Recover a closed Word document. Recover unsaved document in Word

Power outages of the computer, critical errors occurring in the system, unintentional closing - all this leads to the fact that unsaved Word document (doc or docx) can be lost. But almost any data can be recovered, the main requirement is to know the methods and be able to use a PC. The methods below are sorted by difficulty, from easiest to hardest. It is recommended that you apply the options in turn.

Option 1: Automatically Recover Word Document

The text editor Word has built-in the ability to automatically recover a document. If a failure occurred in the system, which led to a forced restart of Windows, then the program itself will offer to return the lost information. It looks like this:

Comment. The Word text editor provides an automatic repair option only the first time you start the program. When you reopen the utility, you will not be prompted for anything. Do not miss this chance.

If the user did not save the Word document before closing, then you can try to reopen it forcibly. There is an important detail here: the method will not work if the user created a new Word document, typed in the text and saved it. Algorithm:

Create and open a blank sheet;
In the upper left corner, go to the "File" section and click open;
A window pops up in which you need to select "Open and Restore":

The most controversial method, as the performance leaves much to be desired. In most cases, nothing happens to a clean file.

Option 2: Source file

Despite not saving, the original Word file (doc or docx) may remain on the system. To find it, we use the following algorithm, which consists of two steps:

A list of files with the same name as the entered keyword will appear. If you find the document, open it and view the contents.

Comment. This method is the simplest, but not ideal. The chance that the original document will remain on the computer after a critical error is extremely small.

Option 3: Autosave folder

Word (especially recent versions) is smart enough. So, if the user did not change the standard parameters, then every 10 minutes, the document is automatically saved to a specially designated folder, which is called reserve. The folder is hidden, so it is not a fact that the search from the above method will help, so you will have to check the contents manually. For this:

The last saved file can be found in the directory. The view may differ depending on the version. In Word 2010, the folder looks like this:

There is also an alternative to this method. It consists in the following:

A few notes:

The method is relevant only if the automatic saving of Word data is disabled;
It is possible to restore the document in this way only after the forced shutdown of the system (voltage drop, critical error, etc.);
In order for the file to be added to the folder, the user must work with it for some time;
Unsaved files are presented in .asd, older versions (before 2010) Word do not see this format.

This is where the main system methods end. Now let's talk about recovering Word information using third-party software.

Document recovery using third-party programs

The method presented below will allow you to recover the lost file from the device even in the most difficult situations: accidental deletion without putting it in the trash, virus damage, formatting, etc.

In this case, third-party programs downloaded from the Internet ( it is advisable to check for malware with an antivirus). Here are some specialized applications:

7- Data Recovery... Among the advantages, it should be noted multifunctionality: there are five options for recovering lost data. Despite the presence of the Russian language, the program is quite complicated for inexperienced users;

Active Undelete. The most versatile utility that works with all file systems, OS and supports most external devices. The interface is simple enough and great for beginners;

Wondershare Data Recovery. A powerful program capable of recovering any files from both a computer and external media;
... At the moment it is the leader in the segment of Word file recovery.

Comment. The resources of all utilities are limited, if a large amount of data was written to a disk or flash drive, after deleting an unsaved file, then you should not expect a positive result.

In order to recover a Word text document in .doc or .docx format, the latest Wondershare Data Recovery program is ideal.

The entire stage of working with the application consists of 3 steps:

A very urgent question for many users is how to recover a damaged word document, or how to recover a lost document. I think everyone had such a problem as losing a document. For example, you typed something important in the program, there was a failure, Microsoft Word crashed (closed), and after opening you do not find anything, or the document does not open at all. To prevent this from happening in the future, I have prepared an article where I will show you what you can use in order to restore a damaged version of a document.

How to repair a damaged Word document?

Let's say you tried to run a document file and saw the following error message.

This error has already given several recommendations from which you can understand what to do, for example, make sure that there is enough disk space, whether you have permission to use the document and edit it.

In this case, we can return the document using Word itself. Just open the icon of this program to start Word, and then go to the left to the item "Open" and select the item "Overview".

