I was working on a large Excel file on Android, saved in the app. It disappeared and says 'File deleted'. It was not saved to OneDrive. How can I recover it?"

Question

I was working on a large Excel file on Android, saved in the app. It disappeared and says 'File deleted'. It was not saved to OneDrive. How can I recover it?"

Anonymous

Hello,

I'm reaching out with an urgent request regarding three Excel files that suddenly disappeared from my device and are now marked as "deleted." I worked tirelessly for many days on these files using the Excel Android app on my phone. The files were saved both locally on the phone and also appeared to be synced with Google Drive.

File names:

Digital Planners – 16,000 ideas

Wall Art & Posters – 15,000 ideas

Notion Templates – 14,000 ideas

Each of these files contained tens of thousands of manually structured entries that took me hours and days of hard work. I never deleted them manually, and I made sure to save frequently. Now, when I open Notion (where the files were linked), it shows: “Original file was deleted.”

I've already checked:

My phone’s Recycle Bin / Trash

Google Drive’s Trash / Bin

The Excel app, but the files are gone from the “Recent” tab too.

Please help me understand how these files may have been deleted and if there's any possible way to recover them from app cache, history, or any temporary storage linked to the Excel app for Android.

This project means a lot to me, and I’ve put in hundreds of hours of work and research. I’d be deeply grateful if you could guide me through any way to retrieve these files or escalate this to the appropriate technical team for advanced recovery.

Thank you very much for your time and sup

port!

Best regards,

Marius

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

2 answers

Answer 1

Hi Marius,
Thank you for reaching out to the community!
Based on your query, it appears that data loss may have occurred during the synchronization process.

To provide you with the most accurate support, I’d appreciate a bit more information to help narrow down the issue.

Here are a few questions that might help clarify things:

Excel App Version and Settings
- What version of the Excel app were you using?
- Did you have AutoSave enabled in the app?
- Have you recently updated the Excel app or Android OS?
Device and App Behavior
- Did your phone recently run out of storage, restart unexpectedly, or perform a system cleanup?
- Have you cleared the Excel app’s cache or data recently?
File Access via Notion
- Were the files uploaded to Notion or just linked from local storage?
- If linked, do you recall the file path or folder they were stored in?
Backup and Recovery Attempts
- Have you tried using any file recovery tools or connected your phone to a PC to search for hidden or deleted files?
- Do you have any third-party backup apps installed that might have copies?

In the meantime, since you mentioned the file is also synced with Google Drive, I recommend reaching out to Google Support for further assistance on their end.
They may be able to provide additional insights or solutions related to the sync process.

Let me know if you need any additional assistance, I'd gladly to help you out.

Regards,
Warm regards,
Alexis-NG - Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hello Marius,

I hope you're doing well.

I just wanted to kindly follow up to see if there have been any updates or progress regarding the issue we discussed earlier. If there's anything you need from us to help move things forward, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m here to support you.

Warm regards,
Alexis-NG
Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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I was working on a large Excel file on Android, saved in the app. It disappeared and says 'File deleted'. It was not saved to OneDrive. How can I recover it?"

2 answers