Microsoft Word Retrieve Unsaved Document Mac

Question Info. Look in your trash for a 'Recovered items' folder. Go to the Finder, select Go Go to folder, type /private/var/folders and look for files named 'Word Work File' inside a 'Temporary items' folder. To be honest, the theory for how to recover the previous version of Word document on Mac is similar to the autoSave/autoRecover in Microsoft Word. In fact, whenever you edit, duplicate, delete or make a change of a Word document, Microsoft Word will automatically save the previous version there for you, in case you need the previous version.

Mar 20,2019 • Filed to: Document Recovery • Proven solutions

“How to retrieve unsaved Word documents on Mac? I guess I have lost some Word files and now I don’t know how to find them!”

As a friend of mine asked me this recently, I realized that the problem is quite common. Since a lot of Mac users end up losing their important documents, they should know how to find them easily. If you are suffering from the same problem, then you have come to the right place. In this guide, we will teach you how to recover unsaved documents on Mac in not one, but 5 different ways.

Part 1: Accidentally Lost Word Document on Mac Without Saving?

Before we discuss things like how to find autosaved documents in Mac, let’s learn what could have caused this issue in the first place.

  • It might happen that your Mac is infected by malware or virus

  • If Mac has been updated to a beta or unstable firmware, then it can lead to data loss

  • Sometimes, MS Word closes unexpectedly in between leading to the inaccessibility of files.

  • A bad or corrupt sector can also cause this problem

  • Any other third-party application might have also deleted your Word documents
Mac

Part 2: How to Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac?

To make it easier for you, we have come up with 5 major options to recover unsaved Word document on Mac.

Method 1: Recover Word Document from Trash

Just like Windows, Mac also maintains all the deleted content in Trash. When a Word file is deleted, Mac won’t erase it from its storage right away. Instead, it will move it to the Trash folder. In this way, you can try to recover unsaved documents Word on Mac.

  1. Firstly, open the Trash folder on Mac. You can go to Finder to locate it or view its icon on the home.

  2. Locate the Word file and select it. You can just drag it in order to move it to a safe location.

  3. Also, you can right-click the file and choose the “Put Back” option to restore it.

Method 2: Recover Word Document from Auto-recovery Files

As you know, Microsoft Word has an auto-recovery option. This is because when the application is closed unexpectedly, it automatically maintains a recovery file. Therefore, you can just visit the Auto-recovery folder on Mac and view if your file is there. If you are lucky, then you can just extract its content from here and recover the unsaved Word document on Mac.

  1. To start with, go to the Documents folder on your Mac and try to find the Windows User Data folder.

  2. Once you visit the folder, you can see the Office AutoRecovery folder. Simply open it and view the recovery file.

  3. After finding the relevant file, open it with Microsoft Word and extract the needed content.

Method 3: Recover Word Document from the Temporary Folder

Apart from performing an auto recovery of documents, Word can sometimes also save its temporary file as well. This is because the application keeps saving the document automatically in the background and maintains its information in a temp file. If needed, users can just visit the location and open the temporary file with Microsoft Word to access their content. To learn how to find an unsaved Word document on Mac, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the “Go” button on the home and select the “Go to Folder” option.

  2. From here, you can go to the Temporary folder. You might have to explore the folders a bit and could visit Private > Var to find the Word temporary files.

  3. Here, you can see the Word Work temporary files. Just select a word work temporary file of your choice, right-click, and open it with MS Word.

Wait for a while as Word would process the selected file and extract all the relevant content from it.

Method 4: Recover Word Document from Time Machine Backup

If you have already taken a previous backup of your Word documents via Time Machine, then you won’t face any trouble recovering it. Time Machine is the native feature on Mac that can help us maintain a backup of your data and restore it afterward. Before you proceed, you should know that the backup of your Word documents exist and that the Time Machine backup option is enabled. Once it is done, follow these steps to learn how to recover unsaved Word document on Mac.

  1. Firstly, go to the Spotlight option on your Mac and search for Time Machine to open it.

  2. Before you proceed, make sure that the Time Machine drive is enabled. Once Time Machine is loaded, you can browse it to find the Word file of your choice.

  3. You can move the up and down keys or arrows to explore it. In order to have a preview of a file, select it, and press the space bar.

  4. After finding the relevant file, click on the “Restore” button to save it to a secure location. You can select and restore multiple files as well.

