How to Recover Excel File Saved Over

Learn how to recover saved or rewritten Excel files. In this article we will provide two powerful solutions that will help you solve this problem.
Cases of Accidentally Saved Over an Excel File
Case 1: Interfering with writing Excel files
If you mistakenly saved an Excel file and want to restore it, follow these steps:
- Open Excel and click on “Files”, then select “Information” and “Manage Workbooks” from the drop down menu, select “Recover Unsaved Workbooks”.
- Select the unsaved file you want to recover and click on “Open”
- In the top bar of the file, select “Save as” to recover the file.
Case 2: Recover Saved Word Document
To restore a Word document saved in Windows 10, 8 or 7, follow these steps:
- If you change the Word document on your desktop and save the file, you can recover it. Open Excel and click on “Files”, then select “Information” and “Manage Workbooks” from the drop down menu, select “Recover Unsaved Workbooks”.
- Select the unsaved file you want to recover and click on “Open”
- In the top bar of the file, select “Save as” to recover the file.
Rewriting or replacing Excel files is a common problem for Windows PC users. Although this problem is familiar, finding a solution can be challenging. Luckily, we have two reliable ways to help you recover Excel files that have been rewritten. Also, we recommend Word/Excel recovery and backup solutions to prevent data loss. You can easily use the above data recovery software to recover permanently deleted Word documents.
How to recover duplicated Excel files with built-in tools in Excel
By default, Microsoft Office Excel or Word will create temporary backups while you edit files. These will be stored on your Windows PC if you enable the auto-saving feature. Recovering previous versions is possible without rewriting. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open Excel and click on “Files”, then select “Information” and “Manage Workbooks” from the drop down menu, select “Recover Unsaved Workbooks”.
- Select the unsaved file you want to recover and click on “Open”
- In the top bar of the file, select “Save as” to recover the file.
How to Recover Replaced Excel Files from Temporary Files
Follow these procedures to recover a replaced Excel or Word file:
- The Microsoft Office temporary file storage location is:
- In Windows 10/8/7/Vista: C:\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles in Windows XP:C:\Location Settings\Application Data\Microsoft \Office\UnsavedFiles
- Replace “UserName” with your computer username.
- Find the Excel or Word temporary file in the path.
- Select “Save as” from the target file to retrieve the replaced file.
Rewritten Excel or Word documents can be used properly after recovery. If these ways fail, we have another.
How to restore a previous version of an Excel file or Word document
Restoring a previous version of a re-written Excel file or Word document is another reasonable option. If you enable Windows backup options, follow these steps:
- Create a new Excel or Word file with the same name as the missing or rewritten file.
- Right-click on the file and select “Properties”
- Go to the “Previous Version” tab and find the latest or desired version. Click “Restore”
With these steps, your Excel or Word file that has been replaced or overwritten will be restored with the same file name.
How to Recover Replaced Excel Files on Mac
In order to recover files you modified failed on Mac, you can choose from three solutions: Time Machine, AutoSave, and backup in the cloud.
Recover previous versions of Excel files from Time Machine
If you enable Time Machine backup, follow these steps to recover re-written Excel files:
- Access Time Machine from the menu bar on your Mac and enter it.
- Choose the file’s rebuilt folder.
- Click “Restore” to return replaced Excel files to their original location.
Recover Excel files that have been rewritten on Mac with automatic saving
Like Windows, Mac Office has an automatic saving feature that will keep documents for a period of time specified by the rate. If your Word or Excel files are damaged or replaced, you can use automatic recovery files to restore them:
- Open Finder on your Mac and go to “To” > “To Folder”.
- Type “~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Liberary/Preferences/AutoRecovery” and click “To”
- Find the files you want and select “Save as” to recover them.
Recover replaced Excel files on Mac through backup in the cloud
If you don’t have a Time Machine, you can recover duplicate Excel files using cloud backups such as OneDrive, iCloud, or Dropbox. These services save the history of changes, making recovering previous versions easy.
For Dropbox users, here’s how to recover saved Excel files:
- Open the browser and go to dropbox.com to enter your account.
- Select the folder with the rewrite file and open the latest version.
- Click on the three points in the right control panel and select “Model History”.
- Find the original version and click “Restore”
Bonus Tips: How to Recover Repeated Excel Files
If your Excel file is overwritten, you can use special tools like WinfrGUI to recover previous versions. Winfr GUI provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for Windows File Recovery, eliminating the need for complicated commands.
Follow these steps to recover Excel files that were rewritten using WinfrGUI:
- Run WinfrGUI and select the address drive of the rewritten file. Start scanning by clicking on “Find Lost Data”. This software supports data recovery from various devices such as HDD, SSD, USB drive, SD card and pen drivers.
- Check the scan results and use a file type filter to quickly find the Excel file you need. WinfrGUI supports multiple file recovery types.
- Select the file you want to recover and click on “Recover”. Configure storage location or cloud drive to save the recovered data.
Using WinfrGUI, you can guarantee your Excel file recovery smoothly and efficiently.
Backup Word/Excel files to avoid data loss
In order to prevent loss of Excel or Word documents in the future, it is important to back them up.
Enable automatic saving in Excel or Word using the following steps:
- Open Excel and go to File > Options > Save
- Select the box “Save automatic recovery data every * minute” and “Keep the last saved version of the directory if I close without saving it.”
- Click “OK” to save changes.
By following these steps, you can avoid data loss and recover overwritten files in the event of an accident.
Frequently Asked Questions: How to Recover Repeated Excel Files
Do you mean rewrite means delete?
When you rewrite the data, you will replace the original data with a new one. The original data is deleted instead of erased. The data recovery software can’t retrieve the copied data.
Can I recover a duplicate Excel file?
Using previous versions, you can recover Excel files that have been rewritten on Windows 10 by enabling Windows file history or backup. You can restore replaced Excel files. Time Machine backup can be used to recover replaced files on Mac.
How can I recover my failed file?
There are three ways to recover Excel files that have been mistakenly replaced:
- Use MS Office’s AutoRecover feature to recover overwritten files
- Recover Replaced Files from Temporary Files on Windows 10
- Recover previous version of Excel file
How do I recover overwritten files without a previous version?
You can recover overwritten files without a previous version in two ways. You can either recover them using the AutoRecover feature or recover from temporary files.