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

Microsoft Word Mac Recover Unsaved Files

“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

If you would like to use this method to recover an unsaved Word document on Mac, you need to: Make sure Word for Mac isn’t already running. Click on Home in the Go menu on the Finder. Navigate to Documents Microsoft User Data. Look for files that have the phrase “AutoRecovery save of” at the beginning of their names. 2020-3-11  Step 2. Find AutoRecover Docs in Microsoft Office. Open the Word on that you were using, select Word Options. Look for a file path Manage Document Dropdown Menu. Click “Recover Unsaved Documents”. Once you find your disappeared docs, double-click it and then save it at once.

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.

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.

Summary

In this article, you will learn 4 effective ways to recover unsaved, lost and deleted Word document on Mac with detailed steps: [1]recover with AutoRecovery; [2]Recover from Temp folder; [3]Recover from Recovered item in Trash; [4]recover with Word file recovery software.

Accidentally closed Word without saving on Mac? Do you know how to recover unsaved Word documents on Mac? According to the unique features of Microsoft Word for Mac, you may find the unsaved item in the AutoRecovery folder, Temporary folder or Recovered item in Trash. Besides, if you unintentionally lost, deleted or formatted your Word document, you can recover a Word document on Mac with EaseUS Word file recovery software.

How to Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac

Embedded with more useful features in certain collaborative situations than Pages, Microsoft Word becomes increasingly popular among Mac computers. Office 365 even allows users to create Word files on their Mac. On one hand, Microsoft Word offers standard DOC or DOCX file formats that are compatible in almost every OS platform; On the other hand, Word 2020, 2019, 2018..2011 is featured with auto-saving, which enables us to recover a Word document before we could hit Save.

Based on the features of Microsoft Word for Mac, there are three potential ways to recover your unsaved Word documents. These methods can also be applied to recover unsaved Excel files on your Mac.

#1. Recover Unsaved Word Docs on Mac with AutoRecovery

The Word for Mac includes an AutoRecovery option. It is turned on by default. The app will automatically save a copy of an open Word file every 10 minutes. If Word freezes while you're working on a document, or if the computer crashes, you can use the AutoRecovery copy to recover unsaved Word document with the changes or additions that you made in your last Word for Mac session.

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document

Unlike recovering unsaved Word document in Windows, the file recovery on Mac from the AutoRecovery folder is different.

Step 1. Open 'Finder' on your Mac, then head to 'Go' > 'Go to Folder'.

Step 2. Type: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and click 'Go'.

Unsaved Changes

Step 3. Open the AutoRecovery folder, locate all the files that start with the words 'AutoRecovery save of'. Select the one you want to recover, rename the file, then add the '.doc' filename extension.

Step 4. Double-click the file. The document now opens in Word for Mac.

Object References An Unsaved Transient

Step 5. Click the File menu and select 'Save As'. Type a new name for the file into the Name field, select a folder for the file and click the 'Save' button.

#2. Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac from TMP Folder

The Word for Mac saves a copy of the unsaved document named as Word Work File in the Temporary folder. Your Mac also temporarily keep files in this folder. Though for many Mac users, it's not easy to find it.

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document on Mac

Step 1. Go to 'Applications' > 'Utilities' and double-click 'Terminal'.

Step 2. In Terminal, enter open $TMPDIR and you will be directed to the TMP folder which is used to keep files temporarily.

Step 3. In the TMP folder, find and open the folder named 'TemporaryItems'. In it, right-click the desired unsaved Word files and 'Open with..' Microsoft Word.

Step 4. Save the Word file by clicking on 'File' > 'Save As' and save it to another location.

#3. Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac from Recovered Item

The Word for Mac temporarily saves documents that the user has not yet saved themselves in a folder named 'Recovered items', located in the Trash. If there are no recovered files, this folder will not appear.

Guide: How to find unsaved Word files on Mac

Step 1. Open 'Trash' by clicking its icon on the dock.

Step 2. Look for a folder labeled 'Recovered items' and click into it to look for your unsaved Word file. If you cannot find it, try the next solution.

#4. Recover Deleted Word Document with Word Recovery Software

The aforementioned three ways are exclusively for saving the file you're currently working on but suddenly disappear before clicking the Save button. To be specific, the methods will only work for files that are in the process of being worked on when they disappeared. Hence, if you lost a Word doc that is already existed by deletion, disk formatting or losing its access, you need to turn to other ways to recover a Word document on Mac.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is third-party specialized Mac data recovery software that can scour your hard drive, external hard drive, SD card, or USB flash drive to find all the lost data that vanishes without a trace on Mac OS X/macOS. It doesn't matter whether you emptied the trash bin or not, the deleted file will show up after you use the program to scan your selected drive.

For the first attempt, we strongly recommend you download its free version. It won't cost you a penny to search for your missing files. And since your problem is only for a few lost Word files, the 2GB recovery limit should be more than enough. The scan & recovery process is very simple, we’ll show you how it works.

Guide: How to recover a Word document on Mac

Step 1. Select the location where your important Word documents were lost and click Scan button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will start immediately a quick scan as well as a deep scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane.

Step 3. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the Word files you've lost earlier. Select the target files and click Recover Now button to get them back at once.

How to Increase the Chance of Unsaved Word Data Recovery

After suffering from the fear of losing your Word documents, you must not want to experience this kind of situation again. Thus, it's necessary for you to know how to avoid losing your Word files. To avoid completely losing your files, you can:

Tip 1. Save the Word Document Whenever You Create a New One

An ever unsaved Word document exists in the computer's RAM, not on the hard disk. Thus, the chances to save a Word Document that has never been saved before are slim. Knowing this should give you a hint that you should save the word document at least once whenever you create a new one.

Tip 2. Change the AutoSave Interval

Microsoft Word Mac Recover Unsaved File In Office 2007

After you save your Word document, the AutoSave feature will begin to work. To minimize the loss of the progress on the file you are working, you can change the frequency of AutoSave:

Microsoft Word 2016 Mac Recover Unsaved Document

Step 1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac.

Step 2. Go to 'Word' > 'Preferences' and click 'Save' under Output and Sharing.

Microsoft Word Mac Recover Unsaved File In Word On Windows 7

Step 3. Check all the items under Save Options (Recommended) and change the interval of AutoSave, for example, from every 10 minutes to every 5 minutes.

Word count shortcut in microsoft word mac. Site: greatcirclelearning.com Blog: workfasterworksmarter.com. Misbehavior like that often is the result of leaving the program and/or the Mac running for extended periods of time. Not only in Word, but many other programs as well.

Recover Unsaved File Word

If you follow the two tips above, you will substantially decrease the risk of losing your Word documents. What if you carelessly deleted your important Word files on your Mac? No worry. Try the free method to retrieve permanently deleted Word documents with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.