Recovering A Crashed Microsoft Document On Mac 365

It's just a matter of time until you accidentally close an Office application without saving its content. Or your computer or app crashes unexpectedly while working on that important project due at the end of the day.

Dec 27, 2013 Microsoft Office - How to recover an unsaved document? You are working on an Excel workbook, Word document, or a PowerPoint presentation, but you inadvertently close the program without saving your work! To recover unsaved workbooks or Word document follow the below procedure. Method 1: Search for the original document. To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Windows that you're running. Windows 10 and Windows 7. Select Start, type the document name in the Start Search box (.doc or.docx), and then press Enter. If the File list contains the document, double-click the document to open it in Word. When Office app closes unexpectedly before you save your most recent changes, Document Recovery automatically opens the next time you open the Office app to help you get your file back. Tip: If you are an Office 365 subscriber the safest way to work is to store your files on OneDrive or SharePoint and use AutoSave.

However, when the unexpected happens, no everything is lost. Whether you're using a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, or standalone version of Office 2019, Office 2016, or earlier, there's a good chance to recover your work as the apps offer a few ways to recover unsaved documents.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to recover unsaved Office documents and the things you can do to avoid getting into this situation.

We'll be focusing this guide on Microsoft Word 2019, but the instructions work pretty much identical with older versions, including for other apps, such as Excel and PowerPoint.

How to recover unsaved document in Office

If you close an Office application without saving its content, or your device or app crashed unexpectedly, then you can recover the unsaved document in more than one way.

Using Document Recovery pane

To recover a document that wasn't saved correctly, use these steps:

  1. Open the Office app that you created the document. For example, Word.
  2. Create a new blank document.
  3. Under the Document Recovery section, in the left pane, click the down-arrow button for the document to recover, and select the Save as option.

  4. Select the folder to recover the unsaved document.
  5. Click the Save button.

Once you've completed the steps, you can open the recovered document from the folder you selected.

Using Recover Unsaved Documents option

If you don't see the 'Document Recovery' pane, then use these steps:

  1. Open the Office app that you created the document. For example, Word.
  2. Create a new blank document.
  3. Click the File menu.
  4. Click on Info.
  5. Click the Manage Document option.
  6. Click the Recover Unsaved Documents option.

  7. Select the unsaved document to recover.
  8. Click the Open button.

You can also access unsaved documents using these steps:

  1. Open the Office app that you created the document. For example, Word.
  2. Create a new blank document.
  3. Click the File menu.
  4. Click on Open.
  5. Click the Recover Unsaved Documents button.

  6. Select the document.
  7. Click the Open button.

Once you've completed the steps, make sure to save the recovered document before continue adding new content.

Using the AutoRecover file location

If the UnsavedFiles folder is empty, then you can use these steps to recover unsaved documents.

  1. Open the Office app that you created the document. For example, Word.
  2. Create a new blank document.
  3. Click the File menu.
  4. Click on Options.

  5. Click on Save.
  6. Under the 'Save documents' section, select the AutoRecover file location path, right-click the selection, and select the Copy option.

  7. Open File Explorer (Windows key + E).
  8. Right-click and paste the path in the File Explorer address bar and press Enter.
  9. Right-click the .asd file of the document that you want to recover, and select the Open with option.

  10. Select the appropriate app to open the files.
  11. Click the OK button.

In this folder, you will only find the documents for the app that you're using. If you're looking to recover a document created with another Office application, then follow these steps with the correct application.

How to avoid unsaved document recovery in Office

Recovering A Crashed Microsoft Document On Mac 365 Download

Although Office includes a mechanism to recover documents that you didn't save, the feature doesn't always work as we would like, as such we'll outline below several tips to avoid having to use the recovery options.

Create a new document before opening Office

When you open an Office app, you always start with the startup experience, which allows you to create a new blank document or a document using a template. Instead of using the startup experience, make a habit of creating the file manually before opening the app.

