How to AutoRecover Your Unsaved Files in MS Word

© Ugur Akinci

You can autorecover at least a part of your unsaved files if you lose power in the midst of a writing session or you close the file without saving it.

There are two steps to the process.

1) Configure your Autosave setting:

a) Select File > Options > Save from the menu to display the Save Documents screen:

Word Unsaved Files 1

b) Select the Save AutoRecover information every … Minutes check-box and set the time interval to something like 10 min (default).

c) Select the Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving check-box.

d) Browse and select another location if you do not like the default autorecover file location.

e) Click OK to save the settings.

2) Recover your autosaved document:

a) If you close a file without saving it, select File >Info > Manage Versions > Recover Unsaved Documents.

Word Unsaved Files 2

This will open the AutoRecover folder that you’ve configured in the previous step.

b) Select the autosaved file and click Open to open (recover) it.

NOTE: Even when you configure the AutoRecover option you still need to save your document regularly to make sure all of it will be saved.

When, for example, you set your AutoRecover Information interval to (once in every) 10 minutes, and your computer crashes 9 minutes after the last AutoRecover, then you will lose everything you did during those 9 minutes — unless, of course, you manually save your document.

15 Comments

  1. Pharino on June 27, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Usefull
    Thank



  2. Tresmos on February 12, 2012 at 3:39 am

    HAH!!
    Thank you so much!!!
    Saved me some serious stress.



  3. Bennie Naude on March 27, 2012 at 7:02 am

    Thank you thank you thank you – life saver today!!!



    • admin on March 27, 2012 at 9:02 am

      Bennie, glad to be of help. Have a great day! Ugur



  4. Renee on April 2, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    Thank you so much! I was sitting here freaking the hell out. THANK YOU.



    • admin on April 2, 2012 at 10:33 pm

      Renee, happy to hear that solved your problem. Take care! Ugur



  5. ser on August 20, 2012 at 12:44 am

    i saved the file multiple times n now i check it just didn’t save, autoreovering isn’t working and i clicked the review tab and it showed nothing. its a lot of work! what now????



    • admin on August 20, 2012 at 9:22 am

      If you save a Word file multiple times and it’s not saving, that means the Word is not working properly. The directions provided here assume that your Word is working properly but is shut down suddenly either by mistake or due to power outage. Autorecover is supposed to work if you reconfigured it properly, as explained in Step 1. Especially important is selecting the “Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving” check-box. However, after all is said and done, sometimes nothing works. It happens. In those cases I either shut down everything and restart both my machine and the Word. And if that doesn’t work either, I uninstall and reinstall Word (assuming the Word is installed on your machine and not on a network server). However, when doing that, there is always a risk of losing the part of the file that you’ve edited but couldn’t save. Nothing is perfect in life. We can only try our best.



  6. pedro on September 29, 2012 at 7:53 am

    thans a lot!!



  7. Thanks on November 22, 2012 at 11:21 pm

    Helped me a lot.



  8. HaJeBe on December 3, 2012 at 5:06 am

    Thanx a lot. It sure helped me to recover a lost file.



    • admin on January 5, 2013 at 2:42 pm

      Pedro, HaJeBe and all our other readers, glad to hear this tip worked for you. Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Ugur



  9. Leane on May 12, 2016 at 5:14 am

    Mine is literally nowhere to be found 🙁



  10. timtak on June 21, 2016 at 11:05 pm

    I lost an unsaved document. Usually word displays such documents on restart, or on recent files / unsaved files. But nothing. None of the .tmp files on my computer were appropriate either.
    But looking at the autosave settings as suggested on this page I see where the .asd (autosaved document?) file for the document that I lost was hiding in the autosave folder, as stipulated in the word options save autosave settings, and I have got my hands on the file! At first word would not open it but, fortunately I manage to open the .asd file with by stipulating a (more recent) version of a Word.
    I felt sure I had lost a morning’s work but thanks to the hint here it was saved. Thank you.



    • techwriter on June 22, 2016 at 1:44 pm

      Glad to be of service. Best regards, Ugur