Like AutoRecover, AutoSave is turned on by default in Excel, and it also allows users to define the interval of auto saving and the location of the saved excel file. Once you close Excel documents without saving, the first thing that you should do when reopen Excel is to recover unsaved Excel files from AutoSave folder where the temporary excel. Solution 4 – Check the document directory for Word autosave location. Sometimes autosave location is set to the same directory where you save your file. However, autosave files are usually hidden and in order to see them, you need to follow these steps: Open Word. Click File Open Browse. Navigate to the directory in which you saved the file.
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Accidentally, you closed your Word without saving the work on Mac. Luckily, there is still a probability to recover your unsaved Word document on Mac OS X or macOS. According to the features of Microsoft Word for Mac, you may find the unsaved item from the Recovered items folder, Temporary Folder, or AutoRecovery folder. Besides, if you unintentionally deleted your Word document, you can get it back easily with EaseUS free data recovery software.
On this page, you will uncover three proven & practical methods that can help you recover the unsaved Word documents on Mac and bonus tips that can protect your Mac files from deleting, formatting, and other data loss errors. Pick up one method to bring your unsaved Word file back now:
Prospect of Word File Recovery on Mac
Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac (3 Ways)
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.
Method 1. Recover from the Recovered items folder in Trash
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.
Method 2. Recover from the Temporary Folder
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.
Method 3. Recover from the AutoRecovery
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'.
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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.
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.
Bonus Tip to Avoid Data Loss & Recover Deleted Word Documents
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
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:
Step 1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac.
Step 2. Go to 'Word' > 'Preferences' and click 'Save' under Output and Sharing.
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.
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. There is a free method to retrieve permanently deleted Word documents provided below.
Tip 3. Recover Permanently Deleted Word Documents
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is not an exception in retrieving an unsaved Word document on Mac. Even so, it's still a last-ditch effort to take after all the other methods have failed. If there was a file saved at some point, manually or automatically, and you emptied the trash bin, the saved file will show up after you use the program to scan your hard drive.
Anyway, it's worth a try. You're strongly recommended to download its free version for the first attempt. 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 & recover process is very simple, we’ll show you how it works.
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.
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Symptoms
When you save a Word for Mac document, the application crashes or quits unexpectedly.
ResolutionStep 1: Download and install all Office updates
To obtain updates with Office for Mac applications, follow these steps:
Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac, which comes with Office, can keep your Microsoft software up to date. When AutoUpdate is set to check for updates automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, there's no need to search for critical updates and information; AutoUpdate delivers them directly to your computer. To do this:
For additional information about Office for Mac updates, seeWhere and how to obtain Office for Mac software updates.
If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Check the hard disc name
Make sure that your hard disc has a name. The name cannot be all numbers but can contain numbers. The name must start with a letter. It must not contain any special characters, such as periods, commas, semi-colons, quotation marks, and so on.
Step 3: Save to a different location
If you are saving a file in your Documents folder, instead try saving the file to the desktop or to a different location.
Remember that there is a 255-character limit to the file name, and the path of the saved file is included in the name. For example, a file that is saved to the desktop has the path 'HDusersyour user nameDesktop.' These characters are counted toward the 255-character limit.
If you want to save to a network share or to an external device (such as a flash drive), first save the file to your local hard disc. If you can save the file to the hard disc (your Documents folder), there is nothing wrong with the Excel installation or with the file. If you cannot save to your local hard disc, go to step 3.
If you cannot save the file to an external device, contact Apple or the manufacturer of the external device. If you cannot save to a network share, contact the network administrator (your IT department) or the owner of the share. If you do not have an IT department and you want to save to a network, contact Microsoft Professional Support.
Step 4: Empty the AutoRecovery folder
Important
The location of certain files are different if you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. To check if it is installed, open Word, and then click About Word from the Word menu. If the version number is 14.2.0 or above, you have Service Pack 2 and you should follow the Service Pack 2 steps when provided in this article.
If there are too many items in the AutoRecovery folder (userDocumentsMicrosoft User DataOffice 2008 AutoRecovery or Office 2010 AutoRecovery), this can cause memory problems and save problems because these files are loaded into memory when Word is started.
Move AutoRecovery files to the desktop or to another folder to see whether they are causing the problem. To do this, follow these steps:
To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if have version 14.2.0 (also known as Service Pack 2) installed:
To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if you do not have Service Pack 2 installed:
Step 5: Remove Word preferences
Note
Removing the preferences will remove any customizations that you made. These customizations include changes to toolbars and custom dictionaries and keyboard shortcuts that you created.
Step 6: Create a new user account
Sometimes, user-specific information can become corrupted. This can interfere with installing or using the application. To determine whether this is the case, you can log on as a different user or create a new user account, and then test the application.
If the issue occurs even when you use the alternative account, go to the next step.
Step 7: Test saving the file in safe mode
Try to save when the computer is operating in safe mode. If you can save while in safe mode, the problem probably concerns software that is running in the background.
For information about how to enter safe mode in Mac OS, seeClean startup to see if background programs are interfering with Office for Mac.
More information
If the steps in this article did not resolve the issue, visit the Mac forums for possible resolutions/workarounds.
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