Lost Excel files

Question

I have a Mac and excel quit and I lost my files I was working on and it deleted 6-9 months worth of files. I had many files open and minimized last night and when I opened my computer this morning, they were gone

Answer 1

If Excel has quit unexpectedly and you lost your files, there are a few steps you can take to try to recover them:

1. Check AutoRecover: Excel for Mac has an AutoRecover feature that may have saved a version of your file. To check this:
   • Open Excel and go to the File menu.
   • Select Open Recent to see if your file is listed there.
   • You can also check the AutoRecover folder by going to Excel > Preferences > Save and looking for the AutoRecover file location.
2. Look in the Trash: Sometimes, files can accidentally be deleted. Check your Trash to see if any of your Excel files are there.
3. Use Time Machine: If you have Time Machine set up on your Mac, you can restore previous versions of your files. Open the folder where your files were stored, then enter Time Machine to browse through backups.
4. Check for Temporary Files: Sometimes, temporary files may be created. Look in the /private/var/folders/ directory for any Excel-related temporary files.
5. Reinstall Office: If the issue persists, you might consider uninstalling and then reinstalling Microsoft Office to ensure that there are no corrupted files causing the problem. Make sure to back up any important files before doing this.

If none of these methods work, it may be challenging to recover the lost files, especially if they were not saved or backed up previously.