In the explorer that opens, look for the document you want to open, click on it once so that its name appears in the field "File name"... Then you select the item from the drop-down menu "Recover text from any file" and click "Open".

If the document is very voluminous and you have applied many design styles, then it is not always successfully restored. Sometimes part of the text disappears, or there is text, but without formatting styles. The main thing, of course, is to restore the integrity of the document.

How to recover a Word document [Method two]

From the above, it is clear that the first method does not always help, although it is worth using it. Let's move on to the next method.

Open Microsoft Word again and go to the File menu, then "Open" and the button "Overview"... Find the damaged document and click on it. Then click on the arrow where the "Open" button is and select the option there "Open and restore".

How do I restore a Word backup?

Sometimes a file can get lost, you cannot find it anywhere. In this case, the program usually creates backup copies of the document, in order to open it you need to proceed as follows:

Open Word and go to the "Open" section, then click on "Browse". Remember where you saved the document and navigate to that folder. In the pop-up tab, select "All files", look for the lost document. Focus on the name and date. Sometimes such a document may be called "Backup ...".

In case of failure, you can go the other way. Open the search field in Windows and enter the extension of the backup copy of Word files - * .wbk. It is more likely that such a file will open, but the point is that it may not be one and the names may not coincide, so you will have to open and watch each one.

Autosave in Word, or how to recover a saved copy of a document

Usually the program automatically creates backups of the document after a certain period of time. They are usually found along the following path: C: \ Users \ Username \ AppData \ Roaming \ Microsoft \ Word.

Autosaved document names can start with the word "Autocopy ...", and the format of such files will be * .asd... To open such a file, you need to double-click on it.

Bonus option - a program for recovering Word files

I myself have never been interested in third-party Word recovery programs, but they can help if none of the above methods helped. I can cite the Hetman Office Recovery program as an example. The utility, unfortunately, is paid, perhaps there are analogues that I will add to this article. To use Hetman Office Recovery, you just need to install it on your computer and check the disk for lost and damaged documents.

The program will find documents and show them in its window with real names. If you want to restore something, you select them with checkmarks, then the matter is small.

Due to the widespread use of Microsoft Office, we are used to storing personal information, business data, or educational materials in Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations. It is convenient to view such files from a computer hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive or any other storage medium. However, if you do not worry about the safety of these documents, then storing information in them can be risky.

Eventually, accidental operations (such as deleting or formatting), viruses, software or hardware failure can lead to the loss of a document. Often the data stored in lost documents is very important. That is why many users are interested in the question: “ How to recover a Word document?“.

In this article, we will consider several options for recovering a Word document: both using the built-in Microsoft Word functions, and using third-party data recovery programs.

A little about Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is probably the most popular program from the Microsoft Office suite, only Microsoft Excel can compete with it.

Just imagine, to date, a huge number of versions of Word for Windows have already been released: Microsoft Word 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 and finally Microsoft Word 2016. It’s not even immediately possible to remember which other program has such a long and a successful story.

The most popular among other versions were Word 2007 and Word 2010. But with the release of the latest version of Word 2016 that is gaining popularity, users increasingly have questions about how to recover a Word 2016 document. We will talk about this version of the program.

Autosave

Have you ever been in a situation when you accidentally closed a document that you worked on for a long time without saving it? Or when, while working with a document, the power went out or the computer turned off for some other reason?

For most users, this situation leads to panic. Fortunately, Word 2016 has a built-in autosave feature that lets you easily restore the last autosave version of a file. In Microsoft Office, this feature is activated by default with an autosave time of 10 minutes, but it can be changed if desired.

To configure this parameter, go to the menu File > Options > Preservation.

This function means that Word will automatically save the document after the specified period of time. And when the user accidentally closes the document without saving it, it will be possible to restore the last auto-saved version of the file available in the specified auto-recovery directory (which can also be configured).

How the Word Document Auto Save feature works

The timer is activated after making any changes to the document, as well as after automatic or manual saving. After the set time has elapsed, a new version of the file will be saved.

If you save the file by pressing the button Save(Shift + F12) or using the menu File > Save, the autosave timer will stop until the next changes are made to the file.

