Recovering unsaved work on a Microsoft Word Document

Yes, there are a few built‑in recovery options to try, depending on whether the file was saved and where it was stored.

1. Try Word’s “Recover Unsaved Documents”
   • Open Word.
   • Select File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents.
   • Look for a recent version that contains the missing page, select it, then choose Open.
   • If it has the missing work, select Save As to save it.
2. Check AutoRecover locations (Windows, Microsoft 365 subscription) If AutoRecover is on, Word periodically saves recovery copies:
   • Browse to these folders (replacing <UserName> with the account name):
     • C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word
     • C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
   • If you see .asd files, open Word and do:
     • File > Open > Browse.
     • In the files of type list, select All Files.
     • Open the .asd file that matches the time you were working.
   • If no .asd files are found via folders, search Windows for *.asd from Start and repeat the open steps above.
3. Use the “Manage Documents” previous version inside Word If the file itself was saved at least once before the crash:
   • Open the document.
   • Go to File > Info.
   • Under Manage Documents, look for a version labeled (when I closed without saving).
   • Select it, then choose Restore (to overwrite) or Compare (to compare versions).
4. Search for backup or temporary copies
   • Search for Word backup files (.wbk):
     • In Windows, select Start, type *.wbk, and press Enter.
     • Open any file named Backup of <your file name>.
   • Search for temporary files:
     • Select Start, type *.tmp, press Enter, then filter to Documents.
     • Look for files with dates/times matching when the work was done.
     • If not found, repeat the search using ~ (tilde) instead of .tmp.
     • Once found, in Word choose File > Open > Browse, set file type to All Files, and try opening the .tmp file.
5. Restart Word to trigger AutoRecover
   • Close Word completely, then reopen it.
   • If AutoRecover files exist, the Document Recovery pane or a “Recovered Unsaved File” bar appears.
   • Open any listed recovered version, then immediately Save As a new .docx file.

If none of these locations contain a version with the missing page, there is no additional built‑in method in Word to reconstruct that unsaved work; recovery then depends on any external backup or file recovery tools on the device.

References:

• How to recover unsaved Word documents
• Recover an earlier version of a Word file
• Recover your Word files and documents