Excel Workbook Disappeared, No Recovery Options

Hi Erica,

Sorry for all the inconvenience it may has caused.

Based on your description, it seems like only one specific workbook disappeared in Excel for Mac. In this situation, please check following details so that we can narrow down the cause and move further in this thread.

1.Do you remember where is the workbook used to be saved? If it is saved in your OneDrive, we can restore the file very possibly. Please sign in www.office.com and see if you can find it in online. If so, just open it and click Open in Desktop app. If you can't find it in Files, please check the OneDrive Recycle Bin.

2.If the workbook is saved in local folders, we may sorry to convey there has limited resource we can do for you from the Office side. Besides, you can have a try with Time Machine only if you turned on this feature on Mac before. For the reference: Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support. 

3.May I know if the TMP folder for Excel you mentioned is the location as ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel(in Catalina) or Microsoft Excel(in Big Sure)/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft where is used to save some corrupted files?

Before getting any updates from your side, here are something else you need to do.

1.For the limited options concern, please sign in Excel first. Click the icon on the top-right corner in the shared screenshot and sign in your account.

May I know if you have used Excel on Mac without signing in for the past 6 months? AutoSave is a feature only available to be connected with OneDrive. For the reference: How do I turn on AutoSave? - Office Support (microsoft.com) while AutoRecover only works for the files experienced unsaved or corrupted.

2.After signing in, please share with me the screenshot of the version of Excel on your Mac for a better troubleshooting. Open Excel>click Excel button(Besides the Apple icon) on the top-right corner>click About Microsoft Excel and take a full screenshot of the window. 

Appreciate your effort and patience on trying above suggestions, post back the test results and see what we can do for the next action.

Best Regards,

Mia

Hi Erica,

Your version of Office 2016 is 16.16.27 and that is the current and final build of Office 2016.

AutoRecover files exist only while the workbook is open, and only if you have saved the file at least once to your local drive. AutoRecover files are automatically deleted when you close the workbook, which is why you can't find them. The only time an AutoRecover files persists after Excel closes is if Excel closed unexpectedly while the workbook was open. Only in that situation will you find an AutoRecover file. Here's how to recover such a file:

Recover files in Office for Mac

Since you did not have Time Machine running, your only hope to find your file is to use Spotlight to search your drive for your file: Again, this presumes you saved your file to your local drive at least once.

Search with Spotlight on Mac - Apple Support

If you saved your file to a non-local location - OneDrive, SharePoint, a network drive, etc, then Spotlight and AutoRecover are not available as recovery options. OneDrive and SharePoint use versions. Other file systems offer their own recovery methods.

Do you recall whether you ever saved your file anyplace? If it was not saved anywhere, then there is nothing to recover.

Thank you! Is there another recovery tool you would recommend?

Hi Erica,

In this situation, we can have a try with other recovery tool and avoid to leak any privacy information.

Also, we will move this thread to Office 2016 for Mac category and see if members and engineers there will have some more ideas on this situation as engineers here focus on Microsoft 365 products and may have limited resources and experience on other versions of products.

Appreciate your understanding and hope you have a nice day.

Best Regards,

Mia

Hi Mia

Thanks for your response, I'll try to answer all your questions

1. I'm realizing now I must have been signed out the entire time while using it, as OneDrive has no files to recover in the recycle bin
2. I didn't have TimeMachine turned on, so I am currently trying Cisdem Data Recovery 
3. My computer runs Big Sur 11.2.3 I've checked both TMP locations just in case, it's nowhere.

Here is the version of Excel I am using 

[PII is masked by Mia Zhao MSFT Support]