Canceling the previous operation

When editing or making edits to Word documents, some users prefer to use the combination Ctrl + Z or the undo arrow to undo the previous operation. This is a very convenient way to revert a document to its previous state. But this method has a limited number of undo operations. Therefore, restoring the last saved version of a file will be the preferred method of restoring.

How to recover a resaved document

Click the menu File in the upper left corner, a window will open as in the previous image. Look in the section Document management where all autosave versions of files are listed, sorted by save time.

Just click on the version you want and it will open in a new window where you can select Comparison Restore.

Of course, you can find the automatically saved versions of the file on your computer in the previously mentioned directory for auto-recovery and, by double-clicking on the desired version of the file, repeat the procedure specified in the previous paragraph.

How to recover unsaved Word document

Worse if you close without saving a document in which many changes have been made, besides the previous auto-saved versions on the tab File are not displayed. In this case, the only way to find the latest autosave version of the file is to look into the folder on your computer where autosave is configured.

If you do not remember in which folder the automatic saving of Word files was configured, then the path to this directory can be viewed in the Word options: File > Options > Preservation > Auto-recovery data catalog... The autosaved version file is in the format .asd.

Once the file you want is found, just double-click on it and open it with Word. The file will open in a new window where you can select Comparison(with the current version of the file) or Restore.

How to recover deleted Word document

The document recovery methods described above are very convenient for Word users. But they will not work if the autosaved document file is lost as a result of a virus attack, disk formatting or accidental deletion, or for any other similar reason. And if the autosaved file is missing, and the Word document is lost - what to do in this situation?

You can use one of the programs for recovering Microsoft Office files. For example, Hetman Office Recovery.

After downloading and installing Hetman Office Recovery, launch the program and you will be prompted to select the disk from which you want to recover the file.

Double-click on the disk from which you want to recover the file, and follow the further steps of the recovery wizard:

Select the type of analysis you need: Fast scan or Full analysis;
Specify the criteria for searching for files: file type, size and creation date (if necessary);
Click on Further.

After that, the program will scan your storage medium and show the deleted files, which can be viewed with a preview and saved the recovered files in a way convenient for you.

Now you know how to recover a Word document: unsaved or accidentally closed, accidentally deleted or lost as a result of a computer failure. The situation with the loss of Word documents should no longer be a problem for you.

Computer for beginners

The other day I received this question from one of the subscribers: "How to restore a Microsoft Word text editor program that was deleted more than a year ago?"

Not really. But, something can be done. However, this method has a side effect. If during this period you installed some other programs on your computer, then after using this method, you, alas, will lose them. So this method will suit you only if you did not install anything from the programs during the specified period (in our example, a year).

This method is known as restoring the computer to a checkpoint state.

Most often this method is used in case of computer problems. But if your computer is working properly, then it's easier for you to reinstall the program. Sometimes this method may not work. If you are still determined to restore your program, then proceed as follows.

Restoring the program

Then click "Start" - "All Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "System Restore".

Then click "Restore an earlier state" - "Next".

Select the date before which the program was uninstalled.

When you click on the dates in the calendar, it will be indicated on which day this or that program was deleted (this is written in the window on the right).

Look for the program you want (in our example, Microsoft Word).

The system should be back in place before uninstalling your Microsoft Word.

If recovery is possible, the computer will notify you about it. If not, then too. That's all.

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How to repair Microsoft Word?

In the Microsoft Word program, important documents are often created - educational, work and other files, the loss of which can seriously harm the user's activities. However, sometimes unsaved documents are lost after an unexpected power outage, computer failure, program error, and other events - in which case the document must be recovered. There are several easy ways to recover documents in Microsoft Word.

Instructions

If you are working with a text file that is stored on a removable device, enable automatic creation of a local copy of a document that is in remote mode and is saved, accordingly, also in remote mode. To do this, open the main Word menu and open the Word Options item.

Select the "Advanced" tab and find the "Save" section. Check the box next to the line “Copy deleted files to this computer and update them on saving”.

