Urgent Issue: Unable to Select Specific Date for File Recovery in OneDrive

Question

Urgent Issue: Unable to Select Specific Date for File Recovery in OneDrive

Essam Amhimed 20

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20260307_103057(1)

Dear Microsoft Community,

I am experiencing a major issue with file recovery in OneDrive. When I click 'recover', I can only choose from standard options like today, yesterday, or up to three weeks ago. I do not have the ability to manually select a specific date. This is crucial, as my photos were uploaded starting on the 23rd, and I need to retrieve them exactly from that date. Despite my attempts, the OneDrive support team keeps sending standard replies and does not assist further. I have already followed all standard procedures: removing passwords, disabling sync, no other accounts, no other devices. Everything on my end is thoroughly checked, and the issue lies within OneDrive itself, either on the server, in synchronization, or another internal cause. Thus, I urgently need professional help. Please assist.

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Answer 1

Please note that this is Dutch Q&A Forum, any threads should be posted in Dutch. However, I will still provide an answer in English based on your initial response. Please note that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

Hi Essam Amhimed

First of all, apologize for the inconveniences that you are facing. I can understand how it feels when losing your important files and unable to recover it.

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators and contributors, including external Microsoft employees, are not allowed to directly interfere with Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. Our role is limited solely to providing technical guidance on reported incidents, requests, or ideas.

I wish I could do more for you right now, but my role is limited to the internal system, I can't personally recover your files myself. Thank you for your patience and understanding

Answer 2

Essam Amhimed 20

This confirms that there was activity on my account on those specific dates.

Jeronimo Fuerte 46,765 Reputatiepunten Onafhankelijke adviseur

2026-03-12T22:51:24.1766667+00:00

Even if files show an upload date such as February 24 or 25 in their metadata, the restore tool will only allow recovery for the range where OneDrive detected recoverable changes or activity snapshots. If earlier restore points are not listed in the timeline, they cannot be selected from the interface. In this situation, the recommended approach is to check Version History of individual files or the Recycle Bin, or verify whether the activity timeline extends further when adjusting the restore slider, as the availability of restore dates depends entirely on the changes that OneDrive recorded for the account.
Essam Amhimed 20 Reputatiepunten

2026-03-13T07:01:20.8+00:00

I would like to emphasize that it is not normal that on February 24 and 25, and especially starting from February 26, a major change occurred in my account which resulted in an email from OneDrive informing me that a large number of files had been deleted at once.

Normally, such a significant activity should be recorded and visible in the restore timeline, but this is not the case. Starting from February 26, my files began to disappear automatically from my OneDrive without my intention.

In my current situation, if something is deleted now, it immediately appears in the restore timeline. However, for the events that happened around February 24, 25 and 26, this activity is not registered at all. This is not normal.

If these events were not recorded by the system, then this indicates a problem within Microsoft OneDrive, not on my side. I could not prevent the automatic deletions, and I also cannot be responsible if the system failed to register such major changes.

Therefore, I am once again urgently requesting Microsoft OneDrive to conduct a thorough internal investigation so that your team can identify the real cause of this issue.

I have already followed all the recommended steps for several weeks. These files are extremely important personal data, and I am paying for a secure cloud service. The situation cannot continue like this, and I kindly ask for professional and concrete assistance to resolve this issue.
Jeronimo Fuerte 46,765 Reputatiepunten Onafhankelijke adviseur

2026-03-14T22:50:54.43+00:00

OneDrive only allows restoration from the activity history it currently has available; if a specific day does not appear with usable recorded changes, there is no manual way for support to “add” a new restore point for that missing date. They cannot create an artificial restore point for February 24 or 25 if those reversible changes are not present in the restore timeline itself.

If the specific date you want does not appear, or only a few recent dates are selectable, that generally means there were not enough recoverable logged changes for that earlier date in the restore timeline, a second possibility, especially if files briefly come back and then disappear again, is that sync is still actively processing changes from another resoration proces, session, or the cloud state, so the account keeps reapplying what OneDrive sees as the latest version instead of preserving the older one you expect.
Essam Amhimed 20 Reputatiepunten

2026-03-14T23:17:45.2066667+00:00

what I find really strange is that my files completely disappeared from my phone, but they arrived as temporary files in OneDrive. How is it possible that my files disappear from my phone, go to OneDrive, get deleted, and then when I try to restore them, they come back as temporary files? If it were a sync problem, I should at least still have my original files on my phone, but that’s not the case. I really think there is something wrong with the server or with OneDrive itself, because this is definitely not normal. So, how is it that on the 24th and 25th, I received an email saying that my files were deleted a large part of themso on that date, there was definitely activity that OneDrive could have registered as something wrong. But it still wasn’t able to record it on the timeline as a restore action or a restore date for that day. That just isn’t normal.
Jeronimo Fuerte 46,765 Reputatiepunten Onafhankelijke adviseur

2026-03-15T15:45:20.0333333+00:00

A plausible explanation is that the phone completed at least part of the upload process, so the original files were no longer safely stored on the device, but OneDrive only preserved incomplete or intermediate cloud-side files instead of the finalized originals. That is why I mentioned it could still be related to a sync issue.

