How to Recover A Word Document on Mac? Deleted/ Unsaved

🕔 6 minutes read

Deleting your Microsoft Word Docs or losing the unsaved files from your Mac system is a cause of great worry. Fortunately, we have tried various ways to recover word files on Mac. Here’s a list of all the methods that are guaranteed to recover lost word document. If you are looking for safe and quick way to recover deleted word documents from iMacs or MacBook, then make use of Remo File Recovery For Mac.
Download and try the tool for free now!!!

Summary:
Word documents that have been lost, deleted, or unsaved on your Mac can be recovered using manual methods like the Auto-recovery folder or the temp folder. In cases when they don’t work, know how to recover a Word document on Mac with the help of Remo Recover. This provides a way to recover permanently deleted or lost Word documents easily. Recovers both .doc & .docx files on any version of Word including Word 2019!

Table of Contents:

  1. Common Reasons for data loss
  2. Can you even recover Deleted or unsaved Word Documents?
  3. How To Recover Unsaved Word Files?
  4. How To Retrieve Lost Word Files From Mac?
  5. How to Recover Permanently Deleted Word Documents on Mac?
  6. What can you do to make sure you don’t lose your Word Files again?

Why Do You Lose Your Word Documents on Mac?

There are many instances that result in the loss of Word documents from Mac. For example, a Word application crash, and improperly terminating Word are all classic examples. In such cases, it is normal to panic and assumes that your files are lost for good.

Can you Recover Word Files that were Deleted, Lost, and Unsaved From Mac?

But did you know that unsaved, lost, or even deleted Word documents on Mac can be easily recovered? The solutions to retrieve lost Word documents range from manual methods like recovery from the Auto-recovery folder, or Temp folder when documents are lost due to application crash to advanced and automated methods like the Mac file recovery tool. When your Word files are permanently deleted or lost, a professional file recovery software like Remo Recover Mac will efficiently recover Word documents on Mac.

Deleted Word documents, permanently deleted Word documents, or lost Word documents, everything can be recovered by Remo Recover Mac in just 3 steps. Download a free trial for a quick and secure recovery of both .doc and .docx files on Mac (any Mac OS version).

How to Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac?

Word for Mac has a built-in feature that enables the auto-saving of your Word documents every 10 mins. Basically, even if you don’t manually save your file while working on it, Word for Mac saves it in the background.

Even if you didn’t save the Word document, know how to recover it on Mac computers by following the steps mentioned below.

  • Go to Finder on Mac and click Go > Go To Folder
  • Then type the folder path as shown below (by replacing username with your username):
  • /Users/'username'/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences
    enter the following path

Search for your lost Word files in this Auto Recovery folder. Your unsaved Word documents and documents that went missing when Word shut down unexpectedly are likely to be in this folder.

How to Recover Lost Word Documents on Mac from the Temp folder?

Though this method is a bit tricky, you may still have a chance to find your lost Word documents in it, particularly when files were lost as a result of a crash/Word quitting unexpectedly.

  • Open the Terminal by going to Applications > Utilities > Terminal
  • Type the following command: 'open $TMPDIR'
  • The TMP folder now opens; select ‘Temporaryitems’
    click on temporary items folder
  • Check for your Word file within this folder and restore it.

You don’t have to go through the painstaking process of finding the deleted files through the Terminal or manually dig through the Auto-Recovery folder to find lost files. Choose Remo Recover Mac to find your Word files automatically under deleted, lost, or any complex data loss scenario. Download Now for a free trial!

How to Recover Deleted Word Documents from Mac

If you have deleted your Word files then you can try the following methods to recover the word files that were deleted.

Method 1: How to Recover Deleted Word Documents from Mac Trash?

Accidentally deleting Word files is a disaster that is not very uncommon. Fortunately, these deleted documents usually move to the Trash by default; which makes it very convenient to recover from.

  • Go to the Trash folder located in the Dock
  • Now, you can search for your Word file from the stash and drag them back to your desktop
  • If you don’t find the file here, click on the Recovered Items folder
  • Check for your file and if you find it, right-click and select Put Back
    select the word file that you want to recover and click on putback option

This method may not always work, for instance when files are deleted using the "Delete Permanently" option. In such cases, the only viable alternative is to recover deleted Word document recovery using Remo Recover Mac.

testimonial of the software that has helped a user to efficiently recover files from your Mac

Method 2: How to Recover Permanently Deleted Word Documents on Mac Using Software?

Recovering permanently deleted or lost Word files is now a cakewalk. 

Remo File Recovery Software for Mac is a powerful tool that is built specifically to recover any type of file that is deleted or lost due to any reason from any version of Mac.
The tool is built with an advanced Find option that lets you find a particular type of file(S) to help you find your Word docs easily.
To find out what more can the tool do for you, download and try the tool for free now!!!

download now to recover word document from Mac

Download, install, and launch Remo Recover Mac on your computer. Follow the below-given guidelines and your lost/ deleted Word document Mac will be recovered.

Step 1: Click on Recover Files from the main screen and then select Recover Deleted Files or Recover Lost Files according to your requirement.

main screen of the software that will help you to recover word document from Mac

Step 2: On the next screen, select your Volume and click on Next.

select the volume from where you want to recover word document on Mac

Step 3: Select Documents and Office from the File Types screen to only scan and recover Word documents. You can skip this step if you want to recover all the data.

click on documents to only recover word document from Mac

Step 4: Wait for the scan process to complete and display the recoverable files.

wait till the software scan and displays the recoverable word document of Mac

Step 5: Search for .doc or .docx in the Find bar to find your Word documents.

search for your word document from the find toolbar and then click on save to recover word document from your mac

Finally, click on Save and your deleted Word document on Mac will be recovered. Make sure that you do not save the recovered Word document on the same volume.

Additional Information: The Word file resorted using the Terminal command could also be corrupted. Hence, you have to fix to open the corrupted Word File on Mac

Remo Recover, a tool that works in every case of Word document loss on Mac

  • Recover deleted Word documents on all the versions of macOS like Monterey, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, etc.
  • Recover permanently deleted Word documents
  • To recover folders that are lost due to virus attacks
  • To recover Word documents on Mac that were lost due to a crash/Word shutting unexpectedly
  • To recover Word documents that are lost during Cut & Paste (Command + X)operations/data transfer

How to Prevent Loss of Word Documents from Your Mac in the Future?

Saving your Word documents frequently goes a long way in protecting your files. However, if you’re not used to frequently saving files, make use of the Autosave option. According to your preference set by you, this feature automatically saves your Word document whenever the changes have been made.

Note: This feature will work only when the Word document is manually saved at least once. Usually, by default Autosave is set to save every 10 minutes, but you could consider decreasing it to 5 mins or so depending on your requirement.

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John Harris

Senior Editor, Content Analyst and a fan of exceptional customer service. John develops and publishes instructional and informational content regarding partition management, Windows hot-fixes, data management and computer troubleshooting.

As a tenured data recovery specialist, John shares exceptional insights and blog posts about data loss and data recovery across any storage device. With 8+ years’ experience in writing for Data Recovery for both Mac OS and Windows OS computers, he is an avid learner who always wants to polish and simplify the data recovery process. John passes his free time playing Chess and reading Science Fiction novels.

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