Tips to Recover Deleted /Lost/Unsaved Word Documents from Windows

Tips to Recover Deleted,Lost,Unsaved Word Documents form Windows After hours of writing and editing, your computer decides to crash, or you accidentally delete the very same file you’ve been working on so hard. Sounds like a nightmare, right?Unfortunately, anyone can experience it,

Fortunately there are some ways to recover the word documents quickly which is why we’ve put together this list of tried and tested ways to recover a deleted Word document on Windows .

Recovering Unsaved word document on Windows 

If you’ve just lost a word document, and you desperately want to get it back, the first thing you need to do is calm down and collect your thoughts. Normally our operating system and word documents also have some mechanism to recover the lost data and also it protects user data in an unfortunate situation .

Intended to increase the chance of document recovery we suggest you that limit the usage of computer .

As a Windows user, you’ll probably recognize at least some of the methods to recover deleted Word documents described below.

1. Check If the Word Files Are Actually Deleted / Temporary files 

The Windows operating system has a powerful search feature capable of finding a Microsoft Word document located anywhere on your system. You should use this feature to verify that the missing document is really not present on your computer anymore and not just hiding in some unexpected folder.

To search for your MS Word document: 

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Type the document name in the Start Search box.
3. Click Documents.
4. Look for the missing MS Word document. 
5. No luck? In that case, there’s one more place where you should look for it. 

2. Recover Deleted Word Document from Recycle Bin (Before Empty)

It’s easy to accidentally delete the wrong file in Windows—all it takes is an accidental press of the Delete key. Fortunately, accidentally deleted files are not immediately deleted. Instead, they go to the Recycle Bin, and you can easily recover them from there until you empty the Recycle Bin. 

To recover a deleted Word document from Recycle Bin

1. Open the Recycle Bin. 
2. Find the accidentally deleted Word document. 
3. Right-click on it and select the Restore option. Alternatively, you can simply drag the document to any folder you want. 
4. If you haven’t found your Word document in the Recycle Bin, fear not because there are still several other ways to undelete Word documents that you can try. 

3. Try the Undo Delete Feature

Just like most other operating systems, Windows has a global undo feature, which provides the possibility to undo any past action, including delete operations. You can think of the undo delete feature as a more convenient alternative to the Recycle Bin since it allows you to recover any file with a single shortcut. 

To undelete your Word document using the undo delete feature: 

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Go to the folder where the document was located.
3. Press CTRL + Z on your keyboard. 
4. The document should immediately appear in the folder. If it doesn’t, it’s time to take advantage of Word’s recovery features. You might also be interested in learning other Windows keyboard shortcuts. 

4. Check Whether or Not the File Was Auto-saved

All recent versions of Microsoft Word feature multiple automatic backup mechanisms that allow users to easily recover their documents after their computer restarts unexpectedly or after a crash of Word itself.

Some of these automatic backup mechanisms must be first activated and configured to work properly, and we explain how near the end of this article. 

4.1 Recover from Temporary Files

Microsoft Word keeps unsaved Word documents in a special folder dedicated to them. Normally, these temporary files are deleted when you save your document and close Word, but they often remain in the folder after a force quit on PC or after a computer shutdown caused by a sudden loss of power or hardware/software error. 

To recover your Word document from temporary files: 

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Copy the following address: C:\Users\david\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
3. Click the address bar and paste the address. 
4. Hit Enter on your keyboard. 
5. Look for ASD files and open them in Word to see if any of them is your Word document. 

4.2 Check the Auto Recover Folder

To protect users from their own negligence, Word saves Auto Recover files every 10 minutes (you can change the frequency in Options), making it possible for users to recover a closed Word document that hasn’t been saved properly. You can find all Auto Recover files in the Auto Recover folder. 

To check the Auto Recover folder: 

1. Open the File menu and select Options. 
2. Go to the Save section.
3. Copy the address next to Auto Recover file location

1. 4.Open File Explorer.
2. 5.Paste the address into the address bar and press Enter. 
3. 6.That’s how easy it is to check the Auto Recover folder manually. If you see any ASD files in it, you can open them with Word. 

4.3 Recover with Document Recovery

When you open Word, it automatically searches for AutoRecover files and displays all that it finds in the Document Recovery pane, making it really simple to recover them. 

To recover your Word document with Document Recovery: 

Launch Word. 

1. Look for your file in the Document Recovery pane on the left. 
2. Click the arrow next to the file.
3. Select Open. Document Recovery feature
4. Now that we’ve exhausted all automatic backup mechanisms present in Microsoft Word, let’s take a closer look at one useful recovery feature of the Windows operating system. 

5. Try to Restore Word Document from Previous Versions

You can tell Windows to keep previous versions of files on your system so that you can go back in time and restore an earlier version of a Word document or get back an overwritten Word document. 

To restore an old version of a Word document from Previous Versions: 

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where the document was located. 
2. Right-click anywhere inside this folder and select Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Previous Versions tab and look for an earlier version of the document.
4. Select the document and click Restore. 

Since the Previous Versions feature requires a backup drive to be connected, many users never activate it. If that’s your case, try our next method.  

Restore Deleted Word Documents in One Drive

The most recent version of Microsoft Word can automatically save documents to your OneDrive cloud storage in real-time. After a crash, you can simply reopen your file, and every last word should be there. One Drive also provides an extra layer of protection against accidental file deletion because it has its own Recycle Bin from which you can restore deleted files. 

To restore deleted Word documents in OneDrive:  

1. Go to: https://onedrive.com/
2. Sign in with your username and password. 
3. Select Recycle bin in the navigation panel.
4. Select the document you want to recover and click Restore. 
5. If none of the methods we’ve described so far helped, it’s time to analyze your hard drive using data recovery software. 

7. Use 3rd Party Recovery Software for Windows

Have you tried all previously described methods to recover a deleted Word document but found no luck with any of them? There’s no reason to throw in the towel just yet because you can still use a third-party data recovery software application to scan your storage device at the file system level. 

Disk Drill is a great choice for Windows users because it can recover hundreds of file formats (including all Microsoft Office formats, such as .DOC, .DOCX, .DOTX, .DOTM, .DOCB, .XLSX, or .PPTX) from both internet and external storage devices. You don’t need any expert knowledge to use Disk Drill because it makes the entire data recovery process straightforward and intuitive. 

Download Disk Drill from its website and install it.

Launch Disk Drill and click the Search for lost data button next to your storage device.

As you can see, Disk Drill makes it very easy to recover permanently deleted Word documents. With the free version of Disk Drill for Windows, you can recover up to 500 MB, which should be more than enough for at least a hundred of Word documents. 

Still you have doubt when you try to fix that problem you should go the data recovery service center  

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