How to Recover an Unsaved Word or Excel File

Power cut, app crash, or accidentally closed the file without saving? Your file might not be gone. Word and Excel can save temporary backups in the background.

Note: This guide is for Windows. Mac uses different folder paths, so Method 2 does not apply there.

First, Check AutoRecover

1. Open Word or Excel
2. Click File → Options → Save
3. Make sure Save AutoRecover information every ___ minutes is checked
4. Set it to 1–2 minutes for better protection in the future

Note: If AutoRecover was turned off, the methods below may not find your file.

Method 1 — Recover Unsaved Documents

1. Open Word or Excel
2. Click File → Info
3. Click Manage Document in Word or Manage Workbook in Excel
4. Select Recover Unsaved Documents or Recover Unsaved Workbooks
5. Select your file from the folder that opens
6. Click Open
7. Click Save As immediately and save the file

Note: This works best when the file had been saved at least once before. A completely new file that was never saved may require Method 2.

Note: This feature works with Word and Excel 2010 and newer, including Microsoft 365, on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Method 2 — Check the Unsaved Files Folder

1. Open File Explorer
2. Click the address bar
3. Paste: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
4. Press Enter
5. Look for your file
6. Open the file and use Save As to save it as a normal Word or Excel file

Note: If you don't find the file, also check:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Word

If You Still Can't Find the File

If neither method finds your file, Word or Excel may not have created a backup before the crash.

This can happen if the file was open only briefly or AutoRecover had not saved a copy yet.

To reduce the chance of losing work in the future:

File → Options → Save → Set AutoRecover to 1–2 minutes

Bonus — Recover an Unsaved PowerPoint

The same idea also works in PowerPoint:

File → Info → Manage Presentation → Recover Unsaved Presentations