Forum Discussion
Recovering Deleted Files
Aloha,
As a teacher, I have a large Excel 2016 workbook containing information on about 250 students. The first sheet, called Student Information, contains all their demographic data, such as name, ID number, birthday, address, parent names, etc. I also have some sheets that contain related information, such as faculty phone numbers, etc. Then I have an individual tab for each student, where I keep their attendance, grades, etc. I have designed the individual sheets so that I just type in the student's name at the top and then all their demographic data is imported from the Student Information sheet via the VLOOKUP command.
While working on one of the individual student tabs, my screen suddenly flashed and dumped me into the Faculty sheet. That's when I noticed that the Student Information tab was missing. Apparently the whole sheet was deleted somehow when the screen flashed. "Undo" does not work for deleted sheets (although I think it should). I had "Auto Save" turned on, so I could not click "Save As" and then reopen the original workbook in order to retrieve the deleted sheet. So I tried File --> Restore, but I am unable to open any of the previous versions of the workbook. When I click on a previous version, I get a message stating that the workbook is unable to be opened and asking if it could have been moved or deleted? But it does not offer me any options.
I have a backup version of the workbook, so I opened it and copied the Student Information sheet into the original workbook. But now none of the references work and I'm getting #REF errors everywhere even though the copied/inserted sheet is identical to the deleted one and has an identical name. I'm guessing there is a hidden address reference that I don't know how to access. Any ideas?
Thank you!
Hi Laurel,
Since you have AutoSave that means you works with cloud storage (OneDrive or Sharepoint library). You may recover your previous version if you open that storage in browser, from 3-dots menu near file name select Version history and with opened pane you may restore the version you need. If you sync cloud storage with local drive it try to restore using File Explorer it works only with file history on local drive, not in cloud. Different mechanism.
Save As is not available with AutoSave, there is Save a Copy instead. Actually works the same way as SaveAs on drive storage. As a comment and bit simplified, in cloud files connected not to the name but internal ID:s, with SaveAs here you'll have exactly the same file but renamed. Save a copy is more correct.
As for the #REF it appeared as soon as your sheet was deleted. Excel doesn't remember the history of what it was before, if you add identical new sheet to the workbooks that means nothing for Excel.
In brief, try to restore previous version directly in cloud.
13 Replies
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Hi Laurel,
Since you have AutoSave that means you works with cloud storage (OneDrive or Sharepoint library). You may recover your previous version if you open that storage in browser, from 3-dots menu near file name select Version history and with opened pane you may restore the version you need. If you sync cloud storage with local drive it try to restore using File Explorer it works only with file history on local drive, not in cloud. Different mechanism.
Save As is not available with AutoSave, there is Save a Copy instead. Actually works the same way as SaveAs on drive storage. As a comment and bit simplified, in cloud files connected not to the name but internal ID:s, with SaveAs here you'll have exactly the same file but renamed. Save a copy is more correct.
As for the #REF it appeared as soon as your sheet was deleted. Excel doesn't remember the history of what it was before, if you add identical new sheet to the workbooks that means nothing for Excel.
In brief, try to restore previous version directly in cloud.
@Sergei Bakl
Hello Sergei Bakl,
My saved excel files are showing blank and the opened file hasn't the file name. When I open the same file from the recently closed files are working properly. That means, I double click the saved files from the drives and desktop are not opening.
Thanks in advance.....looking for your reply.
With regards,
Zakeer Thondiyil.
Zakeer, check if your files association is not broken. For Windows 10 that's Settings->Apps->Default Apps->Choose default application by file type
I have inadvertently saved updated info over a previous version of an excel doc and want to restore the original one, but it is set to Auto Save to One Drive. How do I navigate to the doc in a browser to find those magic 3 dots? Would greatly appreciate extra help!
SergeiBaklan wrote:Hi Laurel,
Since you have AutoSave that means you works with cloud storage (OneDrive or Sharepoint library).
SergeiBaklan wrote:Hi Laurel,
Since you have AutoSave that means you works with cloud storage (OneDrive or Sharepoint library). You may recover your previous version if you open that storage in browser, from 3-dots menu near file name select Version history and with opened pane you may restore the version you need. If you sync cloud storage with local drive it try to restore using File Explorer it works only with file history on local drive, not in cloud. Different mechanism.
Save As is not available with AutoSave, there is Save a Copy instead. Actually works the same way as SaveAs on drive storage. As a comment and bit simplified, in cloud files connected not to the name but internal ID:s, with SaveAs here you'll have exactly the same file but renamed. Save a copy is more correct.
As for the #REF it appeared as soon as your sheet was deleted. Excel doesn't remember the history of what it was before, if you add identical new sheet to the workbooks that means nothing for Excel.
In brief, try to restore previous version directly in cloud.
. If you sync cloud storage with local drive it try to restore using File Explorer it works only with file history on local drive, not in cloud. Different mechanism.Save As is not available with AutoSave, there is Save a Copy instead. Actually works the same way as SaveAs on drive storage. As a comment and bit simplified, in cloud files connected not to the name but internal ID:s, with SaveAs here you'll have exactly the same file but renamed. Save a copy is more correct.
As for the #REF it appeared as soon as your sheet was deleted. Excel doesn't remember the history of what it was before, if you add identical new sheet to the workbooks that means nothing for Excel.
In brief, try to restore previous version directly in cloud.
That's bit different for the personal OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.
Right click on synced file and check view online
or go directly to onderive.live.com,
here you may right click on file icon and select version history. If shift on List/Compact list view using one of top right icons, 3 dots will be to the right from the file name.
Thank you, Sergei; I appreciate the help. Using your suggestion, I was able to recover a 2-day old version from the cloud which still has the Student Information sheet intact.
Laurel, you are welcome. Using cloud has some pros.
