4 Proven Ways to Microsoft Word Unsaved Document Recovery

Have you ever shut down a Microsoft Word application without saving time working with documents? Or maybe you lost an unsaved Word file due to an abrupt program failure? If you want an effective solution for such a situation, you’ve come to the right place. This article will take you through the most useful method for Microsoft Word unsaved document recovery.

Method 1: Restore unsaved Word documents with special software.

Recovering unsaved Word documents is possible using WinfrGUI. Follow these simple steps on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer:

• Start WinfrGUI and select the disk where the unsaved file is missing. Click on “Scan”.

• On the left you will find the path and type tabs. Click on “Type” and “Unsaved Files”. You can double-click the folder or click on “Open” to access it. This software can easily recover Word, Excel, PPT and other unsaved file types.
• Select the target file and use the “Preview” button to view it first. Then click “Recover” to restore the unsaved file. Be careful not to rewrite the original file by saving the recovered file to the same location.

Method 2: Recover unsaved Word documents using AutoRecover

If your MS Word document is suddenly missing, don’t be afraid. There is a high chance that you can load it from your autosave.asd document. To recover unsaved documents, make sure auto-save is enabled and follow the following steps:

• In MS Word, click on the “Files” tab in the upper left corner.
• Select “Manage Documents” and select the “Recover Unsaved Docs” option from the drop-down menu.
• Check the dialog for missing files. If they have been missing recently, they should be on the list.
• Open the recovered Word document and click on the “Save as” button in the banner above.

For Word 2002-2007 version:

• In Word 2007, click on the Microsoft Office button and go to “Word Options” > “Save” in the automatic file recovery location box. Route message, then click on “Cancel” and close Word. Open the folder you noticed and look for.asd (AutoRecover file) for the Word document you are looking for. Double-click to open and save immediately.
• In Word 2003 & 2002, go to the “Tools” menu and click on “Options”. Select the file location tab. Double-click on the automatic file and save the path. Close Word and find the location of the AutoRecover file. Find the file that ends with.asd and double-click on the Word document to open and save immediately.

Special Tip – Enable AutoRecover:

To avoid an emergency loss of Word documents, we recommend enabling automatic recovery.

• Open Word and access File > Options > Save
• Select the box “Save every automatic recovery data [insert required time] minutes” and “Keep the latest version saved by Auto Free if I close without saving.”
• Click “OK” to save changes.

Method 3: Recover unsaved Word documents from temporary files

If you can’t find the Word document in the AutoRecover file, another option is to search from the tmp folder by following these steps:

• Press Win+E to open the file scanner.
• Enter “. tmp” in the search bar and find the corresponding file.
• Select the tmp file from the search results and open it. Do not forget to save it immediately.

Method 4: Recover unsaved Word documents with document recovery.

In case Word fails or closes as an emergency, it usually restores unsaved documents when reopened. You can find these documents in the left panel under Document Recovery.

How to recover deleted Word documents:

The process to recover deleted Word documents differs from recovering unsaved documents. Here are two ways to search:

Method 1: Find deleted Word documents in the trash.

If you delete a Word document without empty the tray, you can easily delete it:

• Open the Recycle box and check if the deleted Word file still exists. Search for file types such as DOC, DOCX, DOT, etc.
• Select a Word file and click “Restore” to recover deleted documents.

Method 2: Restore permanently deleted Word documents with data recovery software.

If your Word documents are permanently lost. Data recovery software has the best solution. WinfrGUI can permanently recover deleted files in various formats including Word, Excel, PPT, email, images, videos, and more. Following these steps:

• Select the location of the Word file
• Click the “Scan” button to start the software.
• After scanning, click on the “Document” option in the left panel to find your Word document.
• View the desired Word files first and click “Recover” to find them. Be sure to save the recovered documents elsewhere to avoid duplication of the original documents.

Conclusion

This guide contains 5 powerful ways to recover Word documents that are not saved on Windows. Using the powerful WinfrGUI MS Office file recovery software, you can recover lost, unsaved and deleted Word documents without relying on Word backup files.

Relevant Reading: 7 Fixes to Accidentally Clicked Don’t Save Excel Issue