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!

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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.

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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

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-07-15T21:03:11+00:00

    That is what worked for me. I'm no expert so really can't offer assistance past that. Just keep looking in the /Data folder and go through all the subfolders. You could also give Microsoft a call and try to escalate a case, or try reading through some of the searches here: https://www.google.com/#q=how+to+open+autosave+excel+files+mac

    Good luck.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-15T20:15:55+00:00

    I have looked under systems/library and there is no containers directory under it.. have a look at my other post i have found the file as hidden files but still can't open it up.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-15T19:54:36+00:00

    Here is what i have found so far.

    The file in questions are hidden under the directory ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

    If I try to open the file in question i'll get the following error.

    This is french for Impossible to open the file, the file extension or the file format is not valid. The issue is that it is the same for all the files.

    I noticed as though  the file is hidden the file name does not start with a dot ".Autosave..." as i would expect normally.

    I think it might be connected to this but i don't know. I have tried to find a way to unhide it with no success. 

    Any suggestion to open this file ?

    Thx

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