Word processors have been around for decades, and many of them have become really good at preventing problems. Losing unsaved data is a common issue, so office software often comes with ways to recover files. In this article, we’ll go through how to recover a Word document, even if you haven’t saved it.
Last Updated: 12 Aug'24 2024-08-12T19:41:35+00:00
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Key Takeaways: How to Recover a Word DocumentThe best way to keep your data safe is to save it and create a backup. However, knowing how to recover a Word document with either the autorecover feature or third-party data recovery software can reduce the number of headaches you get trying to replace that important work document you need to submit tomorrow.
If you’re using Microsoft Office, the best way to recover unsaved documents is through the autorecover feature. Even without saving the file properly, it will save the autorecover information every 10 minutes to an ASD file — Microsoft’s own file type for backups. This will stop you from losing too much data, although you should turn on the autosave feature to keep files safe.
However, even if you save your file, you can still lose it. A deleted Word document or one that was lost during a disk format can seem like it’s gone forever, but there is still an option. Data recovery tools can scan your hard drive for files that haven’t been overwritten yet, and you can then restore them to get your work back.
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Sapphire Fox is a seasoned expert in online backup and cloud storage with nearly four years at Cloudwards, combining her extensive engineering background with editorial skills. Her work is informed by a lifelong passion for technology, evidenced in her keen evaluation and recommendation skills. Sapphire’s diverse interests in continuous learning, ranging from baking to sports and DIY projects, add a unique depth to her technical insights, making her a valuable asset to the Cloudwards team and its readers.
Jackie Leavitt ( Co-Chief Editor )
Jackie Leavitt is a co-chief editor at Cloudwards, where she has been leading the editorial team for over three years, bringing 12 years of diverse experience in professional communications and editing. Her expertise is rooted in a solid educational background with a Master’s in Strategic Communications and Bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and European Culture Studies. Leavitt’s career spans various sectors, including international journalism and publishing, and she is recognized for her skill in enhancing editorial systems and digital content quality. In addition to her professional life, she is passionate about sailing, dancing (especially salsa and swing) and outdoor activities like running and camping.
09/23/2021 Facts checkedThere are two main reasons why you would need to recover a Word document: either you didn’t save before it was closed or the save data was lost because of an accident or software failure. Both will result in lost Word documents, but the way to recover your files will depend on the issue.
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If you hadn’t saved your work, you’ll need to rely on the temporary files that stick around after you close the app. These can help you recover any recently deleted files, and there are even built-in autorecovery features that help with this method. On the other hand, to recover accidentally deleted files, you’ll need to use a third-party recovery tool to find it on your disk and get it back.
Getting back unsaved documents isn’t guaranteed. However, it happens often enough that most office software — including Word — have made recovery tools for this exact situation. There are also autosave features built into Office 365, so you should check OneDrive first in case you have a save file you didn’t know about that you can recover your data from.
By saving Word documents to your Sharepoint or OneDrive account, Office 365 will turn on autosave for them. This is great for files you can’t risk losing and it’s also a decent cloud storage — as our full OneDrive review shows. To turn it on and make sure your document is being saved automatically to OneDrive, follow these three steps, and you won’t have to worry about recovering unsaved Word document using Office 365.
There will be an “autosave” switch in the top-left corner of the screen. Click it to turn it on.
Select Your OneDrive Account
Select the OneDrive or Sharepoint account you want to use to save the file.
Save the File
Choose a name for your document and then click “OK.” As long as you’re connected to the internet, it’ll autosave every few seconds. You can then access this file from inside your OneDrive folder at any time.
If you’re in the middle of editing a document and your computer freezes, crashes or turns off for any number of reasons, Word AutoRecover will be your best option for getting it back. This holds onto your unsaved documents, even if autosave isn’t on, so you can get them back later. Let’s have a look at the Word document recovery pane.
When you open Word after a crash, you’ll find that an extra section titled “document recovery” appears on the left of the screen. In this list of files that the autorecover system has held onto, find the unsaved Word document you want to recover.
Restore Your Data
Click on the down arrow next to the unsaved Word document you want to recover to open a dropdown menu. You can either open or save the file from here.
If the document recovery pane doesn’t open, or you prefer doing things the more manual way, you can also open the unsaved Word document from your temporary files. This is useful for recovering unsaved Word documents after closing the app manually, as the recovery pane won’t open if you pressed “don’t save.”
When you start the Word app, click on “open” from the sidebar.
Choose to Recover Your Documents
Along the bottom of the screen, there will be a button labeled “recover unsaved documents.” Click this to open a file explorer window.
Open Your File
The new window will take you directly to the autorecover file location, which is in the C:\Users\“your username”\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles folder by default. Here, you’ll find the ASD files that you can open in Word to recover the lost data.
If you just deleted the document, it’s probably in your recycle bin and you can just move it out. However, even if you permanently deleted it, lost it during a disk format or damaged your operating system, the data is probably still on the disk — it’s just much harder to access. Let’s have a look at how to recover a saved word document.
As long as the data hasn’t been overwritten by a new file, you can often recover deleted Word documents with third-party recovery software. These can scan your disk and find anything that looks like a file, allowing you to recover it. We’ll be using Disk Drill here — but other options like EaseUS and Stellar Data Recovery have similar steps.
Whether you’ve deleted a file you shouldn’t have or forgotten to save after hours of work, there’s no need to worry. As long as you know what data recovery apps and features are available to you, and you follow the right steps to recover that data, it isn’t hard to recover a Word document.
However, regardless of how good Microsoft Word and third-party tools are, it’s always better to save your files than it is to recover unsaved Word documents. Between Microsoft’s autosave feature and the best online backup services that are available, there’s no reason you should have to suffer a catastrophic data loss again.
Interested in reading more? Have a look at our best online backup for multiple computers, as well as the best offline backup solutions, to make sure your data is always secure. We also have a guide to the best cloud backup for Windows, so you can keep your Windows system fully backed up.
Did you need to recover deleted or unsaved Word documents? Did our methods to recover a deleted Word file help? Have you now created backup files for your computer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
Yes. There is an autorecover tool built into Microsoft Word. By default it will save your document every 10 minutes, and you can find it stored as a temporary file in the “appdata” folder by going through the “local,” “Microsoft” and then “Office” folders.
The desktop app for Word lets you open autorecovered files. You can either open it like a normal Word document by clicking “open” and finding it in the file explorer, or you can use the autorecover dialog box that opens after Word detects a crash.
The document recovery pane should appear on the left of the window when you open Word after a crash. However, you may still be able to recover the files manually, even if it doesn’t open.
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With a handful of A-levels completed, Sapphire followed her passions for learning and informing others, finding a place among the Cloudwards.net team. Between writing about software and creating fantasy worlds, she’s either losing games of Civilisation or darting about the UK in search of inspiring views and learning about each area’s history.
Last published on Cloudwards:Jackie is the co-chief editor of Cloudwards.net. After earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of New Hampshire, she has held various editing roles with international news organizations, annual magazine publications, book publishing and more. She earned her master's in strategic communications from National University. When she’s not editing Cloudwards.net articles, she’s either putting pen to paper with creative nonfiction writing, going for an ocean swim or planning her next travel adventure.
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