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
    2015-09-25T13:46:05+00:00

    Hi you should go to My Computer, and on the search "My Computer" option, type the name of the document. It will appear in a list of options as an autosaved ".asd" doc, then just click on it. It will open properly, you will just have to save it ;-)

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  2. 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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  3. Anonymous
    2015-06-08T21:02:59+00:00

    I had the same problem, Here is what happened:

    1. I mistakenly clicked do not save the auto-recovery files,
    2. I went to the recycle bin and found the file, then mistakenly clicked restore.
    3. I searched it by the name i saw in the recycle bin and the system couldn't find it (Note: I already fixed the folder options to show hidden files.

    So here's what i did, i searched my hard disk and went to the following directory:

    C:\Users\**My Username**\AppData (Hidden Folder)\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

    And i found the file i restored sitting there. Note: I am using Excel 2007.

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