How to Recover a Word Document ? 4 Proven Ways
(Note: This guide on how to recover a Word document is suitable for all MS Word versions including Office 365)
Have you felt a brief moment of panic when the document you have been working on for days together exits without saving? From school presentations to corporate documents, these documents hold a lot of valuable information. Imagine what would happen when the unsaved document disappears before it could be saved.
In this article, I will tell you 5 proven ways how to recover a Word document in case the document disappears, closes, or crashes abruptly.
You’ll Learn:
Watch this video to learn more on How to Recover Word Document
Related Reads:
How to Find and Replace in Word? 7 Simple Methods
How to Double Space in Word? 4 Easy Ways
How to Make a Checklist in Word? 3 Simple Steps
How to Recover a Word Document?
Recover from Manage Documents
We often have a hard time when the document is not saved leading to various mishaps. This is one method to recover an unsaved word document. Using this method, you can not only recover the particular document, but you can also recover any unsaved documents you have in Microsoft Word.
To see the list of unsaved documents and recover them, first, click on File in the main menu.
Under File, navigate to Info and click on the Manage Document dropdown. From the options, click on Recover Unsaved Documents. Any unsaved changes to the document will be shown under the Manage Document header.
This opens up a dialog box that shows the folders of unsaved documents. Find the document and Double click on the folder to see the list of documents. Or, you can just click on the said folder and click Open. Click on the document you want to recover. The unsaved document is stored in a Microsoft Word Auto Recovery Document format.
This opens up the unsaved document. Click on Save As in the notification banner to save the document in your desired location.
Recover a Deleted Word Document
If someone accessed your computer and couldn’t find your Word document, there are chances that they might have accidentally been deleted.
First, search for the document in your local storage or your cloud. If the document is nowhere to be found, open the Recycle Bin. This option should be available on the desktop, else, you can search for it in the start button.
Open the Recycle Bin application. Search for the document using the search bar or scroll through to find your document.
Once you find the document, right-click on the document and select Restore.
This restores the document on the desktop or in the location from where it was deleted.
Recover a Document After a Crash
There are a variety of reasons your operating system might crash. It may be because of a power outage, increased RAM usage, driver issues, or even because of malware. In case they crash while you are working in Word, it’s better if you recover the document as soon as possible.
To recover a Word document after it crashes, first, open Microsoft Word. There is a possibility that the data might exist when you open Microsoft Word.
You can see a banner that appears right below the menu bar options.
However, sometimes the recovered document might not appear when you open Microsoft Word. In such a case, open Word and go to Options.
This opens up a Word Options dialog box. Navigate to Save and copy the AutoRecover file location.
Once you have copied the AutoRecover file location, open the File Explorer or any folder on your PC. In the address bar, paste the path you have copied from the AutoRecover File location.
Open the folder which houses the unsaved document. Double-click on the unsaved document in Microsoft Word AutoRecovery document to open the document. Now, you can save the document using the Save As button.
Recover Using Open
Another way to recover Word documents is by using the Open option in Word.
Open Microsoft Word and navigate to Open. Click on Recent and under the documents section click on Recover Unsaved Documents.
This opens up a dialog box that contains the folders of the unsaved documents. Select the folder which contains the documents and click open. Double-click on the .asd file to open the unsaved document or click on the .asd file and click Open.
This opens up the unsaved Word document. Now, you can use the Save As button in the banner to save the document.
Also Read:
How to Track Changes in Word? A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Add Columns in Microsoft Word? All You Need to Know
How to Superscript in Word? 4 Easy Methods
Workarounds to Save the Document
Recovering unsaved files is a narrow escape from losing your work. It is always better to save your work in case of any mishaps. There are a couple of ways to easily save the document so you don’t have to manually save them every time.
Enable Autosave
While working on a document, we tend to save the progression made in certain intervals of time. Newer versions of Word have the option to autosave your work in a set interval of seconds.
To enable AutoSave, toggle the AutoSave button in the title bar and select the file location or the cloud to automatically save your progress.
You can set the AutoRecover duration so that the files get automatically saved once every set minute. Additionally, you can specify the location to auto-save and toggle autosave features.
Create Backup Copy
It is also better to create a backup of files as you work through the document.
Navigate to File and click on Options. Go to Advance and scroll down to Save. Under Save options, check the checkbox for “Always create backup copy”. This creates a backup copy for the file you’re working on and you can recover your unsaved data anytime.
Suggested Reads:
How to Add Page Numbers in Word? 3 Easy Examples
How to Create a Fillable Form in Word
Closing Thoughts
In this article, we saw 4 ways how to recover a Word document. These are pretty straightforward ways to recover your document in place of mishaps. Use any of the methods to recover the document, but make sure to try them all.
We won’t know what might happen and it is always better to be safe than sorry. So, save the document with every progression either manually or by using AutoSave.
For more high-quality guides on MS Word or Excel, please visit our free resources section.
SimonSezIT has been successfully teaching Excel for 15 years. We have a very exhaustive set of courses with in-depth training modules covering all major business software.
You can access all these 100+ courses for a low monthly fee. Please visit our courses section for more information.
Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
