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URGENT: Need to Recover Files from Deactivated OneDrive Account – Files Appear Locally with Previews on Mac

John Rizzetto 0 Reputation points
2025-08-07T01:09:43.09+00:00

Hi Microsoft Support,

I’m urgently seeking help recovering my files from OneDrive. My account appears to have been deactivated or is no longer accessible. However, on my MacBook, I can still:

  • View the OneDrive folders and filenames through Finder

See previews of many files, especially photos and videos

View accurate file sizes (e.g., 574.7 MB for one .MOV file), suggesting partial or full local caching

I tried opening the files, but they won't download — presumably due to the deactivated account. I’ve also explored Finder and relevant local cache directories like ~/Library/CloudStorage/, but I need a definitive recovery method.

This content is extremely important, and I’d like to either:

Regain temporary access to my OneDrive account to download the files or

Get support on how to properly extract/recover any cached or temp files on my Mac

Could you please advise on the best path forward — either to temporarily reactivate the account, provide an alternate method of access, or direct me to a recovery protocol for cached content?

Let me know if you need any details such as:

My Microsoft account username/email

Organization name

Screenshot evidence (I can provide these)

System logs or diagnostic reports from OneDrive

Thank you,Hi Microsoft Support,

I’m urgently seeking help recovering my files from OneDrive. My account appears to have been deactivated or is no longer accessible. However, on my MacBook, I can still:

View the OneDrive folders and filenames through Finder

See previews of many files, especially photos and videos

View accurate file sizes (e.g., 574.7 MB for one .MOV file), suggesting partial or full local caching

I tried opening the files, but they won't download — presumably due to the deactivated account. I’ve also explored Finder and relevant local cache directories like ~/Library/CloudStorage/, but I need a definitive recovery method.

This content is extremely important, and I’d like to either:

Regain temporary access to my OneDrive account to download the files
or

Get support on how to properly extract/recover any cached or temp files on my Mac

Could you please advise on the best path forward — either to temporarily reactivate the account, provide an alternate method of access, or direct me to a recovery protocol for cached content?

Let me know if you need any details such as:

My Microsoft account username/email

Organization name

Screenshot evidence (I can provide these)

System logs or diagnostic reports from OneDrive

Thank you,

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For education | MacOS

1 answer

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  1. Dora-T 8,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-08-07T03:09:24.8633333+00:00

    Hi @John Rizzetto

    Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand how important your files are, and I’ll do my best to guide you. 

    Based on my research, if your files are stored in OneDrive and your account has been deactivated or you no longer have access, unfortunately, you won’t be able to download them from the cloud. The reason you can still see file names and thumbnails in Finder is because of the OneDrive Files On-Demand feature. This feature keeps metadata and previews locally, but the actual file content remains in the cloud. If the account is disabled, the files cannot be opened because they were never fully downloaded to your Mac. 

    User's image

    If your account is a work or school account, I strongly recommend contacting your organization’s IT administrator as soon as possible. They have the ability to restore access or recover your OneDrive data within the retention period. OneDrive content is generally retained for 30 to 93 days after an account is deleted or becomes unlicensed, unless your organization has set a different retention policy.

    You can refer to this article for more information: 

    Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Mac - Microsoft Support 

    OneDrive retention and deletion - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn 

    As a moderator, I don’t have access to your account or organization settings for security and privacy reasons, so I’m unable to make changes on your behalf. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

    I hope this helps clarify the situation. If I misunderstood your scenario, please let me know and feel free to share additional details or screenshots (without personal or organization information) so I can provide more accurate guidance. 

    Thank you for your patience and understanding.

    If the answer is partially helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".      

    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.

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