- Word includes AutoRecover, .wbk backups, and Version History to rescue unsaved or overwritten documents.
- On Windows and Mac, you can manually locate .asd, .wbk, and .tmp files, in addition to using the Trash, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
- Data recovery tools and system backups expand the options when the file has been deleted or damaged.
- Properly configuring AutoRecover, using the cloud, and maintaining external backups reduces the risk of losing work in Word to almost zero.
Losing a Word file just as you were about to finish it is one of those things that really gets your nerves on edge. Luckily, there are many ways to recover unsaved, deleted, or even corrupted Word documents , both with built-in Microsoft Office features and with external tools and backups.
Throughout this guide you will see, step by step, all the real options for recovering Word documents on Windows and Mac : from AutoRecover and Version History to manually searching for temporary files, .wbk backups, the Recycle Bin, Windows backups, OneDrive, SharePoint, and specialized data recovery programs.
Common reasons why Word documents get lost
Before we get down to business, it's important to understand that most Word document losses are due to human error : accidentally deleting a file, closing Word without saving, overwriting the wrong document, or accidentally formatting a folder or drive.
There are also technical causes that complicate the situation: power outages, system crashes, hard drive failures, damaged sectors, malware, or sudden shutdowns that can leave the file corrupted or inaccessible, although in many cases it is still possible to recover it.
Even physical disasters come into play: fires, floods, hard knocks or drops of the equipment can damage the hardware and cause disk read failures, something that greatly reduces the chances of success but that still has a solution in the hands of professional recovery specialists.
The good news is that Word, Windows, and cloud services incorporate several layers of protection and automatic backups , so if you act quickly and follow a logical order of checks, you have a good chance of saving (at least in part) your document.
Word's built-in functions for recovering documents
The first thing you should always try is everything that Microsoft Word itself offers to recover lost or unsaved documents , because it is fast, simple and does not require installing anything.
AutoRecovery and AutoSave in Word
For many versions now, Word has included the AutoRecover feature, which periodically saves a temporary copy of the document you are working on, even if you haven't saved it manually.
By default, Word usually saves AutoRecover information every 10 minutes , but you can reduce that interval to 5 minutes or even 1 minute if you work with critical content and don't want to risk anything.
To review or change this setting in Windows, simply go to File > Options > Save and make sure that the boxes “Save AutoRecover information every X minutes” and “Keep the latest version of AutoRecover if I close without saving” are checked.
On Mac, the path is similar: Word > Preferences > Save , where you can enable “Save AutoRecover information” and define how often that automatic backup is created.
Recover unsaved Word documents from within the program itself
If Word or your PC has crashed and you've lost a file you never got around to saving, the quickest way is to use the "Recover unsaved documents" option included in modern versions of Office.
In Windows, open Word and go to File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents ; a special folder will open with files with the .asd extension, which are the AutoRecover copies.
The file you're looking for will almost always be the one with the most recent date and time ; open it and, in the top bar, use "Save As" to save it as a .docx file in the location you want.
Another way to access this same folder is to go to File > Open and, at the end of the list of recent documents, click on "Recover unsaved documents", which takes you to the exact same temporary directory.
Word version history and recovery of previous changes
If the problem is not that you didn't save the document, but that you overwrote or modified the file too much and want to return to a previous state , you can use the Version History.
With the document open, go to File > Info > Version History (or “History” in some versions) to see a list of previous versions automatically created by Word, especially if you work with OneDrive or SharePoint.
You can open each version in a separate window, compare it to the current one , and decide whether to restore it or not; if you click "Restore," that version becomes the main one, although you can always go back to the others.
In documents stored in the Microsoft 365 cloud, up to 25 previous versions are typically preserved if you use a personal account, and a configurable number if it is a corporate or educational account.
Restart Word to open the recovery panel
When Word closes unexpectedly, when you reopen it the "Document Recovery" side panel usually appears automatically with files marked as or.
In that case, simply double-click on each of the listed documents to view it and, if you wish, use "Save As" to store it in .docx format with a recognizable name.
In Microsoft 365 subscriptions, if many files are recovered, Word usually opens the most recent ones directly and leaves the rest accessible from that panel , so you can review what has been saved.
Manually search for temporary files and backups
If Word's automatic functions don't show you what you're looking for, it's time to roll up your sleeves and manually track down temporary files, backups, and hidden documents on the system.
Locate AutoRecovery files (.asd)
Word AutoRecover files are saved with the .asd extension in special user folders within AppData , which are usually hidden by default in Windows.
The most common paths for these files are, among others, C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word and C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles , replacing “YourUsername” with your account name.
If you are unsure of the path, you can go within Word to File > Options > Save and look at the "AutoRecover file location" field, which indicates the exact directory where the .asd files are stored.