As for why you only see 2 days in the restore timeline, one possibility is that a restore may already have been attempted 2 days ago. If that happened, the earlier activity may no longer be available as a separate restore point, which could explain why only the 2 days after that appear as restorable.
Essam Amhimed 20 Reputatiepunten

2026-03-15T17:49:09.18+00:00

What I want to emphasize is that my files, my videos, went straight to my cloud in their original state. They were not temporary files at that moment, and I could view them without any issues, both on my phone and on my laptop. The problem arose only when the files were deleted. After several recovery attempts, they were eventually turned into temporary files. As you mentioned earlier, I had issues with recovery, and although it was recovered, it was also deleted. What is very strange is that during that period, around the 26th and 27th, everything was indeed registered, and I could perfectly restore up to two days back. But now, when I delete something, only the last two days are recorded. That is the problem I have with OneDrive. We can keep discussing this issue, but as long as the OneDrive support team does nothing, it will not be resolved. There is no logic behind this problem and no clear explanation. What I want to make clear to you is that this is really within OneDrive itself, and we can keep talking about it
Jeronimo Fuerte 46,765 Reputatiepunten Onafhankelijke adviseur

2026-03-15T18:06:46.5166667+00:00

At this point, if you believe the problem is within OneDrive itself, then the best next step is to use the Feedback option directly from OneDrive. That is the most useful path because it allows you to report the issue together with the exact account state, screenshots, screen recording, timeline behavior, deletion emails, and the fact that files were originally visible and usable before later becoming temporary files after repeated recovery attempts.

When sending that feedback, I would suggest including a short but very clear summary: that files uploaded normally on February 24 and 25, that mass deletions started around February 26, that OneDrive sent deletion emails, that current deletions do appear in the restore timeline but the earlier critical period does not, and that repeated recovery attempts eventually caused files to return as temporary files. Also mention that you already checked the usual steps and that the problem appears reproducible only in OneDrive’s restore/history behavior. If the issue is truly on the OneDrive side, the feedback route is the best option because community replies cannot investigate internal logging or missing restore-point registration, while feedback is the channel most likely to reach the product team with the diagnostic context they would need.
Essam Amhimed 20 Reputatiepunten

2026-03-15T18:53:05.5633333+00:00

This is really, really bad. I want to emphasize why I am posting this here in the community, because I have tried everything to reach them, both via feedback and through support. And unfortunately, to this day, I still have not received any concrete feedback, no relevant feedback, to resolve this problem. I only received a set of steps, and I have gotten that same set of steps so many times that I now know them by heart. I am stuck, unfortunately, in this endless maze. It is really terrible that OneDrive, Microsoft, is doing nothing about this. I truly feel powerless. It is unacceptable that I, for a paid service, can no longer play my files like this. It feels like I am paying to have my valuable files simply destroyed.

Answer 3

My files were definitely uploaded to OneDrive on February 24 and February 25. I can clearly see this in the file information/details of the photos, where it shows the date when OneDrive uploaded them to the cloud. This confirms that there was activity on my account on those specific dates.

Starting from February 26, my files began to disappear automatically from my OneDrive storage without my intention. Since then, every time I restore the files, they appear again but later they are deleted again and moved back to the recycle bin.

Because the files were uploaded on February 24 and 25, I expected these dates to appear in the “Restore your OneDrive” timeline. However, those dates are not available, even though there was clearly activity on those days.

This is why the situation is very confusing for me. If OneDrive uploaded the files on those dates, there should be activity recorded in the system that allows restoration to those specific days.

Being able to restore my OneDrive to February 24 or February 25 would be extremely important for me, because it would allow me to recover my files and download them safely before they disappear again.

Thank you for taking the time to look into this issue.

Answer 4

Essam Amhimed 20

20260310_200628(1)

Unfortunately, the problem is that I can only go back about four days in the restore tool. I do not have the possibility to go further back. For example, I cannot move the slider to 10 days ago or even 20 days ago, even though I should normally be able to do that.

In the screenshot I shared with you, you can clearly see that even when I move the bar further back, the system still only shows restore options from the last four days. The other days simply do not appear, and I cannot select them.

This is exactly the issue I am facing, and I do not understand why this is happening.

I would really appreciate it if this could be checked as soon as possible, because I am worried that my files may be permanently lost if this cannot be resolved in time.

Thank you for your help.

Jeronimo Fuerte 46,765 Reputatiepunten Onafhankelijke adviseur

2026-03-12T17:04:48.0966667+00:00

This means that there is no activity available on those days to restore. If even when you select 29 days, you only see 4 days because there is nothing recorded before that. You could try using the 3-week period if the files fall within that timeframe.

Also, since this is a community forum, most responses come from other community members rather than official support agents. However, even support agents would not be able to change this, as it depends on the available changes that OneDrive can actually detect and reverse.

Answer 5

Jeromimo fuerteUnfortunately, the problem is that I can only go back about four days in the restore tool. I do not have the possibility to go further back. For example, I cannot move the slider to 10 days ago or even 20 days ago, even though I should normally be able to do that.

In the screenshot I shared with you, you can clearly see that even when I move the bar further back, the system still only shows restore options from the last four days. The other days simply do not appear, and I cannot select them.

This is exactly the issue I am facing, and I do not understand why this is happening.

I would really appreciate it if this could be checked as soon as possible, because I am worried that my files may be permanently lost if this cannot be resolved in time.

Thank you for your help.