Microsoft Word's built-in tools can recover lost work after crashes or deletions

You can recover lost work in Microsoft Word

Accidentally deleting text or losing a document to a crash doesn't have to mean starting over. Microsoft Word has several built-in recovery features that can rescue your work.

These methods range from a simple undo command to accessing older, auto-saved versions of your file. The right approach depends on how you lost the work and where you saved the file.

Start with the undo command

Your first step should be the undo command. Press Ctrl+Z on Windows or Cmd+Z on macOS to reverse your last action.

This works for recent mistakes like deleting a table or pasting over text. Word keeps a history of your last 100 actions, so you can undo multiple steps.

You can also use the undo button in the top-left corner of the Word interface. Click the arrow next to it to see a list of recent actions and select how far back to go.

Access previous file versions

For a more powerful recovery, use Word's Version History. This feature saves snapshots of your document at regular intervals, letting you restore older versions.

To find it on Windows, go to File > Info > Version History. On macOS, the path is File > Browse Version History. A sidebar will open showing all saved versions with timestamps.

This feature has one major requirement: your file must be saved to OneDrive. If you're working on a local file, Word will prompt you to move it to the cloud to enable version history.

Recover unsaved documents

Word creates temporary auto-recovery files to guard against crashes. If the program closes unexpectedly, a recovery pane should appear when you restart it.

If that pane doesn't appear, you can manually search for unsaved files. On Windows, go to File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents.

On macOS, you must rely on the auto-recovery process. You can adjust how often Word saves these recovery files in the settings.

• Windows: File > Options > Save
• macOS: Word > Preferences > Save

The default save interval is every 10 minutes. You can decrease this time for more frequent backups.

Manually check temporary folders

If the built-in recovery tools fail, you can search your computer's temporary file caches. These folders store Word's auto-recovery files.

On Windows, check these directories, replacing "" with your actual username:

• C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word
• C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

On macOS, look in this folder:

• /Users//Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery

Files here may have obscure names, but you can open them directly in Word to see if they contain your lost work.

Save files to OneDrive with AutoSave

The most reliable way to prevent data loss is to use OneDrive with AutoSave enabled. When you save a document to Microsoft's cloud, Word can automatically save every change.

You'll see the AutoSave toggle in the top-left corner of the Word window. When it's on, the document name at the top will indicate when saves are in progress.

This setup provides multiple protections:

• Continuous saving to the cloud
• Access to full version history
• Recovery from any computer crash

AutoSave is enabled by default for OneDrive files, but you can verify the setting in the same Save options menu where you adjust auto-recovery timing.