Windows 10: Disappeared documents

The documents I have stored under various headings for several years recently disappeared.

How do I find them?

:)

 

Downloads folder is the Documents folder

Hi Chris,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I suggest you to Restore to Default the folders and document settings and see if it helps.

Step 1:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Download folder.
• Right click on the Download Folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

Step 2:

Please follow below steps and check if it helps.

• Go to Documents folder.
• Right click on the Document folder and go to Properties.
• In Properties go to Location tab.
• In location Tab Click on Restore Default.

After performing above steps change the settings as you required and check if it helps.

Hope these information helps, please get back to us for future support, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Files disappearing from my Documents folder

Yesterday I found that certain files had disappeared from my Documents folder. Some, but not all, of them had also disappeared from the back-up copies I keep in an external hard drive. I had made no changes to my computer and the files were there the day before.
I did a normal System Restore but it failed, so I did a System Restore in Safe Mode and this was successful and all the files reappeared.
Although I no longer have a problem, I am concerned that the same thing might happen again. Can anyone suggest what could have been the cause of the disappearance, please? Windows Defender has not shown up any viruses and I'm at a loss as to what could have happened. Grateful for any suggestions.

 

my documents have disappeared - how to get them back

Hi Wanda,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



To have clarity on this issue and guide you accordingly, kindly help us with the following information.

• Which build off Windows 10 is installed on the machine?
  
  (Search winver from the Start menu to know the same)
  
• When you say documents disappeared after internet downtime, do you mean that the locally saved documents are missing from the PC or online?
  

Ideally, an ISP’s downtime shouldn’t make your documents disappear. I suggest you to search for the documents by the extension
*.doc from the search bar in the file explorer
and see if you’re able to find them. If you’re able to find them, it could be because of the change in the location.



You may also want to check if you’re signed into a temporary profile.
For more troubleshooting tips on how to recover the missing files in Windows 10, I would suggest you to refer to the article:
Find lost files in Windows 10



Let us know how it goes.

Regards,