also helps recover deleted files from Dropbox.
Related suggestions
OneDrive files missing issue could be properly settled with the fixes offered in this post. Just log into the correct Microsoft account, check the sync feature, regain permission to the shared files, or use a professional and easy tool.
For the sake of precaution, take some actions to protect your data.
- Do not delete synced files in a hurry.
- When you need to empty the Recycle Bin, make sure no important files were deleted.
- Create cloud and local backups to protect your data. Use professional backup software for Windows to help you.
- Keep the vital file copies stored in different places.
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