Locating Autosave Files (Word) on Mac

AutoRecovery recovers files that were open when Word crashed. If, when you were last editing your file, Word did not crash, then the AutoRecovery file was deleted when you shut Word down. By default, AutoRecovery files are stored in your hidden user Library folder. To check that folder:

1. While holding down the Option key, click on Go in the macOS menu bar and choose Library. Your user Library folder opens.
2. Look in ~/Library/Containers/Microsoft Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery. The folder will only exist if there are AutoRecovery files stored in it.

You can also do a Spotlight search for your file by name or by file type.

You can check your OneDrive account, as you may have been saving the file to OneDrive without realizing it.

In the future, if you run macOS's Time Machine utility, you can retrieve every version of your file, assuming it is stored on your Mac instead of in the cloud.

Hi Charles,

Userforms are supported in Office Mac except there's no Active-X for Mac, so any attempt to use Active-X fails.

I downloaded the Word 2.7 version of Graham's add-in. There are two files. One is a Word template, which loads successfully. The other is a Windows executable, which can't run because there is no Windows in Mac OS. It appears the executable needs to do something mysterious. The template does not display the expect dialogs when Word opens.

Just a clarification note:

AutoSave only works with files on OneDrive or SharePoint (including local synced files). It does not work with other cloud storage services.

Autorecover is not a substitute for saving and for backup.

• Automatically backup Word documents by Graham Mayor, MVP

Unfortunately, I do not believe that Graham's Add-In works on the Mac. It uses vba UserForms which are not implemented in the Mac interface. However, you should be able to create a macro that will do it and his page might assist with that.

On the Mac, the Time Machine utility would help. It may well be a substitute for using a backup macro.

Good afternoon,

Many thanks for your advice. We have tried what you have suggested but no luck. I think I have worked out what has been done but need to now understand if we can get the work back.

I think we have had AutoRecover set up, not AutoSave, so when we have saved the latest version on the screen it has removed the AutoRecover files. If this is the case is there anyway at all we can access and restore the AutoRecover files.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Kind regards

Hello Kieran Ingham-Burroughes,

Thank you for using Microsoft products and posting them to the community.

Understand that you are having issues with auto saving word documents on your Mac. You can always correct me if my understanding is wrong.

Wanted to clarify with you that Office 2016 is no longer supported. But you can try the following suggestions to see if they work:

1. would like to know if you have iCloud synchronization software installed on your Mac computer?

If iCloud is installed, since OneDrive and iCloud are both synchronization software, there may be a conflict and you can cancel the iCloud synchronization function.

2.You can try the following steps to restore OneDrive:

① Go to the OneDrive website Personal Cloud Storage – Microsoft OneDrive. (Make sure you sign in with the correct account.)

② If you are logged in using a personal account with a Microsoft 365 subscription, select Settings > Options at the top of the page, and then select Restore OneDrive from the left-hand navigation. Restore OneDrive” from the left-hand navigation.

③ On the Restore OneDrive page, select a date from the drop-down list, such as “Yesterday”, or select “Custom date and time”. If you restore files after automatic ransomware detection, the system populates a suggested restore date.

④ Use the Activity Chart and Activity Source to review the most recent activities that you want to undo.

⑤ Select the earliest activity you want to undo if you selected “Custom date and time”. When you select an activity, all other activities that occurred after that activity are automatically selected.

⑥ When you are ready to restore OneDrive, select “Restore”. This will undo all of the selected activities.

OneDrive Files () will revert to the state before the first activity selected.

It's important to note: When you restore, any files or folders created after the restore point date will be sent to the OneDrive Recycle Bin.

Refer to the link for detailed information: Restore your OneDrive - Microsoft Support.

Thank you for your understanding and patience. If you have any questions, feel free to reply.

Lillian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist