Recover an unsaved Word, Excel or PowerPoint file
Most unsaved Office documents already exist somewhere on your disk. Autorecovery saves a copy every few minutes by default, and a crash usually leaves that copy behind.
The search order matters: check Office's own recovery pane first, then the autorecovery folder on disk, then temporary files. Only consider file recovery afterwards.
Stop doing these right now
- Do not restart the computer and do not let Windows Update reboot it - temp files may be cleared on the way down.
- Do not run disk cleanup or any 'free up space' utility.
- Do not create a new document in the same folder yet if you can avoid it.
What to do, step by step
Word
- Reopen Word. It usually shows a Document Recovery pane on the left with the unsaved version listed - pick it and save immediately.
- If not: File > Open > Recent > Recover Unsaved Documents at the bottom. That opens %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Word\ directly.
- Manual path: press Win+R, paste %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Word\ and look for files ending in .asd. Open the newest .asd with Word.
Excel
- Reopen Excel and check the Document Recovery pane, then File > Open > Recent > Recover Unsaved Workbooks.
- Manual path: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Excel\ - look for .xar files, plus anything named like a temp file with a recent timestamp.
- Autorecovery interval is 10 minutes by default. Shorten it to 5 in Options > Save so this hurts less next time.
PowerPoint and other editors
- PowerPoint: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerPoint\ holds .ppt autosave files.
- LibreOffice keeps its own recovery directory under your user profile; Notepad++ and VS Code keep session and backup copies of their own.
If nothing is there
- Search the whole disk for files modified in the last hour in the folder where the document lived, including hidden temp files.
- Only as a last resort, treat it as a deleted file and scan with Recuva - the deleted temp copy is itself recoverable if it has not been overwritten.
What decides whether it works
- Whether autorecovery was enabled - it is on by default, and the interval decides how much you lose.
- Whether the machine was restarted or cleaned since the crash.
- Whether the file was on a synced or network location, which keeps version history separately.
Not sure where you fit?
Answer four short questions about exactly what happened and get the right order of operations for your situation. Free, and nothing is ever uploaded from your device.
Start the free checkCommon questions
How much of my work is lost?
Whatever was written since the last autorecovery save, usually between 5 and 10 minutes. Everything before that point is in the recovery copy.
The recovery pane did not appear. Now what?
Go straight to the autorecovery folder for the app. The pane is only an interface onto those files, and it fails when Word cannot read its own settings.
Can I prevent this?
Set autorecovery to 3-5 minutes and turn on AutoSave for OneDrive or SharePoint files. Both take under a minute to configure.
Offline Recovery Kit
The right order of operations - and what to stop doing right now
$14.00One-time price · A single payment. No subscription, no recurring fees.- This kit does not promise a result. What it promises is that you will not make it worse.
- Instant delivery: the download link appears right after payment and is emailed to you.
- Full refund within 14 days, no questions asked
What stays free forever — The diagnostics tool and the guides on this site are completely free. The kit is an optional add-on, not a gate to reach the tools.
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Last updated: 2026-09-30