macReports

Apple iOS Mac OS X Reports , Help and News

  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Guides
You are here: Home / Tips and Tricks / How To Recover Unsaved Word Docs – macOS

How To Recover Unsaved Word Docs – macOS

Last updated on February 24, 2020 By Serhat Kurt 13 Comments

Are you writing a paper but you somehow lost the paper? Do you want to recover unsaved Microsoft Word files?

Microsft Word can create AutoRecover (.asd) files if this option is enabled (this feature is explained below). Because of various reasons (e.g. computer-system crash), AutoRecovery may fail to save your documents. For instance, if you experience a power loss while you are writing your paper on your Mac, or if your Mac shuts down, or crashes, unexpectedly, your document may be lost.

The purpose of the article is to help you if you are trying to locate your unsaved, lost, damaged and deleted Microsft Word files.

See also: Pages: Can’t Open Document

Here is how you can find them:

Locating Unsaved Word Document on Mac

Method 1: TEMP Folder

Mac OS creates temporary files located in your computer’s Temporary or TMP folder. Your lost file may be located in this folder. To find this folder;

1-Launch Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal).

2-Enter this command and press enter:

open $TMPDIR

3-This will open your tmp folder.
4-Now, open the folder named: “Temporaryitems”. Your document may be here.

Temp Files

The files you find here will be a .tmp file. Look for files named “Word Work File” inside this folder. You can open them with TextEdit, for example. They are not .doc or .docx files.

Method 2: Look For AutoRecover files

You can locate your AutoRecover files (you can change where these files are saved, see below). Here is how:

1-Go to Finder > Go > Go to Folder and enter:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery

AutoRecover files

You may find your lost document here.

2-These documents’ names will be like “AutoRecovery save of <filename>”.  Find the document that you are trying to recover. Please note that, as you may notice, they are not Word files. Find the document you want to open and right-click (or control-click) it and then select Open With > Microsoft Word.

Note that not all documents may be recoverable. Save your documents while editing to avoid losing data. You may also want to turn on AutoSave.

AutoRecovery Options:

You can change AutoRecovery options. There are basically two options for you to adjust:

  1. You can change how often Word AutoRecovery creates these backup files. Open Word, and go to Word > Preferences > Save. Here you can change the AutoRecovery frequency settings:Word Auto Recovery Options
  2. In the other setting, you can adjust where these AutoRecovery files are saved on your Mac. Again, on your Mac, go to Word > Preferences > Personal Settings > File Locations > AutoRecover files > Modify and then choose your desired location. AutoRecovery location

Final Notes

See also: Outlook for Mac Not Working: Freezes or Crashes, Fix

You can reduce the risk of data loss in case of a crash, freeze or user error.

Microsft Word offers another very useful feature that will help you avoid losing data in the future. It is called AutoBackup.  You can turn this on by going to Word > Preferences > Save and then check the”Always create backup copy” option.

As stated above, AutoRecover and AutoSave options are not the same things. AutoRecover may help you, for example, if Word or your Mac crashes. AutoSave, however, saves your Word documents automatically every few seconds.

See also: Mac White Screen: How To Fix Your Mac That Won’t Turn On

Filed Under: Tips and Tricks Tagged With: Mac, Word

Comments

  1. Maserame says

    July 22, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    Thank you :). I spent the whole day trying to find this document.

    Reply
  2. Kris says

    July 14, 2020 at 6:28 am

    I lost my doc I had been working on for over an hour. I closed it and when asked to save I said no. I thought I wwas closing another doc I had open.I had auto save set on for every 10 minutes. I tried everything you suggested and nothing came up. HELP!

    Reply
  3. CourtG says

    December 3, 2018 at 4:52 am

    YOU ROCK! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!

    I lost something on Microsoft literally the night it was due! The second option worked great!

    Reply
  4. Harry says

    August 27, 2018 at 1:56 am

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! I will literally never us word again, Google docs autosave online.

    Reply
  5. Eleanor says

    March 6, 2018 at 5:00 am

    THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH just saved me over 10 hours of what was lost work!!!!! The AutoRecovery didn’t quite work but it got me to the containers–close enough–and I found it there!!! Seriously, thank you so very much for writing this article and sharing your knowledge.

    Reply
  6. shadi says

    February 16, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    or method 1 and 2 did not work for me. but before i lost my document it said it say i had no open a word doc i had just saved. it was on recently opened now it is gone

    Reply
  7. Carnegie says

    January 28, 2018 at 1:43 am

    You are a god amongst us mere mortals. No other solution worked for me, and I had tried like 3 different file recovery programs. You saved my life

    Reply
  8. Tay says

    November 29, 2017 at 6:58 pm

    I LITERALLY OWE YOU MY LIFE. THANK YOU!!!!!

    Reply
  9. Daniel says

    October 3, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    I have to say, I was nearly in tears when Word crashed & EVERY tutorial did not work. This is the only site that had Method 1 which worked perfectly! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

    Reply
  10. rami says

    June 6, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    Thank you so muchhh!!!!!!

    Reply
  11. Allison says

    May 8, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    Thank you SO very much! Your Method 2 worked for me and saved me many hours of lost work. Thank you!!

    Reply
  12. Adele says

    April 22, 2017 at 3:54 am

    Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!! I lost 8 pages of work on an assignment that is due in a few days and nothing on Google was helping me, then I found this page! The ‘Look for AutoRecover files’ section is the one that worked for me. You’re a life saver 🙂

    Reply
  13. Perry Scott says

    March 9, 2017 at 11:22 pm

    THANK YOU!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Got a tip for us? Email us.

Latest Posts

How to Reset “Never for This Website”

iPad Keyboard: How to Type the Greyed-Out Numbers and Symbols

Calendar Shows Wrong Week, Day, or Date

Passwords on Safari: The Spinning Wheel – How to Fix the Lag

iPhone Bluetooth Keeps Disconnecting and Reconnecting? How to Fix

Pages

  • About macReports
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use

Tags

AirPods Apple Car Apple Card Apple Company Apple ID Apple Music Apple Pay Apple TV Apple Watch Apps App Store Bluetooth Calendar Catalina FaceTime iCloud iMessage iMessages iMovie iOS iOS 14 iPad iPhone iTunes Keyboard Mac Mac Battery MacBook macOS macOS Big Sur Mail Mail App Messages Music Notifications Pages PDF Photos Safari screenshot Siri Update Wi-Fi Windows YouTube

Search macReports

Categories:

  • Guides
  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks

About macReports:

This website is founded by Serhat Kurt. He worked as a Senior Technology Director. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University.

Stacey Butler

Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

This website is not affiliated with Apple.

Copyright © 2021 / macReports

This website uses cookies. By navigating around this site you consent to cookies being stored on your machine.Accept