How do I recover an accidentally deleted, never-saved autorecovery file?

Anonymous
2012-06-22T22:34:15+00:00

When I opened another word document, it asked me whether I wished to keep the autorecovered file (which I'd forgotten about), and I accidentally said "no."  Realizing I still want it, I found the document in my recycle bin and clicked "restore," but now I can't find it anywhere.  Please help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-06-22T23:21:59+00:00

On the File tab, select Recent. At the bottom, click Recover Unsaved Documents. If your document is not listed there, then you're out of luck.

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Anonymous
2012-06-23T10:55:20+00:00

Do you remember the name of the file?

If yes, you may use the Windows search and check if you find the file in your computer.

Enable hidden files and folders using the link below before doing the search:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Show-hidden-files

For information related to Windows search you may refer to the link mentioned below:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-search

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-09-04T12:50:35+00:00

    When I opened another word document, it asked me whether I wished to keep the autorecovered file (which I'd forgotten about), and I accidentally said "no."  Realizing I still want it, I found the document in my recycle bin and clicked "restore," but now I can't find it anywhere.  Please help!

    It depends on the program you were using. Go to the program you were using (Word, Excel, etc.) and click "File", then click "Options". Select "Save" on the right side.  The "AutoRecover file location" will be listed there.  Just copy and paste that into your windows explorer.

    For example WORD will have C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\ 

    (Replace YOURUSERNAME with your actual user name)

    Any AutoRecover Files you restored from the Recycle Bin that were deleted will likely go to the folder for that program. 

    If you don't see the file in your recycle bin to begin with try this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files#show-hidden-files=windows-7

    While you are in the save documents section you can also edit how often a file is autosaved, what file type to save the document as (for instance if you want to save in .RTF format instead of .docx) and also change the default save location.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-21T12:01:47+00:00

    This happened to me. I used the search option under Start Menu (bottom left) and searched the key word "autorecove...". The system showed me some files starting with this name. One of them was the one I deleted. Click the name of the file that you want to restore. 

    A popup window opens up asking for the program that you used to create this file. Mine was a word doc. So I selected that, and my file was restored!!

    Hope this helps.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-18T13:27:25+00:00

    This worked perfectly!

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