If your file is located on a hard drive, and not on the network or on removable media, you can configure the program so that it saves backups in automatic mode. If you accidentally turn off your computer or the program crashes, it will automatically restore the document from the backup.

To set up automatic saving, open the main Word menu and then open the Word Options section. As in the above case, find the "Save" section in the "Advanced" tab and check the box next to the "Always create a backup copy" line if it is still not there.

To open the backup copy if it did not open automatically, select the "File" -> "Open" section, and then in the "Files of type" window set the value "All files". The folder where your document is located contains its backups, which are saved in the wbk format. Customize the display of the folder in the form of a table and select the desired file from the type "Saved copy of Word".

If the file is damaged, when it is impossible to open it in the usual way, use the recovery function - start the program and in the File menu select the Open option, and then click on the required document in the explorer. To the right of the open button, click on the arrow and select the "Open and Restore" subcategory. Hit Enter.

You can also open the damaged file with another program - for example, in HTML or txt format. In this case, all formatting will be lost, but the text itself will be preserved.

imguru.ru

Program for Recovering Word, Excel Documents

The existence of the "Recycle Bin" in Windows sometimes leads to the loss of important files inadvertently. The habit that deleted files can always be retrieved from the Trash can lead to a loss of caution. At the same time, a lack of free disk space, a failure in the file system, accidental use of the Shift + Delete combination or deleting a file from a program that does not support Recycle Bin will delete the file.

Formatting in "fast" mode in most cases does not destroy data: only the contents of the file system are cleared. In the case of NTFS, only the contents of the initial area of the file system are cleared. This fact allows you to recover all or almost all documents saved on a formatted drive. The same applies to devices from which old partitions were deleted and new ones created. The utility will be able to find deleted partitions and recover documents.

If only a few bits are damaged in the initial area of the disk, Windows will not be able to read the configuration of the partitions, as a result of which the disk is not recognized by the system. The main thing in such cases is not to panic. Any operations to restore damaged system structures should be carried out only after all important data has been extracted from the disk.

Attempts to "improve the performance" of a laptop or tablet by "optimizing" the disk system are one of the most common reasons for contacting our company. Users of various "optimizers" delete important files and system registry entries with their own hands, empty the contents of the Windows "Recycle Bin", destroy the contents of areas that store information for system recovery in case of critical failures.

Close your word processor or spreadsheet and forget to save your document? Is your computer frozen or rebooted while running? The product will restore the intermediate state of the document, even if you did not explicitly save it. The trick is that programs from Microsoft Office periodically (and quite regularly) save the current state of the document to a special temporary file. The utility will restore this file, thus returning the contents of the unsaved document.

Mobile and outdoor devices are exposed to extreme temperatures and humidity for precision electronics. Removing the USB drive during recording may not only lose data from the current file, but also damage the file system. Given that most memory cards and USB drives are formatted with the FAT file system, such damage can be critical, and Windows will prompt you to format the device.

Unstable operation of the hard disk, constant "freezing" of the computer, as well as an increase in the number of "bad" blocks or the "Reallocated Sector Count" parameter in S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics. - possible signs of an imminent failure of the device. The program takes a bitmap image of the device, while reading the information is done in one read operation. This method minimizes the movement of the magnetic heads of the disk and increases the likelihood of successful completion of the operation.

HetmanRecovery.com

How to recover a Word document that was not saved in time? Surely the vast majority of users of the Windows operating system periodically encounter the problem of unsaved and suddenly lost information.

It is especially frustrating when it comes to important text documents. You spent a lot of energy today on the final part of the course work, and tomorrow you will carry it to your supervisor? Did you get some inspiration and write a really awesome article? Did you make a quarterly report for your boss and did not have time to "save"? In any case, the problem of a lost text document is extremely frustrating. Be it your own inattention, a switched off light, or a burned out computer. At this very moment, any of us, at least once in our life, wondered how to recover a Word document. In fact, solving this problem is quite simple. So do not panic, document recovery is not the most difficult procedure, your invaluable texts will regain life. So, there are several ways, but we will not touch on the ingenious ones. Not everyone has the time and desire to deal with complex circuits. Let's consider only three of the simplest of them.