Method 5: Recover Word Documents with Recoverit (IS) for Mac

This is undoubtedly the best way to recover unsaved Word documents on Mac. The Recoverit (IS) application for Mac is equipped with tons of features and provides high data retrieval rate. The tool is extremely easy to use and does not need any prior technical assistance. It can recover Word files from your Mac’s internal storage as well as from an external media too.

Recoverit (IS) for Mac

A Life Saver to Solve Your Data Loss Problems!

  • From virus attack to accidental deletion and lost partition to corrupt storage, the application can perform data recovery in all kinds of scenarios.
  • It can recover all sorts of text documents like doc, docx, txt, and more. Apart from Word files, users can also recover their photos, videos, music, PowerPoint, Excel files, and so much more.
  • The application features two different modes of data recovery. This includes a quick normal scan and a more time-consuming deep scan.
  • The interface allows us to preview the recovered content. In this way, users can first preview the files and restore them selectively.
  • It features an intuitive user-friendly interface. You can install Recoverit (IS)y on every leading macOS version.
2,965,271 people have downloaded it

If you want to know how to get back an unsaved document on Mac using iSkysoft, then consider following these steps:

Step 1 Select a recovery mode

Start by launching the Recoverit (IS) application on your Mac. From the welcome screen of the application, it has multiple data recovery modes, deleted file recovery, system crash recovery, and so on. By default, it will begin scanning without selecting recovery mode.

Step 2 Choose where to scan

Furthermore, the interface will ask you where to look for the lost or inaccessible Word file on your Mac. From here, you can select any partition, a drive, or even an external connected unit. After making the selections, click on the “Start” button.

Step 3 Recover the retrieved Word files

You would have to wait for a while as Recoverit (IS)y will scan your Mac. It will show the progress of the scan on the screen as well. In the end, you can view the retrieved content under different categories. Simply select the Word file of your choice, preview it, and restore it back to your Mac.

In case if you are not satisfied with the results, then consider performing an All-around recovery (i.e. a deep scan). It is a more time-consuming and thorough scan that will certainly help you dig up more data.

Part 3: Pro Tip about Recovering Lost Mac Data

Sometimes, users are not able to recover their lost data on Mac. This is because of its native feature, System Integrity Protection. The feature was first introduced in macOS X El Capitan and can prevent third-party apps to access certain data or permissions. Also, it is turned on by default in versions under macOS 10.13. Therefore, if you wish to recover your data, then you need to disable SIP beforehand.

1. Restart your Mac system. While it restarts, press the Command and R keys at the same time to enter the recovery mode.

2. From the recovery window, go to the “Utilities” section and launch the terminal.

3. Now, just type the command “csrutil disable” and press enter. Wait for a while as Mac would disable SIP. Once it is done, restart your Mac the usual way.

I’m sure that the guide would have helped you do the Mac recovery of unsaved Word documents. As you can see, Recoverit (IS) provides such a hassle-free solution to recover all kinds of content. Not only to recover unsaved Word documents on Mac, it can also help you get back your lost photos, media files, videos, and other important documents as well. Go ahead and download the tool right away and always be prepared to perform data recovery like a pro.

FonePaw - Solution - Recovery - Recover Word Document on Mac

Losing a word document could give you a heart attack. The lost document may be an assignment, a report or article that you have been working for days, weeks or even months. Sometimes, the Word crashed or your Mac suddenly shut off, leaving the Word document you are working on unsaved. Or you accidentally saved over a Word document on Mac, thus the document is overwritten. Even worse, the lost Word document might has been deleted by mistake.

Whether you need to recover an unsaved or deleted Word document on Mac, this article can give you some hints. Read the methods below to recover Word document on Mac.

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How to Recover Unsaved Word Document 2019/2017/2016/2011 on Mac

The good news is that by default, Word on Mac enables an autosave feature which automatically save the document you are working on every 10 minutes in the AutoRecovery folder. It is very likely that you can recover the document that you didn't save with the autosave files.

Note: The prerequisite for Word AutoRecover to work on Mac is that you have saved the document for at least one time. That is to say, if you just create a Word file, make some edits and then close the file by clicking Don't Save, there is no available AutoRecover file to recover the unsaved document.

If Word or Mac system crashed

After an application(such as Microsoft Office) crashes or macOS freezes, the next time you open Word, an AutoRecover file will be automatically opened and you can save it and pick up where you left off.

