Is It Possible to Perform Word Recovering Unsaved Documents?

Can I recover Word unsaved documents?

If you're working on a Word document and it fails to save, the power goes out, or your laptop battery suddenly dies, do you know how to recover the unsaved document?

Whether you rely on Word for personal or business tasks, losing an unsaved document sucks. If you don't save your Word documents manually, your files can fall victim to an unexpected crash. If you've already experienced such loss, chances are you have a habit of pressing the "Save" button once or twice every so minutes. However, not many users have that habit.

Nonetheless, even if your system crashes with an unsaved document open, you can still recover it through several options.

How to recover unsaved Word document from Windows PC

You can generally recover unsaved files through Temporary Files, AutoRecover Files, Document Recovery, Recycle Bin, and data recovery tool. So, in this part, we’ll show you how to recover an unsaved Word document through these methods.

Way 1. Recover Unsaved Word Documents with data recovery tool

If your unsaved Word documents disappear after a system crash, some PC issues, and disk data wipe, we suggest you choose data recovery tool as your first solution, because normally, there are more data files may lost, your Word documents are just some of all your lost in these situations. While data recovery tools can save your lost data files as soon as possible, however, if you take more operations after the loss, some data might be overwritten, and this will make recovery tools lose their power.

AOMEI FastRecovery is capable of recovering Word documents and other files in a user-friendly GUI without the need for numerous procedures. Unlike the built-in tool, there is no need to mutually locate and restore the target files, as it can automatically scan and search out the files you wish to restore.

All Windows systems are supported, and users can easily recover lost files from SSDs, HDDs, SD cards, USBs, etc.

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 for finding 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. Restore unsaved Word documents from AutoRecover

The disappearance of unsaved Word documents is an extremely disagreeable issue. Calm down. You will probably be able to retrieve Word documents from autosave.asd documents.

To retrieve unsaved documents, it is necessary to activate AutoSave beforehand. If this feature is enabled, it is possible to locate absent files that have not been saved and undergo the process of recovering unsaved documents.

Step 1. Find the file saving path (e.g.: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles).

Step 2. Here, copy the file name of the Word document you want to recover.

Step 3. Open your Microsoft Word, click "File". Then, click "Manage Document" and select "Recover Unsaved Documents" from the drop-down list. Please paste the copied file into the file name column and click "Open".

Manual active the AutoRecover: Click “File” > “Options” > “Save”. Then tick “Save AutoRecover information every x minutes” > “Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving” > “OK”.

Way 3. Recover not saved Word documents from Temporary Files

Step 1. Press the Win + E keys to open File Explorer.

Step 2. Type and search for .tmp. files. 

Step 3. Select the tmp file from the result list. Open and save it.  

Way 4. Recover unsaved Word documents deleted Word documents from Recycle Bin

The Word document could be undeleted with a few straightforward clicks if it was deleted without emptying the Recycle Bin.

Step 1. Proceed to the recycling bin. Verify that the Word file that was deleted is still present. If you know the file's name, search for file types such as DOC, DOCX, or DOT.

Step 2. Select the Word file and click "Restore" to retrieve the deleted Word documents.

To sum up

This tutorial provides five methods for restoring unsaved Word workbooks on Windows devices. Lost, unsaved, and deleted Word documents can be restored without the need for Word backup files with the help of AOMEI FastRecovery.  We trust that these solutions will assist you in recovering any lost Word documents. It is important to recall to generate a backup copy of your Word documents if you wish to prevent the loss of such files.

FAQs about recovering unsaved Word documents

1. What is the time interval for AutoRecover in Word, and how can I adjust it?

Word's default AutoRecover interval is set to 10 minutes. To change this, go to File > Options > Save, then adjust the "Save AutoRecover information every X minutes" setting to a shorter interval if you prefer more frequent backups.

2. How do I recover a document that I saved but then accidentally deleted?

If you accidentally deleted a saved Word document, first check your computer’s Recycle Bin. If it's not there, you can try using a file recovery tool or restoring from a backup if you have one. Windows users can also use the "Restore previous versions" feature by right-clicking the folder where the document was saved.

3. Is it possible to recover an overwritten Word document?

Recovering an overwritten document is more challenging. In some cases, you can right-click the file and select "Restore previous versions" to see if there are any backups available. Additionally, you might use third-party recovery software to attempt to restore previous versions.

4. Can I recover a Word document from OneDrive or SharePoint?

Yes, if your document was saved to OneDrive or SharePoint, you can use the version history feature to recover previous versions. Right-click the document in OneDrive or SharePoint and select "Version history" to view and restore previous versions.