Updated by Tina Sieber on January 21, 2017.
The general consensus is that most computer mishaps occur due to carelessness and an itchy happy finger. It is a bitter lesson that we are taught while working on documents like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or any other like Microsoft PowerPoint. The lesson says:save and save early.
Even with the correct Microsoft Office label in place, the documents disappear from the screen before you can save them. The notorious Windows system crash or your home power in the blink of an eye could cause you to lose your work before you click save. Many times we also tend to close an unsaved document after taking a hard copy. So how can you recover that unsaved Microsoft Office document and restore your work (and save yourself from a stroke too)?
We turn to a small feature of Microsoft Office 2010 that allows us to recover draft documents in a second.
And if you still need to get a copy of the latest version of Microsoft Word, here's how to get Microsoft Word for free. This is how to get Microsoft Word for free. Don't want to pay for the full Microsoft Word experience? Don't worry, here are some ways to use Microsoft Word for free. Read More
Here is my open Microsoft Word document that will take you through some deliberate steps to demonstrate the "lifesaver" feature that is present in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft Office 2010 only).
After unintentionally closing the Word file, open a new Microsoft Word document again. Go to File> Info> Manage Versions . Click the small dropdown menu and select Recover Unsaved Documents .
In Excel 2010 click Recover Unsaved Workbooks o Retrieve unsaved presentations If you are in PowerPoint 2010.
Microsoft Word opens the location where a copy of the draft resides.
Now it's just a matter of selecting the draft, opening it as a new Microsoft Word document, and saving it correctly using the Save As button. button in the business bar at the top of the document; something we "forgot" to do last time. Copies of unsaved documents are kept for four days and then automatically deleted.
When opening the unsaved document, you can also make use of the Open and Repair Function for troubleshooting documents that might have been damaged or corrupted..
You can navigate to the following file locations to open the file manually, depending on your operating system:
Windows 7 and Vista: C:\Users\
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\
Saving drafts is done automatically in all applications within Microsoft Office. The Auto Recovery The option is activated if the document has been open for some time. You can easily change the auto recovery interval by going to File> Options> Save . The default value is 10 minutes as indicated in - Save AutoRecover information .
I prefer to set it to a more frequent 3 - 5 minutes. Remember that AutoRecover can be a lifesaver, but it is not a substitute for the good habit of regularly saving your file while you are working on it.
Auto recovery is a feature to rely on. Most of the time, it will help you avoid everything that can go wrong when working on a long document. Microsoft Office 2010 makes it a bit easier to recover an unsaved document than previous versions of Office. If you're still on Microsoft Office 2007, see how you can use AutoRecover How to Automatically Save Documents with AutoRecover in MS Word 2007 How to Automatically Save Documents with AutoRecover in MS Word 2007 Read More to rescue. We have a substantial list of other Microsoft Word tips for you.
Were you aware of this document recovery trick? What tips would you add?