In the ideal world, you should see the unsaved document right after you relaunch Word. However, if things doesn't work as expected, you can find Word's autosave location on Mac and automatically recover the unsaved document.

AutoRecover files in Word 2011 for Mac

To recover unsaved Word document on Word 2011 on Mac, there are two ways.

1. Open AutoRecover files

Step 1 On Word, click File > AutoRecover.

Step 2 You should be seeing a list of AutoRecover files. According the saving date, open the unsaved file you are looking.

2. Locate AutoRecovery folder on Mac

Step 1 Open Finder.

Microsoft Word Retrieve Unsaved Document Mac Youtube

Step 2 Press Alt key while clicking Go to reveal Library folder.

Step 3 Go to the Word autosave location: Library/Application Support/ Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

AutoRecover files in Word 2016/2017 for Mac

There are also two methods to recover a Word document that was not saved on Mac for Word 2016, 2017 or newer.

1. Go to Microsoft User Data folder

Step 1 Close Microsoft Word on Mac.

Step 2 Open Finder > Documents > Microsoft User Data folder.

Step 3 Look through the files that are named 'AutoRecovery save of' and find the autosave files you need.

Mac OS X version 10.10. Descargar microsoft office mac gratis 2016.

If you have problem in opening the AutoRecover Word files, rename the files and add '.doc' to the file extension.

2. Go to AutoRecovery folder

Step 1 Open Finder. Click Go > Go to folder.

Step 2 Enter the path as follow:

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

If you fail to recover unsaved Word documents with AutoRecover files, you can also check temporary folder on Mac, which may contain the files you are looking for.

Recover unsaved Word document with Mac Temporary folder

Step 1 Launch Terminal with Spotlight or go to Applications > Utilities.

Step 2 Enter the command line: open $TMPDIR. Hit Enter.

Microsoft Word Retrieve Unsaved Document Mac

Step 3 The temporary folder will be open. Check if there is the Word document that you didn't save.


Accidentally Saved Over a Word Document on Mac

When you accidentally saved over a Word document that you actually need on Mac, you can try to recover the Word document from AutoRecovery folder. And if it doesn't work, try to recover the previous version of the document from Time Machine backups on Mac.

Unfortunately, there are many dishonest sellers who offer stolen, abused, or otherwise unauthorized Microsoft product keys for sale. Site www.microsoft.com office professional 2019 mac If you bought a product key separate from the software, it’s very possible the product key was stolen or otherwise fraudulently obtained, and subsequently blocked for use.

Step 1 Open Time Machine with Spotlight.

Step 2 Find the files you want to restore.

Step 3 Click Restore to restore the Word file.


How to Recover Lost/Deleted Word Documents on Mac

If you have Word documents that you have deleted mistakenly, FonePaw Data Recovery can recover the deleted Word documents for you. And sometimes, when you cannot find the unsaved documents from AutoRecovery folder, you may use the program to see if it can scan out the files that you need.

And after a Word document is deleted or lost, you should run FonePaw Data Recovery as soon as possible because the deleted document can be covered by new data on your Mac anytime. A rule of thumb for successful data recovery is Act Fast.

DownloadDownload

Step 1 Run FonePaw Data Recovery for Mac.

Step 2 To recover deleted Word documents from Mac drive, click Documents and select the drive that the deleted Word files were saved. Click Scan.

Step 3 The program will begin to scan and find the deleted documents on the drive, which include deleted Word, Excel, PDF, PPT and more.

Step 4 When the scanning stops, click DOC or DOCX and view if the deleted files you need are found. If not, click Deep Scan to find the deleted files are buried deeper.

Step 5 When you see the Word files you want to recover, click Recover.


Tips: Avoid Data Loss in Word for Mac

Set a shorter AutoRecover interval. By default, Word automatically save a copy of the Word document you are working on every 10 minutes. You can shorten the interval. On Word, go to Preferences > Output > Sharing > Save > Save every XX minute. For example, enter 5 to save a Word document every 5 minute.

Enable AutoSave if you are subscribed to Word for Office 365. With AutoSave enable, Word saves the changes you made every few seconds so you don't need manually click the Save button. Even if Word crashes unexpectedly, most changes on a document are saved automatically.

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Microsoft Word Unsaved Document Recovery Mac

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