Office 365 School Account: Old Word Docs

Samantha Quach 1

Today is 9/2/21 and I wanted to see some notes I had done in Word (Office 365 school account) last year during Fall 2020 but I can't find them (I did not delete them). Do old files get deleted over a certain amount of time if not accessed? If they do, how do I retrieve them?

2 answers

Stefan Blom 2,081 Reputation points MVP

2021-09-03T07:32:09.72+00:00

Is this OneDrive? Older files do not get deleted automatically. If your OneDrive is low on storage space you should see a notification.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Samantha Quach 1 Reputation point

2021-09-03T20:57:21.267+00:00

Hello Stefan,

I don't specifically save the file to OneDrive, I just go into the Word section of office for my student Office 365 and start a new blank document to type out some notes. Usually it "saves" to my Word on the website for later viewing but I do see my recent Word documents that I've created are listed in my OneDrive so I assume they're being saved there but I only see files created from Winter 2020 but none of the files I created before that time (and the notes I need were created during Fall 2020).

Attached is an image of where I usually try to access my Word files. What I see on this site is what I see in my OneDrive as well.

Thanks for your quick response and have a good one.

With regards,
Samantha

Stefan Blom 2,081 Reputation points MVP

2021-09-17T18:43:55.7+00:00

OneDrive is the default save location for most installations, unless you manually pick another location. You can always use File > Open from within Word or go directly to your OneDrive storage at https://onedrive.live.com.
Sign in to comment
Emi Zhang-MSFT 22,011 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-09-03T08:04:30.037+00:00

Hi @Samantha Quach ,
Where did you save the document? In local PC or online?
I suggest you go to Office Home and check if you can find the Word documents:

https://www.office.com

Please be a bit more precise to explain your problem or you can upload a screenshot so that I can get more accurate solutions to this problem. I’m glad to help and follow up your reply.

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Samantha Quach 1 Reputation point

2021-09-03T21:02:05.177+00:00

Hello Emi,

I didn't really save the document, I create a blank document on Office 365 student > Word. Whenever I create a new document, it usually saves to my recent activity in Word and also I see it available in the OneDrive section, so I'm only assuming it's saving to OneDrive (online).

Attached is a screenshot of what I use to see my previously created documents

The list of Word documents are also what I see in the OneDrive section but I only see files until Winter 2020 and nothing before that. I am trying to find notes I had created in Fall 2020.

Thank you so much for your time and kindness Emi!

With regards,
Samantha

Emi Zhang-MSFT 22,011 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-09-15T02:03:49.707+00:00

sign to OneDrive directly and check if you can find files there:
https://onedrive.live.com/
Sign in to comment