How to Recover Deleted or Damaged Microsoft Word Documents

Microsoft Word is a powerful tool for creating and editing documents. However, sometimes users face the challenge of recovering deleted or damaged documents. This guide provides comprehensive methods to help you recover your valuable Word documents on both Windows and Mac systems.

Recovering an Unsaved Document on Windows

1. Open Microsoft Word: You can find it in the Windows Start menu.

2. Click the File menu: It is located at the top-left corner of Word.

3. Click Info: This is near the top of the left panel.

4. Click the Manage Document icon: It looks like a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass in the right panel. A small menu will expand.

5. Click Recover Unsaved Documents: This opens the Unsaved Files folder where you will see a list of recently backed-up files that were automatically saved by Word but not yet officially saved by you.

6. Select the document and click Open: This will open the document in Word. If your document is not in the folder, it may be saved to your Documents or Desktop folder.

7. Save your recovered document: Click the button in the gray bar running across the top of the document and save it to a folder you will remember, such as Documents. If you don’t see this option, click and select the appropriate save button.

Recovering a Damaged Document in Windows

1. Open Microsoft Word: If your Word document is damaged or corrupted, use the built-in repair tool.

2. Click the File menu: It is at the top-left corner.

3. Click Open: This is in the left panel toward the top.

4. Click Browse: This is at the bottom of the menu.

5. Navigate to the location of the damaged file: For example, if it’s in your Documents folder, navigate to that location.

6. Click the file once to select it: Do not double-click it.

7. Click the down-arrow next to Open: A menu will expand.

8. Select Open and Repair: This is toward the bottom of the menu. If the file is repairable, Word will repair it now. If the document isn’t repairable, you can usually extract the text without the formatting and images.

Restoring a Previous Revision in Windows

1. Open Microsoft Word: As long as you saved your document to your OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365, you can revert to a previous version of the document.

2. Open the file you want to revert: Click the menu, select, navigate to, and select the file, and then click.

3. Click the File menu: It is at the top-left corner.

4. Open your version history: You will see different saved revisions of the document organized by date. The steps to do this are different by version:

Word 365: Click in the left panel and then select the clock icon in the center panel. Word 2019 or 2016: Click on the menu. If you don’t see it, it’s usually because you have a subscription to Microsoft 365. In this case, click in the left panel and then select in the center panel.

5. Click the version you want: All versions now appear in the right panel under the timeline.

6. Click Restore: This will undo any changes you have made since the revision you selected.

Recovering an Unsaved Document on a Mac

1. Open Finder: It is the two-toned smiley face icon on the left side of the Dock.

2. Click the Go menu: It is in the menu bar that runs along the top of the screen. A menu will expand.

3. Click Go to Folder: It is near the bottom of the menu.

4. Enter the path to the AutoRecovery folder: Type or paste the following path into the box, replacing username with the username you use to log into your Mac:

5. Click the Go button: This opens a folder that contains files that were automatically saved by Word. Files in this folder begin with the word autorecovery.

6. Double-click the file you want to recover: This should open it in Word. If it doesn’t open, click the file once, press cmd, and then type .doc at the end of the file name. Press enter to save the new file name and follow any confirmation requests.

7. Press Command to save the file: This opens the Save As dialog window which allows you to save the document with any file name and to any location you wish.

8. Select a saving location and click Save: If you don’t see a list of folders to save to, click the button to browse for a folder on your Mac first.

Recovering a Damaged Document on a Mac

1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac: If your Word document is damaged or corrupted, use the built-in recovery tool.

2. Click the Word menu: It is in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

3. Click Preferences: A dialog window will appear.

4. Click the General icon under Advanced settings: It is near the top-left corner.

5. Check the box next to Open and recover documents in Microsoft Word: It is the first option.

6. Return to Word and click the File menu: It is near the top-left corner of the screen.

7. Click Open: The option to open a file will appear.

8. Select Recover Text from the bottom-right menu: Click this option. A list of documents will appear.

9. Select the document and click Open: This opens the text from the document and hopefully some or all of the original formatting. You may lose some non-text details but the text should be intact.

Restoring a Previous Revision on a Mac

1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac: If you accidentally saved changes to your Word document and want to revert to a previous version, you can do so easily. This method works for files saved to your OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

2. Open the file you want to revert: Click the menu, select, navigate to, and select the file, and then click.

3. Browse the version history: You will view different saved revisions of the document organized by date. The steps to do this are different by version:

Word 365: Click the in the title bar of Word at the top and then select. Word 2019 2016: Click the menu and select.

4. Click the version you want: The version list appears in a panel on the right side of Word. Clicking a document version opens it in a separate window.

5. Click Restore: This is at the top of the document. This will undo any changes you have made since the revision you selected.