How to recover a Word document. Option one

In the upper left corner of a blank document, open the "File" menu, after which
select the "Open" command and find your lost file. After that, we click on the "Open file location" icon located on the right and select the "Open and restore" command in the newly dropped menu. On this, some of the users will be satisfied. Most often, the text will be restored. However, this method is not always suitable. Due to the broken encoding, the file will open, but it may remain unreadable.

How to recover a Word document. Option two

If you were unable to recover the file using the above method, then you can still try to find intermediate copies of the file on your computer. To do this, we need to open the "Start" menu, select the "Search" task and try to find files with the "wbk" extension. The fact is that during your work with the editor, Word creates backups and saves them on the C drive. If such a file is found, try running it through Word. Maybe this will help.

How to recover a Word document. Option three

If the search for the wbk-document did not help to save the information, then the easiest way would be to turn to the search engine and find one of the free utilities designed just for document recovery. Let's name three such simple programs: Word Repair Free, Repair My Word, Office FIX. These utilities do not require installation. When you start any of them, they will only ask you to point to the file that needs to be "reanimated", and then they will give the result. This will be a list of names from which you need to select the one you want.

So that such problems do not arise in the future, the most reasonable way is to set your Microsoft Word to automatically save. Often this will help avoid questions about how to recover a Word document in the future. And even if it does not solve all the problems completely, then in the future it will significantly smooth them out.

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How to recover a Word document | Victor Knyazev's blog

How to recover a document in Word

Working in the Word program and creating various documents in it, you may encounter an unexpected loss of your work, and sometimes a lot, and then the question arises of how to recover a Word document.

The reasons for such losses can be very different, a power outage, an accidental shutdown of the computer, your wrong actions or simply the loss of your file, on which you have been working for so long.

How to start working in Word, see here, as well as how to restore the language bar in the system.

In this article, we will look at several basic ways to recover Word documents and find them on your computer.

How to recover a Word document

- Regular file recovery;

- Recovery from the basket;

- Finding in the last opened documents.

- Using special programs for recovery

Let's start with the simplest method that doesn't require any special action from us.

Regular file recovery:

After unauthorized closing of your Word document (turning off the PC), start the computer and open any Word document, there will be a separate column on the left side of the window

How to recover Word document pic 1

Click on your document there and it appears in the main program window, after that close the "Document Recovery" window with the "Close" button at the bottom and proceed to normal work with it.

Finding in the last opened documents

This method is more suitable for finding your lost Word documents.

To do this, in any open Word document, go to Ch. the Office menu button (top left) and go to the right side of the "Recent Documents" menu that opens and find the document we need.

How to recover a document in Word fig 2

By default, they are usually saved up to the last 10 opened on your computer.

In my Worde, I set to display up to the last 20 documents in the settings.

This can be done in the 2007 office as follows.

Office button - Advanced - "Number of documents in the list of recent files" set the required number.

How to recover a document in Word fig 3

Recycle Bin recovery

You have to resort to this method if you accidentally deleted the document you need.

We go to the trash can on the desktop, find the file we need, make on it with the right mouse and click on the "Restore" menu

How to recover a document in Word fig 4

Using special recovery software

If your Word document turns out to be damaged and cannot be opened with a regular program, then there is a special class of programs for its recovery, there are quite a few of them, from free to shareware and completely paid.

This is a separate topic and I can only offer several free programs in this regard, this is Word Repair Free, Repair My Word for old offices before 2003.

The rest of the programs for newer offices already have the status of paid programs.

In this article, you learned the basics of how to recover a Word document in various circumstances, I hope it will help you in the work of mastering your computer.

P.S. In order not to have to restore your Word documents with big problems, I recommend that you periodically save them yourself when working with them!

See more in the video:

For those who want to study in more detail how your computer works, my video course "There are NO Computer Dummies!"

Respectfully, Victor Knyazev

viktor-knyazev.ru

Good day.

I think that many who often work with documents in the Microsoft Word program faced a rather unpleasant situation: they typed and typed text, edited it, and then suddenly the computer rebooted (turned off the light, an error, or simply Word closed, informing about some internal failure). What to do?

