8 Ways: How to Find Recovered Excel Files In Windows 10 and 11?

Where to find Excel recovered files?

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet application known for its robust features and advanced calculation tools. However, you might sometimes forget to save your work or lose files due to accidental actions. Fortunately, Windows offers built-in features to help recover missing or unsaved Excel files. 

Other scenarios or reasons that may lead to missing Excel files include:

• Files saved on cloud services like OneDrive or SharePoint, making them inaccessible locally.

• Files saved locally are attacked by viruses or malware.

• Files are stored in an unexpected folder, making them hard to locate.

• Files with an unexpected file extension, complicating the search process.

• Incomplete saving, resulting in unsaved changes.

• Accidental deletion while clearing your PC, causing files to disappear from view.

To know these factors can make it easier to find and recover your lost Excel files.

After recovering your files, the first step is to check for any damage. But where can you find recovered Excel files? This question often confuses users. The location of recovered files depends on the method used for recovery.For instance, if you accidentally delete an Excel file, pressing "Ctrl + Z" will undo the deletion, restoring the file to its original location.

How to find recovered Excel files?

To see recovered Excel files, you can try 8 methods. This part will offer a detailed guide to help you recover unsaved Excel file and easily find recovered files. 

Way 1. Run AOMEI FastRecovery to find recovered Excel files

If you’ve saved an Excel file but can’t find it because it is possible been permanently deleted by viruses or malware, traditional methods might not help you recover it effectively. In this situation, you can try using backups if you’ve created any. However, a more practical solution is to use a professional Windows data recovery tool. One highly recommended option is AOMEI FastRecovery, which provides several useful features for recovering lost files, including:

Compatible with all editions of Windows 11/10/8/7/Server.
 Recover deleted files from formatted HDDs, SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, and other storage devices.
 Retrieve deleted Excel spreadsheets, lost Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and up to 1000+ types of files.
 Get deleted files back with their original filenames, formats, and paths.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI FastRecovery. Choose the exact partition or disk where your data lost and click Scan.

Step 2. Then, the recovery tool start to scan and search. lt will execute the “Quickly Scan" first to find your deleted data fast, and then execute the “Deep Scan" for searching other lost data.

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bins and other missing files will be displayed. Please select the file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path to save your recovered files.

Step 5. Wait patiently for this process of recovering ends.

Way 2. Check if the saved Excel file online but not locally

If you often use cloud services, your Excel files might be stored online instead of on your computer. This usually happens when you access or edit files using platforms like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Outlook. To find your files, log in to your cloud account and check your storage. For Outlook users, you can also check the local temp folder at this path:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\

Way 3. Show hidden files

If the recovered Excel file disappears from your desktop or File Explorer without any clear reason, it might be because the file is hidden. To resolve this, follow these steps to unhide files and check again.

Step 1. Launch File Explorer and press the three dots in the right-up corner, and select “Options”.

Step 2. In the Folder Options window, go to the “View” tab.

Step 3. Under “Advanced settings,” mark the checkbox next to “Show hidden files, folders, and drives.”

Step 4. Choose “Apply” and “OK” to save the change.

The folders and files will appear in File Explorer. If you wish to hide the files, repeat the steps and mark the checkbox next to “Don’t show hidden files, folders, and drives.”

Way 4. Find Excel recovered files with AutoRecover

AutoRecover is an inbuilt feature released by Microsoft Office, which can auto-save your Excel documents at intervals. It makes a great difference when your Excel program shuts down suddenly due to a power failure or system crash.

Here are the steps to get the Excel recovery file location using AutoRecover feature.

Step 1. Launch Excel 2010 (or later), extend the "File" tab of the ribbon, and click "Options" from the list.

For Excel 2002, click the "Office" button and choose "Excel Options".

Step 2. Go to the "Save" section on the left panel and you can see the path next to "AutoRecover file location". That's where recovered Excel files are saved.

Way 5. See the recovered Excel file with the Previous Version

You can use Excel's built-in feature to recover to earlier versions of an Excel file if you need to fix one that was saved over. To find the disappeared Excel file, just do these easy steps:

Step 1. Click on the File tab, then choose Info from the menu on the left.

Step 2. In the Manage Versions section, you'll see a list of auto-saved previous versions. Select the version you wish to restore.

If the version you're looking for isn't listed, this approach may not work for you. In that case, consider using file recovery software, AOMEI FastRecovery, to try and retrieve your file.

Way 6. Search for the recovered Excel file

Files can sometimes end up in unexpected locations instead of their usual folders. If you've saved an Excel file but can't seem to locate it, a thorough search of your hard drive might help you track it down. This approach works well for locating recently saved documents, such as Word files.

Step 1. Open File Explorer or This PC. In the search box, type the Excel file extension .xlsx or the file name if you remember it, then press Enter to begin the search.

Step 2. To narrow down the results, use the Search Tools. Click on "Kind" under Search Tools and select "Document".

Step 3. Browse the search results to locate your missing Excel file.

Way 7. Check the Excel Extension

If you’ve saved an Excel file but can’t find it, the problem could be an incorrect file extension. Standard Excel files typically use the ".xlsx" or ".xls" extensions. If the file has a different or incompatible extension, Excel might not open it. To resolve this, rename the file and make sure the extension is in the correct format.

Way 8. Check if the Excel file is successfully saved or stored in the temp folder

Sometimes, saving an Excel file can fail, leading to lost work. This often happens if changes are made but the program is closed without saving. Luckily, Excel's autosave feature automatically saves your work every 10 minutes, helping to minimize data loss.

To recover unsaved files, open Excel, go to the Open menu, and select the "Recover Unsaved Workbooks" option. This feature allows you to restore documents that weren’t saved correctly.

If the unsaved file isn't found using this method, try checking Excel’s temporary files folder:

Go to: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

Sort the files by their modified date to quickly find the document you need.

Conclusion

How to find recovered Excel files? There are 8 solutions you can choose. If you cannot see recovered files for Excel with Windows built-in tools, it is time to use AOMEI FastRecovery, a professional data recovery software.