Another very practical option is to open File Explorer, go to "This PC" and type .asd in the search box so that Windows finds all files of that type on your drives.
Once you have located the .asd file you are interested in, open Word, go to File > Open > Browse , in “File type” choose “All Files” and select the .asd file so that Word tries to open it as a document and you can save it.
Automatic backups of Word (.wbk)
In addition to AutoRecover, Word can create backups in .wbk format with the name “Backup of ” , but this feature is not always enabled.
To have these copies generated automatically, go to File > Options > Advanced , scroll down to the “Save” section and check “Always create a backup”, which makes each “Save As” create a previous backup version.
These .wbk copies are usually saved in the same folder as the original document, so you will see an additional file with the prefix "Backup of" that represents the second-to-last saved version , without the latest changes.
To restore a backup, open Word, go to File > Open > Browse , change the filter type to "All Files" and open the .wbk file, which will behave like a normal document that you can save again as a .docx file.
Searching for temporary files (.tmp) and unusual names
Sometimes lost documents end up as temporary .tmp files or strange names with accents and letters like ~wrdxxxx.tmp , scattered across different system folders.
To track them down, open File Explorer with the Windows + E combination and look for .tmp on the drive where you usually save documents , then filter by date to focus on the days you worked on the file.
You can also directly search for typical Word patterns such as ~wrd*.tmp, ~wrf*.tmp or ~wra*.tmp , which usually correspond to temporary working files or intermediate AutoRecover data.
When you find a candidate, open Word, go to File > Open > Browse , and again, set the file type to "All Files" to try opening that .tmp file and see if it contains readable text from your document.
Locate hidden files in the AppData folder
Since most of these automatic backups are saved in hidden folders within the user profile, enabling the display of hidden items in Windows is key to being able to navigate to them.
From any Explorer window, go to the “View” tab and check the “Hidden items” box , which will reveal the AppData folder inside C:\Users\YourUsername and allow you to access Microsoft\Word or Office\UnsavedFiles.
If you prefer not to navigate, you can directly copy the path from Word (AutoRecover File Location field) and paste it into the Explorer address bar , which will take you directly to the correct folder.
Within that folder, take a moment to sort by modification date and review each of the most recent .asd, .wbk, or .tmp files , opening them with Word to check which one you need.
Recover deleted Word documents in Windows
When the problem is not a crash but you have accidentally deleted the Word file , either from Explorer or by emptying the wrong folder, there are several Windows resources you can use.
Check the Recycle Bin
The first step, although it may seem obvious, is to open the Recycle Bin on the desktop and search for the document by name, type, or date of deletion , because until you empty it, the file is still there.
If you don't remember the exact name, look at the file types .doc, .docx, .dot, .rtf, etc. and use the Trash's internal search function to filter by ".docx" or by keywords in the name.
When you find it, right-click on the file, choose "Restore" to automatically return it to its original location , and then open it with Word to check that it is intact.
If the Recycle Bin has already been emptied or the file was deleted with Shift + Delete (permanent deletion without going through the Recycle Bin) , you will have to resort to additional tools or previous backups.
Recover documents with the Windows file recovery tool
In Windows 10 and 11 there is a free official utility called Windows File Recovery , available in the Microsoft Store, which allows you to attempt to recover files permanently deleted from the disk.
This program works from the command line and, although it is not the most user-friendly, it can help rescue old versions of Word documents that have not yet been overwritten by other data on the disk.
The principle is always the same: the sooner you perform the recovery after deleting a file, the greater your chances of success , since deletion only marks the space as free but the data remains there until other data is written over it.
Using third-party tools for deleted files
If you prefer something more visual, there are programs like Recuva, Ontrack EasyRecovery, or suites like Acronis with recovery modules that scan disks, USB drives, SD cards, or mobile phones for deleted files.
The basic operation is similar: you choose the type of storage medium, start a deep scan and review the list of recoverable files highlighted in green or with different levels of probability of success.
In the case of Ontrack EasyRecovery, for example, you simply connect the device, select the drive, launch the scan, and then select the Word documents you want to recover to save them later in a secure location other than the original.
With comprehensive backup solutions like Acronis, the logic changes slightly because it's more about restoring a file from a previous backup than "resurrecting" minerals from a damaged disk on the fly.
Recover damaged or corrupted Word documents
Another fairly common situation is that the document exists, but Word cannot open it because it is corrupt or displays strange symbols instead of text , usually due to storage errors or incomplete downloads.
Automatic recovery when Word detects unreadable content
When you try to open a corrupted file, Word usually displays a warning indicating that there are problems with the content and asking if you want to try to recover the document.
If you click OK, Word runs an internal process to try to reconstruct the readable content of the file ; in the best cases it preserves the text and some of the formatting, but in others it only extracts fragments or nothing useful.
