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Losing an unsaved Word document is one of the most stress-inducing tech situations—power outages, accidental closes, system crashes, and hours of work disappearing. Today we are going to understand how to retrieve a Word document.
Start With a Simple Search
The document may have been saved automatically without you realizing it. If there are no results obtained, try to use Word’s built-in recovery tools to find unsaved word document.
Use Word’s Built-In Recovery Option
Word has a specific feature for this type of situation:
- Open Microsoft Word
- Go to File > Info > Manage Document
- Click Recover Unsaved Documents
This will open up a list of temporary files Word will have saved even if you have never hit “Save.
Check the AutoRecover Folder
If the built-in one does not display your file, check directly in the AutoRecover folder:
On Windows:
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\WordOn Mac:
~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecoveryAnother way to search your device is by looking for files with the .asd extension; these are AutoRecovery files, which can be opened using File > Open > Browse in Word.
Look for Temporary or Backup Files
In some cases, Word leaves behind some temporary files (with the .tmp extension) when it crashes unexpectedly. Look for these files on your computer, particularly those made around the time of your last work. If you had “Always create backup copy” checked in Word settings, then you can also find those. wbk files, which contain an earlier version of your document.
If the File Was Deleted
If your document is not unsaved but deleted, look in the Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac) folder first. No luck? Use File History or Previous Versions (Windows) or Time Machine (Mac). These tools revert to older snapshots of the folder that your file was saved in.
Prevent This From Happening Again
Take some basic precautions to avoid this headache in the future:
- Turn on AutoSave and AutoRecover in Word’s settings
- Enable backup copies for extra protection
- Save important files in more than one place—your device, a USB drive, and the cloud
- Avoid emptying the Recycle Bin or Trash without a quick double-check
When Nothing Else Works
When all the built-in recovery options have failed, and you still haven’t found the missing document, perhaps it’s time to use a dedicated data recovery tool to scan the system for documents that can be recovered, particularly in cases of deletion or drive corruption. Whereas solutions such as Datarecovee can prove to be helpful in such cases, providing more extensive recovery options for Windows and Mac users when native approaches do not suffice.
