What are "Recover" files?

On the main OnlyOffice user home page, there are two categories of files – Recover and Recent – each with its own files listing.

What does “Recover files” refer to?

Also, sometimes files display in both the “Recover files” listing and in the “Recent files” listing. In that case which filename should one click on – or doesn’t it matter?

Thanks.

Hello @mk7z

Please see this article to find out more information about Recover files section in ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors:

Thanks @Constantine.

If I understand that information correctly, “Recover” acts as a kind of automatic backup directed at preventing data loss due to crashes, etc.

I don’t, however, follow why the “Recover” items are listed on the main user page, when no ‘recovery’ has been needed (no crashes, etc.) and all documents have been saved normally.

Or why a document would appear in both lists (“Recover” and “Recent”).

It is possible that there are issues when saving the document that results in appearance of document in Recovery section.

May I know how Desktop Editors are installed, its version and type of used OS?

Hello @Constantine,

I apologize that I somehow missed your reply until now.

I am using v. 8.0.1 of the Desktop Editors. My Mac OS version is 10.14.3 ( Mojave).

I’m not sure what is meant by how the software is installed. I just downloaded the .dmg file, then clicked on it to install the program in my Applications folder.

My main questions is: when a closed document appears in both the “Recover” and “Recent” lists, does it matter which should be clicked on to reopen the document?

Thanks.

Where did you download that installation file?

Generally speaking, if file appears in Recover section it means that there was a problem with saving. Considering that, in order to save the file with last made to it changes, you better open it from Recover section.
However, as of now reasons on why file appeared in Recover section are unclear. Does your application crash before files appear in Recovery section? Is every file appears there or only particular ones?

> Where did you download that installation file?

The .dmg file would have gone to Downloads (folder). The app is in Applications (folder). If you are referring to the download source location, that was OnlyOffice website.

> Does your application crash before files appear in Recovery section? Is every file appears there or only particular ones?

I don’t recall any crashes occurring.

Only certain files appear under ‘Recover’ and only occasionally do I see the same file in both sections (‘Recover’ and ‘Recent’).

At the moment there is only one file that I see in both sections. There are two files in Recover, the one just mentioned that’s in both sections and one I don’t believe I’ve had open for a long time. (How can I make it go away?)

Most files appear under ‘Recent’.

Thanks.

Yes, I was referring to download source location. Can you provide a link to it?
Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.


It is possible that Desktop Editors detect when window closes without saving a file and stores it for recover. To make it go away, you have to open that file and re-save it in any folder so that it is considered as fully recovered.

Since it was over a month ago, I don’t recall exactly how I did the download and install, but it appears from a note that I made at the time that I did an Internet search for <OnlyOffice Desktop Editors latest version for Mac> and then followed the instructions – most likely from this search hit:

How to install ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors for Mac OS?

Downloading the latest version … Open the Downloads page of our official website in a web browser. Click the Download button in the Mac OS section. Wait while …

So far, I have not noticed an instance where I closed a document and wasn’t prompted to save it if any changes had been made to it. In any event, it does not seem that a file should appear under both ‘Recover’ and ‘Recent’ – i.e., it should be one or the other.

If I understand you correctly, I should open any file that’s in the ‘Recover’ list and resave it. I can do that, but it doesn’t explain what is causing that situation to occur – i.e., why some files either aren’t being saved properly or are ‘appearing’ that way to OnlyOffice even though perhaps they actually have been saved and don’t really need to be ‘recovered’.

Thanks.

Which chip is your device running on, e.g. Intel Chip or Apple Chip (M-series)?

@Constantine

Intel chip. Mac OS 10.14.3 (Mojave).

Thank you. Unfortunately, we haven’t faced such issues with appearance of files in Recover section without unexpected crash/shutdown of Desktop Editors at all. In order to get more data on this I’d ask you to monitor the situation further until such issue happens again. Once occurred, please let us know if any particular actions were performed so that we can analyze the case.

In general, how frequently does it happen? We can also suggest to troubleshoot this issue right on your device if possible to track down this behavior, we can make a call for that - please contact me via PM to discuss the details if interested.


As I mentioned, to remove file from this section we recommend to open it and re-save to prevent any data loss in the document. However, alternatively you can delete files from this section without re-saving a document manually by right-clicking a file in Recover section and removing it from list with Clear button.

> … to monitor the situation further until such issue happens again. Once occurred, please let us know if any particular actions were performed so that we can analyze the case.

OK. No actions would have occurred other than:
– just closing the docs, or
– closing the docs and the app prior to a system restart/shutdown and/or either resaving them without a prompt or possibly (less likely) resaving them because a prompt asked whether they should be saved because I was quitting OnlyOffice and had not already saved the docs.

Just to note re clearing files from the Recover section:
The current status is that two files are shown in both sections (Recover and Recent). They are the only files shown in the Recover section. The title for one of them is gray under Recent (but normal black under Recover), the title for the other is the normal black in both sections.

The files, as they appear under Recent files, also have date/time stamps and their paths are displayed. The entries for the same-named files under Recover don’t include any file information. It would be useful to see whether the time stamps and paths for the latter matched those under Recent or were different.

> In general, how frequently does it happen?

I will have to monitor that. At the moment, the two files under Recover have been there for a while, and neither has been worked with recently.

Thanks.

@Constantine

FOLLOW UP:

I just did ‘Save As’ for the two files that were in the Recover section.

The ‘Save As’ versions now appear in the Recent section and the Recover section is now empty.

The filename of the ‘Save As’ version of the file with the light gray text that was in the Recover section is also light gray as it now appears in the Recent section.

Please provide a screenshot for the reference.

@Constantine

You may not be able to make out the date/time stamps. (I was going to mention that the ‘gray’ would be better in a darker shade. Very difficult to make out what the text is in the current shade.)

Original version 26.09.2023 09:17
Recover version 27.03.2024 16:59

Usually such display of a documents means that Desktop Editors cannot find the file, i.e. it was moved or deleted. Did it appear in Recent section that way right after re-saving it with Save As?

@Constantine Thanks. Neither file had been moved or deleted.
After I did the ‘Save As’, the Recover section was empty, as it is currently. (The ‘Recover’ heading doesn’t even appear on-screen.)

In the Recent section there is now another filename that appears in ‘gray’ lettering.
What does it mean when a filename appears in 'gray ’ instead of the normal ‘black’?
The icons to the left of those filenames are also grayed-out.

Or is that what you were referring to in the first sentence of your reply?
If so, the ‘Save As’ files appear as normal copies, so it would seem unlikely that the originals they were copied from had been lost (“Desktop Editors cannot find the file”).

Yes, greyed out files are no longer accessible for Desktop Editors, either moved to another location, renamed or removed.

Please provide a detailed step-by-step scenario on how did you use Save As and on which files for better understanding.

@Constantine I think you misunderstood what I wrote. I haven’t moved, renamed or removed any of the files concerned. I don’t have any sense of why certain filenames are appearing in grayed-out text.

At this point I don’t remember any details about the specific ‘Save As’ operations I noted, but the files were saved just using the feature in its basic way, nothing other than selecting ‘Save As’ instead of ‘Save’.