Lost Word Document when computer shutdown unexpectedly, Help is needed to recover it.

Anonymous
2025-04-26T02:01:38+00:00

I started a word document and before i had the chance to save it, my MacBook Pro shutdown unexpectedly. When I restarted my laptop, my document was not found. Could it be saved in a particular tmp file. I didn't find it in the AutoRecovery folder ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery. The files started had the initial name Document1. I used 3rd party recovery tools tenorshare 4DDig but no luck at all. Please help me locate my file. I am running latest MS Word version on my MacBook Pro with Sequoia 15.3.2

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | MacOS

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John Korchok 236K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2025-04-26T22:44:58+00:00

In the future, save documents immediately after creating them. AutoRecovery only works with files that have been saved at least once.

Please see my previous reply for advice that will help prevent this kind of issue.

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2025-04-26T15:57:41+00:00

    Until the work is saved in some way there is no file, there's only code in the memory [RAM] of the computer. In the event of a critical failure unsaved data is lost & cannot be recovered.

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  2. John Korchok 236K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-26T15:21:19+00:00

    Try a Spotlight search to find a copy of your file. If you were saving to OneDrive, it's Version History may have a copy of your file. 

    To prevent this in the future, get an inexpensive external disk and use macOS's Time Machine automatic backup. It allows you to retrieve multiple versions of files saved on your system. 

    Use File>Save As on a regular basis, changing the name slightly each time. Then you always have a recent file to go back to.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-04-26T20:31:37+00:00

    What is the name of the file supposed to have? because it was not saved at all. How The initial document name is Document1.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-04-26T12:07:19+00:00

    You open Word itself and scroll to the end of Recents for any unsaved docs

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