Autosave/backups in Office for Mac 2016 Preview

Anonymous
2015-03-09T15:58:42+00:00
Please check out How<br> to Recover Office for Mac files for the latest information on this topic.

So, tragically for some reason, I wrote an important document on my MacAir while I was flying two days ago.  I saved the document to my google drive (which would theoretically sync after I landed...or so I thought).  When i went to retrieve the document today...to may surprise...zero bytes!  

So the question: where does Office for Mac 2016 Preview save autosaves/backups on my mac?  If someone an tell me this, it would be great. 

Thanks!

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2015-03-09T22:36:33+00:00

Here's an update on AutoRecover in Office 2016.

It actually is working if you have the option to "Save AutoRecover info" turned on as shown in my previous post. The location it saves to is: 

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

Unfortunately, it's not easy to find and search will not display any files in that folder but it is saving to that location, so you have to know the path.

The other unfortunate thing for you personally regarding this specific issue, is that as soon as the open file closes, the AutoRecovery document, which was the last current snapshot of the full file you were working on at the time when the AutoRecovery version was made, is deleted. Said another way, the AutoRecovery file snapshots are temporary and are only retained if Word terminates abnormally. If Word thinks everything is "hunky dory" when it closes the file, then the AutoRecovery file is immediately deleted.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2016-06-17T11:37:31+00:00

There are two types of file recovery/backup saving that Word performs.

The first is labeled AutoRecovery and it builds a temporary file based on a time frame that you control. This "recovery" file is automatically available to you if the system crashes. If the system does not crash and you close out of the document, the file is not retained. Unless you change where these AutoRecovery files are stored, which I suggest you do from Word > Preferences > File Locations..., the auto recovery file are very hard to access. The very important thing to remember about an AutoRecovery generated file is that it is temporary and the function has been shown to be rather unreliable.

The second I would call file overwrite protection and it stores the previous version of the file. Its value are for those moments when you accidentally save over a file that you shouldn't have. In Word, you turn this feature on from Word > Preferences > Save and then mark the "Always create a backup" check box. The way this function works is it is triggered by you clicking save, and before it overwrites the stored version of the file, a backup version is made... so with it turned on, you at least have one prior version of your file.

GUB is a 3rd party add-in product that replaces the "overwrite protection" function of Word. GUB does not change or enhance any of the AutoRecovery features of Word.

Because GUB is a 3rd party add-in product, it is not appropriate to try and diagnose on this forum why its Tab is not showing on your ribbon. Support for GUB is available from its website. However with that said, all add-ins to Word have to be "enabled" so you should check Tools > Templates & Add-ins and ensure it is marked. You also may need to quit Word completely and restart, before any add-in automatically enables. And finally, add-ins to Word 2016 require that you are running the currently released 15.22.1 version or higher of the Office 2016 for the Mac software.

Hope this helps

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

93 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2016-11-29T21:34:38+00:00

    Hi there,

    I feel your pain. I was working on my thesis proposal last night for HOURS and suddenly Word decides to crash. This is a fix for people who; 1) Did not "Save as...", 2) Did not have AutoRecovery/Save features turned on, 3) Did not have a recent Time Machine Backup OR SnapShots, and 4) People who have looked in AutoRecovery and found nothing. This is also a fix for people who remember what time their Word application crashed.

    I exhausted all forms of recovery (looking in library folders under AutoRecovery, looking under "Open Recent...", ect.). I finally found something interesting.

    Follow this path:

    • "Users",
    • "<Your Account>" (In this case, it was my name)
    • "Library"
    • "Containers"
    • "com.microsoft.Word".... by this point you're probably saying to yourself, "I've done this already..." but keep up with me here......next, go to...
    • "Data"
    • "Library"
    • "Application Support"
    • "Microsoft" and finally.....
    • "Temp"....

    This is it. This is where my mind was blown and I figured out the meaning of life and existence. This is also where I found my .tmp (temporary) word document file that I thought I had lost. All you need to do is look for the most recent file before the crash. At this point there a few things you should do. First, if you find a .tmp file that resembles a recognizable time-stamp (for me, I saw that a .tmp file was modified at 2:56 am which was right before word crashed, so this signaled to me that this is probably the file I was looking for), make a copy of it on your desktop. Next, open that copied document in Text Edit. Now this is part is bittersweet. At this point, the good news is that the file you've opened SHOULD contain all of your changes up until the application crashed, the bad news is that this .tmp file records every single keystroke in ORDER, meaning your file will look like a Jackson Pollock painting (if you don't know what his art looked like, look at it and you will understand) except with letters. In essence, Sentences will be out of order. Words will be cut off. Portions of sentences will be out of place as well.

    This is, however, as best as I have been able to recover my file and the only method that has worked for me. It has been difficult to decipher, but I have my work back. It will save crucial time and energy that you already put into the document when you typed it to begin with.

    I'm hoping this will work for you. Please let me know and Good luck!

    • Chris

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-09T18:33:14+00:00

    If you have "Always create backup copy" turned on, it will create a folder with the same name as your document. The folder will be located in the same parent folder as your document. Every time you save the previously save version will be moved to this folder. See clip below:

    So if your last saved version of the file is lost, and you had this option turned on, then this "backup" folder should have at least the previously saved version of the file. You would then have lost only what you last typed into the document.

    The option to "Save AutoRecover info" does not create a full backup of the file and in fact, I don't think it's even working in the Preview Version... at least I can't yet find where it's storing the files. I'll see if I can find out but unfortunately I don't think it's going to help you in this case.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-03-09T17:46:31+00:00

    If the options are enabled under preferences, ideally it would under the documents folder.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments