Microsoft word is known to have saved so much time and effort in all that writing and it is very simple to use a lot of important documenting work is done more on word than on paper. Microsoft word is very convenient and easy to retrieve the documents that you have saved, you can also include other add-ons like pictures, etc. making it all the more useful.
But what if you have typed or made an entire document and accidentally exited without saving it? The whole process is gone, isn’t it? Do not worry, the Microsoft word is designed in a very careful manner to prevent such mishaps but there is quite a process to that too unlike the olden times when unsaved work will be nowhere to be found.
Although the methods to recover may not successfully always recover unsaved files, a lot of users have reported that their unsaved are restored. We have covered below how to recover such Microsoft word documents.
HOW TO RECOVER A MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT?
There are many reasons why a person may have lost their work on Microsoft word. The most common one is, not saving the document in the proper way or exiting before saving and not canceling the confirming prompt, which can result in loss of data.
To prevent such mishaps and to recover the lost data, you can follow the methods described below.
- Word backup files
As we had discussed earlier, Microsoft word has evolved in its features and often it saves a backup document without the confirmation from the user. You might find it in the folder of any recently saved document with an extension ‘. wbk’ or simply WBK. It translates to Word Backup Files.
2. Check the Recycle Bin
Any file that you delete will be found in the recycle bin before being erased from the computer’s memory. You can check in the recycle bin on your PC or on your Mac and look out for the document that has been missing.
3. Check for the original document
Although you may not be able to recover the recently updated version of your document you may find the original version. You can simply type the document name on the search bar when the window key is pressed. If you are on a mac, you will see the spotlight icon on the upper corner of the desktop, click on that. If you have saved the document, then you may find it in the files section in the search results.
ENABLING AUTOSAVE ON MICROSOFT WORD
This saves most of your worries relating to the recovery of your document. Microsoft word has introduced the autosave option so you can retrieve the document even if you have not personally saved it.
- Open Microsoft word and click on the files option
- At the bottom of the menu, select ‘options’.
- You will now see a window open, select the save option from the left side of the menu.
- In case you have specific conditions with regard to the autosave option, you can do the necessary modification on this window and click on ‘OK’.
This will now autosave everything that you type on Microsoft word and in case you forget to save or your device crashes, the autosave option will save your recent work automatically.
HOW TO DELETE A DOCUMENT PERMANENTLY TO BE A NON-RECOVERABLE FILE?
If you wish your files to be permanently deleted without the recovery option to be used on them, you can modify the recycle bin’s settings in such a way that it permanently deletes your files without making them undergo the recovery option.
- On your desktop, right-click on the recycle bin icon
- Choose the properties option and then choose the drive which usually stores the documents created from Microsoft word whose data you wish to permanently delete.
- Once you’re done selecting, select the option ‘don’t move files to the recycle bin. Remove files immediately when deleted ‘.
- Now, select the option ‘apply’ and then proceed to choose OK in order to save the process.
You will now see that the documents being saved in your drive after saving from Microsoft word can be permanently deleted and they may not be retrieved. Although, remember that this is a temporary action and you can always change the settings for the same.
