I updated Word and have completely lost two documents I was working on. Both were saved.

Follow these steps on the MacBook and in Dropbox to try to recover the missing Word documents:

1. Check Word’s AutoRecover on macOS
   • Open Word.
   • If Word crashed or was closed unexpectedly, it may automatically show the Document Recovery pane or open a “Recovered” file. If a recovered version appears, immediately save it with File > Save As to a safe location.
   • If nothing appears automatically, manually look for AutoRecover files:
     1. Switch to Finder.
     2. On the menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder… (or press Shift+Command+G).
     3. Enter this path, replacing <username> with the Mac account name: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
     4. Look for files with names that resemble the missing documents or with recent timestamps.
     5. Open each candidate file in Word and, if it is one of the lost documents, save it immediately with File > Save As.
   Notes:
   • The AutoRecovery folder is hidden, so using Go to Folder is required.
   • If the documents were closed at some point with Don’t Save, the corresponding AutoRecover files would have been deleted.
2. Use Word’s general lost-document recovery steps
   • If the documents were ever opened locally (for example, synced from Dropbox to the Mac), Word may have created AutoRecover or temporary files.
   • On macOS, the general guidance is:
     • Restart Word so it can search for AutoRecover files and automatically open them if found.
     • If a recovered file opens with a message bar indicating it is a recovered unsaved file, select Save to store it as a .docx file.
3. Check Dropbox locations
   • In Dropbox (either via Finder or the Dropbox web interface), check:
     • The original folder where the documents were saved.
     • The Dropbox Deleted files / Recycle area (Dropbox keeps deleted files for a period, depending on account type).
     • Any older versions of the file (Dropbox version history) if the file name still exists but content changed.
4. If the documents were stored in OneDrive or SharePoint instead of Dropbox
   • If there is any chance the files were in OneDrive or SharePoint (for example, if AutoSave was on for a cloud location), use the appropriate recovery options:
     • For OneDrive: restore deleted files or folders from the OneDrive recycle bin.
     • For SharePoint: restore items from the SharePoint or Teams recycle bin.
5. Prevent future loss
   • For documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, keep AutoSave turned on so changes are continuously saved to the cloud.
   • For documents stored locally or on network shares, ensure AutoRecover is enabled and set to save frequently.

If none of the above paths (AutoRecovery folder, Word’s automatic recovery, Dropbox deleted items/version history) show the documents, they are not recoverable using the documented Word and Office recovery mechanisms.

References:

• Recover your Word files and documents
• How to recover unsaved Word documents