Documents suddenly disappeared

Question

Documents gone.Suddenly a newsletter that I created on word and saved on my desktop disappeared . when I found it in Finder it said that I didn't have permission to open it and it was ineligible. I Bought a new macbook air on May 23 from Best Buy and paid 108.61 to continue my subscription on the new computer and have a receipt that says I am good until June 8, 2027. I need that document [REMOVED PII]@gmail.com

Please help

Answer 1

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Hello Sandy Camillo

From what you described, the newsletter document was saved on your Mac Desktop, but now it appears to be missing, and when you found it in Finder, Word/macOS says you don’t have permission to open it or that the file is not accessible.

This may not be caused by your Microsoft 365 subscription. A valid subscription lets you use Word, but a “no permission” or “not accessible” message is more often related to macOS privacy permissions, the file’s location, or the current Mac user profile.

Please try this:

1. Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders. If Microsoft Word is listed, make sure access to Desktop/Documents is allowed.
2. Also check Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, and enable Word if available. Then restart Word.
3. Update Word from Help > Check for Updates, then restart your Mac.
4. If it still happens, create a temporary new Mac user account and try opening the document there. This can show whether the issue is tied to your current Mac profile.

Disclaimer: While the attached link above is not a Microsoft website, it is the official site of Apple.

If the issue remains after these checks, reinstalling Office from your Microsoft account may be worth trying.

Hope this could help. Please let me know how it goes!

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Answer 2

Follow these steps on the Mac to try to recover and open the newsletter document.

1. Search for the document
   • Open Finder.
   • In the search box, type part of the newsletter’s file name or .docx.
   • Check both “This Mac” and the Desktop folder in the search scope.
   • If the file appears but shows a permissions error when opened, copy it to another folder (for example, Documents) and try opening from there.
2. Check the Desktop and Trash
   • In Finder, open Desktop and look for the file.
   • Open the Trash and look for .doc or .docx files that might be the newsletter.
   • If found in Trash, right‑click and choose Put Back, then open it in Word.
3. Use Word’s AutoRecover folder (Mac)
   • Quit Word.
   • Open Finder, then select Go > Go to Folder… (or press SHIFT+COMMAND+G).
   • Enter this path for Word AutoRecover and press Enter, replacing <username> with the Mac login name:
     • /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
   • Look for files with names starting with AutoRecovery save of or similar that match the time you were working on the newsletter.
   • Double‑click each candidate file to open it in Word.
   • If it opens and contains the newsletter, immediately use File > Save As and save it to Documents or Desktop with a clear name.
4. Use the general Office AutoRecover locations
   • In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder… again.
   • For Word, use:
     • /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
   • If the newsletter was created in another Office app (for example, if it started in PowerPoint), also check:
     • PowerPoint: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Powerpoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
   • Open any recent AutoRecover files and save the correct one.
5. If the file appears damaged or “ineligible”
   • Open Word.
   • Go to Word > Preferences.
   • Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, select General.
   • Turn on Confirm file format conversion at Open, then close the dialog.
   • Go to File > Open.
   • Select the problem file once.
   • In the Open dropdown, choose Recover Text, then Open.
   • If it opens, immediately use File > Save As and save as a Word Document (.docx).
6. Check cloud/backup locations
   • If the Desktop is synced with OneDrive, Dropbox, or another cloud service, sign in to that service and look for:
     • The original file in the Desktop or Documents folder there.
     • Previous versions or a recycle bin/trash area in the cloud service.
7. For future protection
   • Store important documents in OneDrive or SharePoint and turn on AutoSave so changes are continuously saved.

If none of these steps locate the file, check any Time Machine or other backup solution used with the Mac for earlier copies of the newsletter.

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References:

• Recover your Word files and documents
• Recover files in Office for Mac
• How to recover unsaved Word documents
• Recover your Microsoft 365 files
• Earlier version of Word document doesn’t open in Word 2008 for Mac
• Two documents are inaccessible after I updated Word - Microsoft Q&A