Actually, the same happened to me - they cut off the electricity for a couple of minutes when I was preparing one of the articles for publication on this site (and this is how the topic for this article was born). And so, let's look at some simple ways to recover unsaved Word documents.

The text of an article that could have been lost due to a power failure.

Method number 1: automatic recovery in Word

Whatever happens: just a mistake, the computer rebooted abruptly (without even asking you about it), a failure at the substation and the light turned off at the whole house - the main thing is not to panic!

By default, Microsoft Word is smart enough and will automatically (in case of an abnormal shutdown, ie shutdown without the user's consent) try to restore the document itself.

In my case, Micrisift Word after "abrupt" shutdown of the PC and turning it on (after 10 minutes) - after launching it offered to save not saved docx documents. The picture below shows how it looks in Word 2010 (in other versions of Word the picture will be similar).

Important! Word prompts you to recover files only on the first restart after a crash. Those. if you opened Word, closed it, and then decide to open it again, it will no longer offer you anything else. Therefore, I recommend that at the first start, save everything that is required for further work.

Method 2: via auto-save folder

Earlier in the article, I said that Word is smart enough by default (emphasis added). The program, if you have not changed the settings, automatically saves the document every 10 minutes in the "backup" folder (in case of unforeseen situations). It is logical that the second thing to do is to check if there is a missing document in this folder.

How do I find this folder? I will give an example in Word 2010.

Click on the "file / parameters" menu (see screenshot below).

Automatic saving of the document every 10 minutes. (can be changed, for example, for 5 minutes, if your electricity is often cut off);

Data directory for auto-saving (that's what we need).

Just select and copy the address, then open the explorer and paste the copied data into its address line. In the opened directory - maybe you can find something ...

Method number 3: recovering deleted Word document from disk

This method will help in the most difficult cases: for example, there was a file on the disk, but now it is not. This can happen for a variety of reasons: viruses, accidental deletion (especially since Windows 8, for example, does not ask if you really want to delete the file if you click the Delete button), disk formatting, etc.

There are a huge number of programs for recovering files, some of them I have already published in one of the articles:

Within the framework of this article, I would like to focus on one of the best (and at the same time, simple for novice users) programs.

Wondershare Data Recovery

The program supports the Russian language, works very quickly, helps to recover files in the most severe cases. By the way, the whole recovery process takes only 3 steps, in more detail about them below.

What not to do before recovery:

Do not copy any files to the disk (on which documents / files have disappeared), and generally do not work with it;

Do not format the disk (even if it appears as RAW and Windows OS prompts you to format it);

Do not restore files to this disk (this recommendation will come in handy later. Many restore files to the same disk that they scan: you can't do that! The fact is that when a file is restored to the same disk, it can overwrite the files that have not yet been recovered).

Step 1.

After installing the program and launching it: it offers us several options to choose from. We choose the very first one: "file recovery". See the picture below.

Step 2.

In this step, we are asked to indicate the drive where the missing files were located. Usually the documents are on the C drive (unless, of course, you transferred them to the D drive). In general, you can scan both disks one by one, especially since the scanning is fast, for example, my 100 GB disk was scanned in 5-10 minutes.

By the way, it is advisable to check the box “ on deep scan"- scanning time will greatly increase, but you will be able to recover more files.

Step 3.

After scanning (by the way, during it it is better not to touch the PC at all and close all other programs) the program will show us all types of files that can be recovered.

And she supports them, I must say, in large numbers:

Archives (rar, zip, 7Z, etc.);

Video (avi, mpeg, etc.);

Documents (txt, docx, log, etc.);

Pictures, photos (jpg, png, bmp, gif, etc.), etc.

Actually, all you have to do is choose which files to restore, press the appropriate button, specify a drive other than scanning, and restore the files. This happens quickly enough.

By the way, after recovery, some of the files may become unreadable (or not completely readable). The Date Recovery program itself warns us about this: files are marked with circles of different colors (green - the file can be restored in good quality, red - "there are chances, but not enough" ...).

That's all for today, all the successful work of Word!