How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document

Losing an unsaved Word document is one of the most frustrating things that can happen at a computer. Whether Word crashed, you accidentally closed without saving, or the power went out, there is a good chance your work is not gone for good. Word has several recovery mechanisms built in, and this guide walks through each one in order from quickest to most involved.

How AutoRecover Works

AutoRecover is Word’s automatic safety net. By default it saves a temporary copy of your document every 10 minutes while you work. This is not the same as pressing Ctrl+S — it is a background process that runs independently of your normal saves. The AutoRecover file is stored in a separate location and is deleted automatically when you close a document normally. If Word closes unexpectedly, however, that temporary file stays in place so it can be offered to you on next launch.

AutoRecover only helps if it had time to run at least once since your last save. If you typed for 9 minutes and Word crashed in the 10th minute, you may lose some or all of that work. You can reduce this risk by changing the AutoRecover interval (covered at the end of this guide).

Check the Document Recovery Pane First

When you open Word after a crash or unexpected close, it usually detects the situation automatically and shows a Document Recovery pane on the left side of the screen. This lists any unsaved files it found, showing the file name and the time of the last AutoRecover save.

To recover from this pane:

1. Click the file name in the Document Recovery pane.
2. Word opens the recovered version. Review it to confirm how much work was saved.
3. Press Ctrl+S immediately to save it as a proper document in a location of your choice.

If Word did not show the recovery pane, or if you dismissed it before saving, you can still find the files manually.

Finding AutoRecover Files Manually on Windows

If the Document Recovery pane did not appear, or you closed it without saving, you can look for the AutoRecover files yourself.

1. Open Word and go to File > Options > Save.
2. Look for the AutoRecover file location box. Copy the path shown there.
3. Open File Explorer, paste the path into the address bar and press Enter.
4. Look for folders named after your document (or a partial name). Inside you will find files with an .asd extension.
5. Go back to Word and choose File > Open > Browse. In the file type dropdown at the bottom right, change it to All Files or Recovered Text from Any File. Navigate to the AutoRecover folder and open the .asd file.

The default AutoRecover path on most Windows machines is:

C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\

The AppData folder is hidden by default. To see it in File Explorer, click the View tab and tick Hidden items. In Windows 11 go to View > Show > Hidden items.

Finding AutoRecover Files Manually on Mac

On a Mac the AutoRecover files are stored in the Library folder, which is also hidden by default.

1. Open Finder.
2. From the menu bar choose Go > Go to Folder.
3. Type this path and press Return: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/
4. You should see files ending in (Autosaved). Double-click one to open it in Word.
5. Save it immediately to a proper location with Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S).

If you are running an older version of Word for Mac (2016 or 2019 without the Microsoft 365 sandbox), the path may be:

~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2016 AutoRecovery/

Recovering Unsaved New Documents From the AutoRecover Folder

If you created a brand-new document, typed in it and then closed without saving at all, Word stores a temporary copy under a generic name. To find it on Windows:

1. Go to File > Info > Manage Document.
2. Click Recover Unsaved Documents from the dropdown.
3. A window opens showing any unsaved drafts. These are stored in: C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles\
4. Open the file and save it straight away.

Check OneDrive Version History

If you were working on a document saved to OneDrive or SharePoint, you have another option even if the AutoRecover files are gone. OneDrive keeps a version history of every save.

1. Open the OneDrive folder in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).
2. Right-click the document and choose Version history.
3. A browser window opens showing every saved version with timestamps.
4. Click a version to preview it, then click Restore to bring it back.

On Microsoft 365, you can also do this directly inside Word by going to File > Info > Version History.

Look for Temporary Files

Word sometimes leaves behind temporary files with a tilde prefix (like ~WRL0001.tmp) in the same folder as your document. These are not always recoverable but are worth checking.

1. Navigate to the folder where you last saved the document.
2. Enable hidden files in File Explorer (View > Show > Hidden items).
3. Look for files starting with ~$ or ~WRL with a .tmp extension.
4. Try renaming the file extension from .tmp to .docx and opening it in Word.

Results vary. Sometimes you get readable text, sometimes the file opens blank. It is worth a try before giving up.

Increase AutoRecover Frequency to Prevent Future Loss

The default AutoRecover interval is 10 minutes, which means you can potentially lose up to 10 minutes of work. You can change this to 1 or 2 minutes with almost no performance impact on a modern machine.

1. Go to File > Options > Save.
2. Change the Save AutoRecover information every X minutes value to 1 or 2.
3. Make sure Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving is ticked.
4. Click OK.

On Mac, go to Word > Preferences > Save and adjust the AutoRecover interval there.

Better still, if you are on Microsoft 365 and save your documents to OneDrive, turn on AutoSave using the toggle at the top-left of the Word window. AutoSave writes your changes to the cloud every few seconds, making manual saves and AutoRecover largely redundant.