How-To

Restore Previous Versions of Files in OneDrive

By Andre Da Costa

Updated April 15, 2021

Need to roll back a change to a OneDrive file? Here’s how to do it.

OneDrive, Microsoft’s online cloud storage platform, not only lets users store files, but also collaborate with other users when preparing documents. If you use the document authoring features built into services such as Word Online, there might be times when you need to restore files to a previous version for one reason or another. There are several ways you can do this.

Use Version History Feature in OneDrive to Restore Files

First, sign in to OneDrive, then navigate to the location of the file you would like to restore. Select the file, then click the More actions menu (…), represented by an ellipsis. Click the Version History menu; this will open the document in Word Online.

In Word Online, you will see current and previous versions of the document listed in the window. To go back to a previous version, click on it.

You can also open the document from OneDrive in Word 2016 and access a similar feature. Click the activity menu, then choose the previous version of the file. Note that this feature is only accessible when you are connected to the Internet.

If you maintain a File History backup of your OneDrive folder, you can use the built-in Previous Versions feature first introduced in Windows Vista. Right-click the file, click Properties, select the Previous Versions tab, then choose a previous version of the file. Click Restore or from the split menu, Restore to, which lets you choose an alternative location to save the file. File History might be on its way out, so this is a feature you really shouldn’t consider as your first option to restore files, but it’s there if you need it.

So, that’s a quick look at restoring your files on OneDrive. Make sure you check out our comprehensive backup guide for Windows and Mac systems. Also, Brian’s article about restoring deleted files on OneDrive deserves a look. You can also check out our article on collaboration features in Microsoft Word.