I LOST MY ENTIRE DOCUMENTS PAGE

C

Can Am1551

Member
Hi all,
Yesterday I made a huge mistake and I deleted my entire Documents page. There were like 30 Word document files on this page. As you can see by my screenshot this page was located just below "Downloads" in my File Explorer:
1761664552087.png
This page had changed appearance and I was trying to get it back like it was. Back in 2023 when I first got this desktop this page had appeared diferently too, and I fixed it by deleting either OneNote or OneDrive. I don't remember which one it was now so I uninstalled them both....like an idiot.
My PC is an HP ALL-IN-ONE 24" DESKTOP, with WINDOWS 11 and MICROSOFT OFFICE 360. I also use GOOGLE CHROME (not Edge) as my browser.
SO, is there anyway that I can get my Documents page back like it was with all 30 Word Docs, or is it lost for good. I was thinking that I should reinstall my OneNote and OneDrive, or reinstall my Microsoft Office 360, or even reinstall my Windows 11. But, I am affraid that I will mess things up worse than it already is. :(
PLEASE HELP!
Mark
 
Last edited:
Go here on your pc and see if your documents are there.

C:\Users\username\Documents

Where username is the name of your account on windows.

Your files should be there. Quick acess is just a shortcut to your files which should be in the directory I mentioned still. I hated quick access so I got rid of it.
 
Hi johnb35!

So should I just enter C:\Users\username\Documents as is in the top search bar of my Chrome tabs? I am not clear on what you mean by "Where username is the name of your account on windows." I am not even sure what my user name is in Widows. Sorry.

Will doing this help me get my "Documents" page back on my File Explorer page (above screenshot) likeit was?

Mark
 
Go to "This PC" then go to your C drive and then follow the directory I posted. Do you have the "This PC" icon on your desktop? If not, do this.

Method 1: Using Desktop Icon Settings

  1. Right-click on an empty area of your desktop and select Personalize.
  2. Click on Themes.
  3. Under "Related Settings," select Desktop icon settings.
  4. In the new window, check the box next to Computer.
    • Click Apply and then OK.
 
Yes, I have the "This PC" icon and "Windows C" but I am not sure where to enter "C:\Users\username\Documents". There was an area on the top right corner so I enetred it there. Now it just says "working on it" but that's been like 15 minutes.
 
Open this pc
Open c drive
Open users folder
Open the folder that has your username on it
Open documents folder.

Are your documents there?
 
There was a documents page there but my word files weren't in it. While searching around I DID find this though:
1761687752256.png
This is a list of all the files I had in the missing "Documents" page on my file Explorer. So is it possible to get these back like they were?

I am leaving in a few minutes but will be back tomorrow mornng at 10:30AM PST.

Mark
 
You didn't follow my instructions very well.

Don't type anything in search box.

Open "This PC"
Open drive lettered "C"
Open "Users" folder

Show me a screenshot of the folders inside please so I can show you what your username is, that way you'll know from now on.
So basically what you are going to see is this if you do my steps correctly.

open this pc
thispc.png

Open C drive and scroll down to the users folder and open it

users.png

You'll see this with a list of users for your pc. Your username will be one of these, this is what mine is so ignore it.

list of users.png

Find your username and open it, scroll down to where it says documents and open it.

See if your documents are in there.

Another way to do this is see if you have a folder on your desktop labeled with your username, there should be. When you open it you'll see folders in there that looks similar to this.

user folder.png

Open the documents folder and see whats in there.

Can Am1551 said:
This is a list of all the files I had in the missing "Documents" page on my file Explorer. So is it possible to get these back like they were?
Click to expand...
Yes, See up top where it says download in your screenshot?

Click to the left of each of those filenames so that every one is checked, you'll see something similar like this.



check boxes.png

Then click on download and save all your files to your documents folder in your user folder.
 
Hi johnb35,

Sorry, I was being hasty yesterday afternoon because I wanted to post what I had found so I was hurrying through what you had said before I logged off for the day.

Open "This PC": I opened "This PC" in my File Explorer by clicking on the down arrow.
Open drive lettered "C": I then clicked on "Windows (C:)
Open "Users" folder: I then scrolled down to the 'Users" folder and opened it.
Here is what was in there:
1761759525169.png

I "assumed" that the "mmont" file was my username (correct?) since it's half my email address, so I clicked on it and got this:

1761759823914.png

I then clicked on "Documents" and got this:

1761760444523.png

Both of these files were empty. So did I do this right?

OK, regarding the other screenshot I sent you in my last post yesterday. I checked all of those files like you said and clicked on Download as instructed. Unfortunately, it appears that that it downloaded but not to the area where it was and I wanted it to go:

1761761685442.png

Also, turns out these files, although they ARE my Word files, they are not the current most up to date ones. These will do because I can manually update them myself, but I would prefer to have the most current files and in the correct spot on my File Explorer.

So what now?
 

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Then I can only assume the updated files are now gone. Have you tried doing a system restore back to before you deleted them? Sometimes that works and sometimes not. When you downloaded them you should have gotten a "save as" window that popped up asking you where you wanted to download them to. If they are in your downloads folder now then you can just copy and paste them to your documents folder.
 
System Restore: I tried to do that yesterday but I wasn't sure how to do what I wanted. I was trying to change the restore date because it said October 28 8:00AM and my files dissappeared on October 27. So I was trying to change it to last Friday, October 24th but I couldn't figure out how to do it.
Save As: Yes, I alwys get a save as box. Sometimes I just save as the address/name in the box and sometimes I change the name.....especially with photos so I can drag them directly to Google Drive and/or My Pictures. But no, I just checked my download file and there were no Word Documents.
My Documents: So is there a way to move that OneDrive folder in my screenshot to the top left pane of my file Explorer where my missing Documents page used to be?
Microsoft Office 360: Do you think I should reinstall my Microsoft Office 360? It has both Onedrive AND OneNote, and if you recall I had originally said that I uninstalled both of those before discovering that my Documents page was gone from my File Explorer.
 
Open system restore again. You'll see similar to this.

system restore.png

Choose a different restore point at the bottom and then you'll see other dates and times load, hopefully.

Reinstalling office and one note most likely won't bring your files back.
 
I tried that, but the only place to add a different date (at least for me) was a "Description" area that just gave it a new name instead of a new date:
1761770703470.png

OK so if reinstalling Office 365 won't help, is there a way I can move that OneDrive folder to the place where my Documents used to be......below downloads?
 
Can Am1551 said:
OK so if reinstalling Office 365 won't help, is there a way I can move that OneDrive folder to the place where my Documents used to be......below downloads?
Click to expand...
Why don't you move all your documents to your documents folder where they should be anyway? You are thinking way too hard on this.
 
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