You’ll try everything to recover your unsaved Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, isn’t it? Along the similar lines, the blog highlights, both manual and software approaches to recover unsaved excel file mac and deleted saved Office for Mac files in the best possible manner.
The steps like this: Enter 'Auto Recovery'→ Locate all the files that start with the words 'Auto Recovery save of' and select the file you want from the list of files→Click on the file and drag it out of the search window, close the Finder Window→Double-click the file to launch and open it in Microsoft Word for Mac → Save it. How to recover a document from Word for Mac 2008 I'm working on my MacBook Pro and using Microsoft Word fro Mac 2008. I was typing a document in word and saved it last night.
Losing Important Files is Never A Good Thing
Suppose you’re working on a high-priority multi-sheet Excel workbook (tracking sales record) and simultaneously preparing Word templates and PowerPoint presentations to give it a visual kick, and suddenly, out of nowhere, before saving all your files you accidentally end up closing all the windows or your Mac shuts down unexpectedly. Irrespective of how did that happen, there is a chance you can recover unsaved files.
Check the Trash
When files are deleted (not permanently) they can be found in the Trash. Go to Trash, locate the files and restore the required file from the trash.
If the saved files are emptied from the trash resulting in permanent deletion then restore the deleted files from the Time Machine backup. macOS users are fortunate to have Time Machine tool built-in with every Mac device. However, in case the backup is absent then leverage a data recovery tool for Mac to retrieve deleted files.
Due to sudden Mac shutdown, the unsaved files are lost, in such cases, chances are bleak that you’ll find the lost files in Trash, however, as the first line of action the least you can do is Check the Trash.
Methods to Restore Unsaved Office Documents on Mac
Restore unsaved PowerPoint file on Mac from the Temporary folder
You can restore unsaved files from the Temporary folder (“Temp” folder) as well. For instance, while working on a PowerPoint presentation your Mac crashes before saving it, then you can recover the unsaved PowerPoint file with the help of PowerPoint temp files.
Follow these steps to locate PowerPoint temp files:
- Go to Applications, click Utilities > Terminal
- In the Terminal windows, type “open $TMPDIR” and hit “Enter“
- The command opens Temporary files folder. Select the folder named ‘‘Temporaryitems”
- Under ”Temporaryitems” find the required Excel file and restore. Open the PowerPoint file with ‘TextEdit’ because a .tmp does not work with PowerPoint.
For example, the unsaved PowerPoint file will be named ‘PowerPointfile B$123.tmp‘
Restore Unsaved Word file on Mac from AutoRecover folder
AutoRecovery, a built-in feature for Word in Mac is on by default. This implies that your Mac saves (Incremental saving) the files without telling you to manually do so; however, the only consideration is that you ought to initially save the Word document. AutoRecovery saves files when Mac shuts down unexpectedly, for example, power failure.
Mac 2008 Microsoft Word Recover Saved Over File Windows 10
*If you haven’t saved your Word document once, you’ll lose the unsaved files, whether AutoRecover was enabled or not.
To access AutoRecovery file, which is a hidden file, you need to locate hidden files and folders in order to restore unsaved Word file. With this done, open Finder and type AutoRecover in the Spotlight search box. Once you’ve found the file, open and save it again.
Also, you can find files under:
Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
You can recover unsaved Office files for Mac with the Terminal command but have to apply your technical sophistication to prevent ambiguity. Furthermore, to recover saved files lost due to accidental deletion, unintentional formatting, and corrupt storage devices, Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is the most effective method. This is because the software facilitates straightforward recovery process which not only retrieves lost files with ease but saves your times as well.
Method to Restore Deleted Saved Word & PowerPoint on Mac
Restore Deleted Files on Mac with Stellar Data Recovery Professional
With the help of Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac, you can recover deleted Excel, Word or PowerPoint in just four easy steps. You can easily get the trial version of the application for your Mac below:
- Install & Run the software on your Mac
- Make your selection i.e. select the data files and location from where you wish to recover deleted files
- Scan the specified location
- Preview and save the recoverable files
Again, the files must have been saved initially on the hard drive in order to recover them through the software. In addition to it, if you accidentally delete your data, format the hard drive, or lost files while downgrading/upgrading macOS, simply run the software to retrieve all missing files.
Read – Top 10 Mac Data Recovery Software
Best Practices – AutoSave
You should leverage AutoSave feature in Word, Excel, & PowerPoint to save files automatically; further, you can set its frequency. For instance, you can set AutoSave to save your files every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes.
Set the frequency of AutoSave in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint:
- Open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint menu and click Preference
- Click Save; select Save AutoRecover info and enter how frequently you want to save the files
Conclusion
It is a good practice to save all your files and make backups periodically to prevent any untoward situation. This blog has put together some useful tips on how you can quickly recover Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files on Mac.
Furthermore, Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac software makes the process quite easier as you have to simply make selections and this Do-It-Yourself utility takes care of everything. In the end, you should turn to your backups to obviate such menacing situations.
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 Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Recover Unsaved Word Document | #1. Recover from the AutoRecovery folder...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.
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.
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.
How To Recover Saved Over File
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.
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.