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
    2014-11-19T16:49:26+00:00

    Love you... thanks!

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    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-18T13:27:25+00:00

    This worked perfectly!

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    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-15T00:42:10+00:00

    Go to recycle bin. If you are lucky, you will find a file named like "AutoRecovery save of blah blah.asd", where blah blah is the original file name! If you didn't find it there, search for it. It's still possible to find it left somewhere in your hard disk.

    Copy the file to somewhere. Do not restore, otherwise you will lose the file as you possibly don't know its original location. Drag and drop it from recycle bin to somewhere, say on your desktop.

    Word do not recognize this file extension, so you need some tricks here. As Suzanne told "On the File tab, select Recent. At the bottom, click Recover Unsaved Documents." Now copy and paste your recovery file to this folder (Unsaved Documents).

    Open it using word.

    Enjoy :)

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    200+ people found this answer helpful.
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