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"Word was unable to find the document. Would you like to locate it yourself?"

Anonymous
2013-04-24T22:18:57+00:00

I've been working on a document for the past few days and all of a sudden it cannot be located. I did not move it from its original folder, change its name, or anything like that. I have also saved it multiple times. With that said, i am told "Word was unable to find the document. Would you like to locate it yourself?" every time i try to open it from recent files and searched my mac using finder and the application easyfind. I never deleted it or emptied my trash but cannot find it. Am i out of luck?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-24T23:23:49+00:00

    Restart your computer and then see if the problem clears.

    60+ people found this answer helpful.
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  1. John Korchok 231.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-27T00:54:58+00:00

    If you open a Finder window, then type .docx into the Search field in the upper right corner, the window will display all Word files on your computer (except the Trash, but you already looked there).

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-26T20:19:22+00:00

    I have a similar problem, like Bods81 I restarted my computer but I could not locate my word doc file in the Trash Folder, but I was not working on my .docx file using Dropbox, flash drive, or cloud! I have been working on this file all day, saved it various times throughout the day and just now clicked "save" and quit the file to rename it and when I went into the folder it was not there. Any advice is appreciated!

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-25T01:02:23+00:00

    So i restarted my computer and there were temp files in the trash! Went through them and I had two saved files that were my paper that did not come up while searching through various methods so thank you very much! Saved me days of work.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2014-03-17T18:33:28+00:00

    I had the same problem and followed your advice to resolve the issue. Thank you for your help!

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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