iCloud overwrites newer version of file with an older one. Any way to recover?

I am in the same situation, Speadsheets that I have been working and repeatedly saving locally overwritten by an older version with no way to reinstate the correct version. This has happened too many times to be just a glitch. The new file version despite repeated, obsessive saves, is not synced via iCloud. Having just had this experience with a file I have been working open today that file also is not backed up via Timemachine,

So there are apparently no snapshots taken of anything I did to that file today, the most recent restorable version in Time Machine is from several days ago.

So not only is syncing everything via iCloud not providing a syncing type of backup it is actively destroying work that has been saved to my local computer. So I now have to actively save files to an external drive to ensure progress is not lost, kinda defeats the purpose of iCloud syncing.

Hi,

I am having a similar issue, although I am using a Microsoft word file. The file is saved in my iCloud drive. I made edits to the file on my phone, then later opened the file on my iPad. The changes I had made on my phone were visible, and I made substantial changes to the file on my iPad. These changes were synched to the iCloud drive, as they were visible in the document when I later opened it on my laptop. However, when I opened the document on my phone the next day, it was showing the older version of the file (i.e., pre-iPad/Macbook edits). When I later opened the file on my iPad and laptop, it had reverted to the previous version (first round of changes made on my phone). I have tried accessing time machine, but there are no 'previous versions' of iCloud drive in the time machine backups. Is there another way to restore the files?

Hello Andre Molyneux,

Based on what you've told us, the only thing that comes to mind is using Time Machine to restore your files. If you have Time Machine set up, you can learn how to restore your files here: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

You may find these steps helpful:

1. On your Mac, open a window for the item you want to restore.

2. For example, to recover a file you accidentally deleted from your Documents folder, open the Documents folder.

3. If you’re missing an item from the desktop, you don’t need to open a window.

4. Use Launchpad to view and open apps on Mac and open Time Machine (in the Other folder). A message may appear while your Mac connects to the backup disk.

5. Use the arrows and timeline to browse the local snapshots and backups.

6. If you see a pulsing light to semi-dark gray tick mark, it represents a backup that’s still loading or validating on the backup disk.

7. Select one or more items you want to restore (these can include folders or your entire disk), then click Restore.

8. Restored items return to their original location. For example, if an item was in the Documents folder, it’s returned to the Documents folder.

Thanks.

My document files (and folders) suffered the same fate - but not the desktop items. After a bit of probing I found some of the files in icloud.com, but....

all my original Documents folders and their contents were filed away in

iCloud > Documents > Documents [name of computer].

Now comes the task of copying the files into the icloud drive.

I hope you have similar success.

JohnStol

@gekkohpv

How do you precisely access iCloud > Documents > Documents [name of computer] ?

In iCloud Drive I have no folder that is named "Documents", so it's not clear too me where I should look.