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Recovering a Lost or Unsaved Word Document

Beginner Word Errors & Fixes Applies to: Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 11

Word crashed, or you closed without saving, and you need to get the content back.

Before you start: save any open work and note down what you were doing when the problem started — that context helps if you need to search further or ask for help.
  1. Reopen Word — it usually offers a "Document Recovery" pane automatically after a crash, listing auto-saved versions to choose from.
  2. If that pane didn't appear, check File > Info > Manage Document > "Recover Unsaved Documents" for versions Word saved before the file was ever manually saved at all.
  3. For a document you had saved before but lost changes to, check File > Info > Version History for OneDrive/SharePoint-stored files.
  4. Search for temporary Word files directly: look in %appdata%\Microsoft\Word for files starting with "~wrd" or ending in .asd, which are AutoRecover fragments.
  5. To prevent this going forward, check File > Options > Save that "Save AutoRecover information" is enabled and set to a short interval like 5 minutes.
Still not fixed? Send us the details and we'll help you dig further, or browse related guides in Word Errors & Fixes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far back does AutoRecover actually go?
It depends on your AutoRecover interval setting (10 minutes by default), so you may only recover up to that many minutes of lost work, not the entire document from scratch — worth checking Word's AutoRecover settings if this matters to you.
Does closing without saving always trigger the recovery option?
In most cases yes, since Word saves temporary recovery data periodically while you work — but it's not guaranteed for every scenario, particularly if Word itself crashed rather than closing normally.

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