How to Recover Unsaved PowerPoint on Mac Microsoft Office has a fantastic feature called AutoSave; that it can automatically save a temporary PPT copy on a periodic basis. The feature is turned on by default and the default save interval is 10 minutes. Jun 28, 2017 - If you're still using Microsoft Office on your Mac, it might be time to switch to iWork. Every time you save changes to a document, iWork makes an archival. When you find the version you want, click Restore and you're done!
Question from Anita: Hi Rick. I hope you don’t think I’m a stupid person after reading this, because I’m really not. I prefer to say I’m “spacey” lol. Anyway, I have an unfortunate tendency to click “Don’t Save” instead of “Save” when I finish working on a document in Microsoft Word.
I know, it’s a stupid thing to do but it just sort of happens before I even realize it. Is there a way to recover a Word file that I neglected to save? Thanks in advance for your help! Rick’s answer: I don’t think you’re stupid at all Anita. I think we all have little “dumb” things that we do on occasion without even thinking about it. I know I do anyway.
It’s just a part of life, so we deal with it and move on. To answer your question, the answer is “Yes – in most cases”. As luck would have it, MS Office automatically creates backup copies of the files you’re working on, and they are automatically updated periodically while the file is open. If something happens to cause Word to close before the file has been saved (power outage, Windows crashes, etc.), Word will try to recover the file(s) you were working on the next time it starts up. Of course if you click “Don’t Save” instead of “Save”, Word will assume that you really didn’t want to keep that file so it won’t automatically be recovered. Here’s how to attempt to recover it manually: 1 – Open MS Word. 2 – Click File Info Manage Versions Recover Unsaved Documents.
If the planets are in perfect alignment and there are no black cats around, you should be able to recover your “abandoned” document(s). I hope this helps, Anita.
Bonus tip #1: Did you know that Microsoft Office 365 is free for students and teachers? To learn how to get your free subscription! Bonus tip #2: Want to make sure you never miss one of my tips? To join my Rick’s Tech Tips Facebook Group! Do you have a tech question of your own for Rick? And send it in!
If you found this post useful, would you mind helping me out by sharing it? Just click one of the handy social media sharing buttons below. I work form a work computer with a lot of restrictions and safety measures and (probably therefor) there is no roaming file within appdata also, no previous versions to be found However, your comments gave me hope I could still find my day’s work (really have to learn to hit ‘save’ every once in a while I put in a search for the name of the document and all of them were 1kb (so empty, as I started) except for an ADS-file when I clicked on it, I couldn’t open it, but then when I said it had to open with word (as I made it in word) sure enough, there it was! So there’s even a third way to look for your document when you’ve hit the wrong button and lost all your progress in word!
Just wanted to put this out there ?. Rick, thanks. I knew Word was saving the document but didn’t know how to find it. Guess the reason I didn’t is because my practice has long been, as soon as I open a new document, to hit Ctrl-S. That opens a Save As window, letting me give the file a name and a location to be saved. Then, and this is key, I frequently, almost without thinking, hit Ctrl-S as I’m working on the document.
That again saves the document, but invisibly, as the filename and location have already been specified. Means that no file is ever more than a few minutes unsaved.
Works on all Office products. But am glad to have another chance to recover the file should it have been too long since my last Ctrl-S.
If you really did save it, you can open Word and from the File menu select 'Open recent.' And it should show the last files you were working on. If you did save it, the saved file will show up and you will be able to open it from that menu.
Another place to try is under the Apple Menu, 'Recent Items,' which will show programs and documents recently opened. You can open those things right from that menu, even if you don't know where they are on your Mac, then you can save them to a location you want. One place to look for tmp files is in your Documents Folder, inside the Microsoft User Data folder. Look for tmp files there or inside any of the folders within that one, especially folders with names like 'recovery' or 'autorecovery.'
Also, look in your Trash, especially if there is a folder there called 'Recovered files/items' where sometimes tmp files end up when a computer is restarted. Some tmp files, however, cannot be opened or used, but sometimes they can be opened. I have tried EVERTHING! Last night I created a folder in Outlook Temp not realising I wasn't in 'Documents'when I saved it. I was saving an Outlook Word attachment which I had changed.
Unfortunately I had the same folder (name) in Documents. When I search for that folder in Finder the only one which comes up is the one in Documents. I have tried all the options above and more.
So I have downloaded Easy Find and Find Any File but they can't locate the folder and its files in Outlook Temp. As a test I created and saved 2 more Word documents - one in each folder of the same name. The one which is saved within the Outlook Temp folder is missing. It is also missing from Word's 'Recently opened documents' as are my other files which are saved and located in Outlook Temp. I'm completely frustrated and exhausted.
Any ideas anyone? Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums.
Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the.