The success rate depends heavily on how damaged the file is, and .docx documents (which are zip-type compressed files) are usually irreparably broken when a key part of the package is missing or corrupted.
Open and repair from the open dialog box
In addition to the automatic notification, you can force a manual repair: in Word, go to File > Open, locate the corrupted file, and expand the "Open" button's arrow to show more options.
In that menu, choose "Open and Repair" so that Word can try to correct the document's internal structure and extract as much as possible into a new editable file.
If the problem is not too serious, this option can recover documents that previously gave a direct error when opened , although it is common to lose formatting, images or some more complex elements.
Recover text from any file
When the file is so bad that Word can't interpret it as a normal document, you still have one last chance: use the "Recover text from any file" filter in the Open dialog box.
In the opening dialog, next to “File type”, select the option “Recover text from any file (*.*)” and try to open the problematic .docx with that special filter.
The result will be a plain text file, full of symbols and junk mixed with fragments of your original text , but in many cases you manage to recover content that would otherwise be totally lost.
Specialized services and utilities for damaged Word documents
For very complicated cases, there are programs and online services specialized in repairing damaged Word documents , which apply specific algorithms to restore text, tables, formatting, and design.
Some of these services, such as Recovery Toolbox, perform regular tests with thousands of real files submitted by users in various formats (.docx, .doc, .rtf, .dotx, .dot) with very varied damage to improve their recovery engines.
These tests assess whether the recovered document can be opened, whether it maintains its structure and format, whether the text and graphics are complete, and whether there are any damaged sections or noticeable distortions in the final result.
The effectiveness is never 100%, but it can make a difference in critical documents that Word is unable to recover on its own , especially when there are complex tables, embedded images, or advanced formatting.
When you work with Word connected to the cloud, document versions are automatically saved to OneDrive or SharePoint , and you have very useful specific restore functions.
For files stored in your personal OneDrive, you can open the document from Word, go to File > Info > Version History , and open any of the saved previous versions.
If the problem is that you've deleted the entire file, go to your OneDrive in your browser and check the Recycle Bin , from where you can restore recently deleted documents to their original folder.
In corporate environments with SharePoint or Teams, document libraries also have their own Recycle Bin and Version History , which allow you to go back in shared documents and recover previous states.
In many cases, these cloud options save the day when the local disk fails, the PC is formatted, or a malware attack occurs that encrypts local files but does not affect remote copies.
Recover Word documents on Mac
If you work with a Mac, the possibilities are very similar, although the AutoRecover file paths change and AutoSave's role is closely tied to OneDrive and SharePoint.
In Word for Mac, AutoRecover is also active by default and creates copies of the document every 10 minutes , which you can open if the application or system closes unexpectedly.
To adjust the interval, go to Word > Preferences > Save and define how often you want the copy to be generated, ideally 5 minutes to minimize loss of progress.
If you need to manually locate the AutoRecover files, in Finder you can use Go > Go to Folder (Shift + Command + G) and enter paths like /Users/YourUsername/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery for Word.
Keep in mind that if you close a document on a Mac by explicitly clicking "Don't Save", Word deletes the AutoRecover copy because it interprets that you don't need it , so the chances of recovery are reduced to zero in that specific case.
Windows backups: another safety net
Beyond Word's functions, Windows 10 and 11 include several backup and restore systems that can recover deleted or overwritten Word documents.
The classic “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” allows you to restore files from backups made on external disks, although you must have previously configured the backup on your computer.
There is also the "File History" , which saves previous versions of your personal folders; if you activated it, you can restore documents directly from this history, choosing the date when the correct file still existed.
For more drastic changes, Windows offers System Restore and System Image Recovery , which return your computer to a previous point or restore a complete image, but will affect programs and other files, not just the lost document.
These options are more aggressive, so it's best to use them only when the document is very important and there is no other less intrusive way to recover it , always checking which applications and changes will be affected before performing the restoration.
Best practices to avoid losing Word documents again
All of the above is great for putting out fires, but ideally you should minimize the chances of losing documents in the future with some simple habits and settings.
First, make sure AutoRecover is turned on and set to a low interval (5 minutes or less) , and that Word always creates .wbk backups when you use "Save As".
Also, get used to manually saving every time you finish a paragraph or a significant block of work ; it's difficult at first, but after a few days it becomes almost automatic and your peace of mind will thank you.
Whenever possible, work with OneDrive or SharePoint by enabling AutoSave , so that all changes are uploaded to the cloud and you have older versions accessible from any device.
Finally, don't forget to keep external backups (hard drive, NAS or specialized cloud) of your important documents, checking from time to time that the backups are being made correctly and that you can restore files without problems.
By combining Word's layers of protection, Windows tools, cloud backups, and a few simple habits, the chances of permanently losing a Word document are greatly reduced, and in most situations, you can recover your work without having to start from scratch.