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Navigate to the folder where you usually save your documents.
  3. Right-click on a space, select New, and click the document that you want to create (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

  4. Type a name of the document and press Enter.

After completing the steps, double-click the file, and you'll start with an already saved document, which means that you'll reduce the chances of losing the file and hours of work as the changes will now save automatically.

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Enable document recovery

Although auto recovery should be enabled by default, you can avoid losing hours of hard work making sure that the AutoRecover feature is enabled on all the Office applications using these steps:

  1. Open an Office app. For example, Word.
  2. Click on File.
  3. Click on Options.
  4. Click on Save.
  5. Under the 'Save documents' section, make sure that these options are checked:

    • AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word.
    • Save AutoRecover information every X minutes.
    • Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving.
  6. Confirm that AutoRecover file location has a valid path (no empty).

After completing the steps, you want to repeat the instructions in Excel and other apps you may use.

Adjust the autosave settings

Office apps usually save changes every ten minutes automatically, but you can adjust the autosave settings to reduce the amount of work you can lose as a result of the ten minutes gap.

  1. Open an Office app. For example, Word.
  2. Click the File menu.
  3. Click on Options.

  4. Click on Save.
  5. Under the 'Save documents' section, change the Save AutoRecover information every 10 minutes option to 1 minute.

  6. Click the OK button.

Once you've completed the steps, changes you make to the document will save automatically every 60 seconds, which will minimize the amount of work that you may lose if the app crashes or something goes wrong with the file.

Turn on real-time AutoSave

If you're an Office 365 subscriber, you can turn on AutoSave, which saves new content in real-time.

  1. Open an Office app. For example, Word.
  2. Click the File menu.
  3. Click on Save.
  4. Select a name for the file.
  5. Click the Save button.
  6. Turn on the AutoSave toggle switch in the top-left corner.

After completing the steps, changes you make to the document will save immediately automatically.

If you use other apps, such as Excel and PowerPoint, make sure to repeat these steps on all the apps you use.

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Summary

In this article, you will learn 4 effective ways to recover unsaved, lost and deleted Word document on Mac with detailed steps: [1]recover with AutoRecovery; [2]Recover from Temp folder; [3]Recover from Recovered item in Trash; [4]recover with Word file recovery software.

Accidentally closed Word without saving on Mac? Do you know how to recover unsaved Word documents on Mac? According to the unique features of Microsoft Word for Mac, you may find the unsaved item in the AutoRecovery folder, Temporary folder or Recovered item in Trash. Besides, if you unintentionally lost, deleted or formatted your Word document, you can recover a Word document on Mac with EaseUS Word file recovery software.

Workable SolutionsStep-by-step Troubleshooting
Recover Unsaved Word Document

#1. Recover from the AutoRecovery folder..Full steps
#2. Recover from the TMP folder..Full steps
#3. Recover from the Recover item in Trash..Full steps

Recover Deleted Word Document#4. Recover with Word file recovery software..Full steps

How to Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac

Embedded with more useful features in certain collaborative situations than Pages, Microsoft Word becomes increasingly popular among Mac computers. Office 365 even allows users to create Word files on their Mac. On one hand, Microsoft Word offers standard DOC or DOCX file formats that are compatible in almost every OS platform; On the other hand, Word 2020, 2019, 2018..2011 is featured with auto-saving, which enables us to recover a Word document before we could hit Save.

Based on the features of Microsoft Word for Mac, there are three potential ways to recover your unsaved Word documents. These methods can also be applied to recover unsaved Excel files on your Mac.

#1. Recover Unsaved Word Docs on Mac with AutoRecovery

The Word for Mac includes an AutoRecovery option. It is turned on by default. The app will automatically save a copy of an open Word file every 10 minutes. If Word freezes while you're working on a document, or if the computer crashes, you can use the AutoRecovery copy to recover unsaved Word document with the changes or additions that you made in your last Word for Mac session.

Mac

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document

Unlike recovering unsaved Word document in Windows, the file recovery on Mac from the AutoRecovery folder is different.

Step 1. Open 'Finder' on your Mac, then head to 'Go' > 'Go to Folder'.

Step 2. Type: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and click 'Go'.

Step 3. Open the AutoRecovery folder, locate all the files that start with the words 'AutoRecovery save of'. Select the one you want to recover, rename the file, then add the '.doc' filename extension.

Step 4. Double-click the file. The document now opens in Word for Mac.

Step 5. Click the File menu and select 'Save As'. Type a new name for the file into the Name field, select a folder for the file and click the 'Save' button.

#2. Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac from TMP Folder

The Word for Mac saves a copy of the unsaved document named as Word Work File in the Temporary folder. Your Mac also temporarily keep files in this folder. Though for many Mac users, it's not easy to find it.

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document on Mac

Step 1. Go to 'Applications' > 'Utilities' and double-click 'Terminal'.

Step 2. In Terminal, enter open $TMPDIR and you will be directed to the TMP folder which is used to keep files temporarily.

Step 3. In the TMP folder, find and open the folder named 'TemporaryItems'. In it, right-click the desired unsaved Word files and 'Open with..' Microsoft Word.

Step 4. Save the Word file by clicking on 'File' > 'Save As' and save it to another location.

#3. Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac from Recovered Item

The Word for Mac temporarily saves documents that the user has not yet saved themselves in a folder named 'Recovered items', located in the Trash. If there are no recovered files, this folder will not appear.

Guide: How to find unsaved Word files on Mac

Step 1. Open 'Trash' by clicking its icon on the dock.

Step 2. Look for a folder labeled 'Recovered items' and click into it to look for your unsaved Word file. If you cannot find it, try the next solution.

#4. Recover Deleted Word Document with Word Recovery Software

The aforementioned three ways are exclusively for saving the file you're currently working on but suddenly disappear before clicking the Save button. To be specific, the methods will only work for files that are in the process of being worked on when they disappeared. Hence, if you lost a Word doc that is already existed by deletion, disk formatting or losing its access, you need to turn to other ways to recover a Word document on Mac.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is third-party specialized Mac data recovery software that can scour your hard drive, external hard drive, SD card, or USB flash drive to find all the lost data that vanishes without a trace on Mac OS X/macOS. It doesn't matter whether you emptied the trash bin or not, the deleted file will show up after you use the program to scan your selected drive.

For the first attempt, we strongly recommend you download its free version. It won't cost you a penny to search for your missing files. And since your problem is only for a few lost Word files, the 2GB recovery limit should be more than enough. The scan & recovery process is very simple, we’ll show you how it works.

Recovering A Crashed Microsoft Document On Mac 365 Download

Guide: How to recover a Word document on Mac

Step 1. Select the location where your important Word documents were lost and click Scan button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will start immediately a quick scan as well as a deep scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane.

Step 3. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the Word files you've lost earlier. Select the target files and click Recover Now button to get them back at once.

How to Increase the Chance of Unsaved Word Data Recovery

After suffering from the fear of losing your Word documents, you must not want to experience this kind of situation again. Thus, it's necessary for you to know how to avoid losing your Word files. To avoid completely losing your files, you can:

Tip 1. Save the Word Document Whenever You Create a New One

An ever unsaved Word document exists in the computer's RAM, not on the hard disk. Thus, the chances to save a Word Document that has never been saved before are slim. Knowing this should give you a hint that you should save the word document at least once whenever you create a new one.

Tip 2. Change the AutoSave Interval

After you save your Word document, the AutoSave feature will begin to work. To minimize the loss of the progress on the file you are working, you can change the frequency of AutoSave:

Step 1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac.

Step 2. Go to 'Word' > 'Preferences' and click 'Save' under Output and Sharing. Find microsoft office product key on computer mac.

Microsoft Document Templates

Step 3. Check all the items under Save Options (Recommended) and change the interval of AutoSave, for example, from every 10 minutes to every 5 minutes.

Free Microsoft Document Download

If you follow the two tips above, you will substantially decrease the risk of losing your Word documents. What if you carelessly deleted your important Word files on your Mac? No worry. Try the free method to retrieve permanently deleted Word documents with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.