Summary

In this article, you will learn 4 effective ways to recover unsaved, lost and deleted Word document on Mac with detailed steps: [1]recover with AutoRecovery; [2]Recover from Temp folder; [3]Recover from Recovered item in Trash; [4]recover with Word file recovery software.

Sep 22, 2017  I can't open microsoft word on my mac, macOS sierra version 10.12.6, macbook, i think 2011, I purchased it in - Answered by a verified Mac Support Specialist.

Accidentally closed Word without saving on Mac? Do you know how to recover unsaved Word documents on Mac? According to the unique features of Microsoft Word for Mac, you may find the unsaved item in the AutoRecovery folder, Temporary folder or Recovered item in Trash. Besides, if you unintentionally lost, deleted or formatted your Word document, you can recover a Word document on Mac with EaseUS Word file recovery software.

How to Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac

Embedded with more useful features in certain collaborative situations than Pages, Microsoft Word becomes increasingly popular among Mac computers. Office 365 even allows users to create Word files on their Mac. On one hand, Microsoft Word offers standard DOC or DOCX file formats that are compatible in almost every OS platform; On the other hand, Word 2020, 2019, 2018...2011 is featured with auto-saving, which enables us to recover a Word document before we could hit Save.

Based on the features of Microsoft Word for Mac, there are three potential ways to recover your unsaved Word documents. These methods can also be applied to recover unsaved Excel files on your Mac.

#1. Recover Unsaved Word Docs on Mac with AutoRecovery

The Word for Mac includes an AutoRecovery option. It is turned on by default. The app will automatically save a copy of an open Word file every 10 minutes. If Word freezes while you're working on a document, or if the computer crashes, you can use the AutoRecovery copy to recover unsaved Word document with the changes or additions that you made in your last Word for Mac session.

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document

Unlike recovering unsaved Word document in Windows, the file recovery on Mac from the AutoRecovery folder is different.

Step 1. Open 'Finder' on your Mac, then head to 'Go' > 'Go to Folder'.

Step 2. Type: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and click 'Go'.

Step 3. Open the AutoRecovery folder, locate all the files that start with the words 'AutoRecovery save of'. Select the one you want to recover, rename the file, then add the '.doc' filename extension.

Step 4. Double-click the file. The document now opens in Word for Mac.

Step 5. Click the File menu and select 'Save As'. Type a new name for the file into the Name field, select a folder for the file and click the 'Save' button.

#2. Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac from TMP Folder

The Word for Mac saves a copy of the unsaved document named as Word Work File in the Temporary folder. Your Mac also temporarily keep files in this folder. Though for many Mac users, it's not easy to find it.

Guide: How to recover an unsaved Word document on Mac

Step 1. Go to 'Applications' > 'Utilities' and double-click 'Terminal'.

Step 2. In Terminal, enter open $TMPDIR and you will be directed to the TMP folder which is used to keep files temporarily.

Step 3. In the TMP folder, find and open the folder named 'TemporaryItems'. In it, right-click the desired unsaved Word files and 'Open with...' Microsoft Word.

Step 4. Save the Word file by clicking on 'File' > 'Save As' and save it to another location.

#3. Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac from Recovered Item

The Word for Mac temporarily saves documents that the user has not yet saved themselves in a folder named 'Recovered items', located in the Trash. If there are no recovered files, this folder will not appear.

Guide: How to find unsaved Word files on Mac

Step 1. Open 'Trash' by clicking its icon on the dock.

Step 2. Look for a folder labeled 'Recovered items' and click into it to look for your unsaved Word file. If you cannot find it, try the next solution.

#4. Recover Deleted Word Document with Word Recovery Software

The aforementioned three ways are exclusively for saving the file you're currently working on but suddenly disappear before clicking the Save button. To be specific, the methods will only work for files that are in the process of being worked on when they disappeared. Hence, if you lost a Word doc that is already existed by deletion, disk formatting or losing its access, you need to turn to other ways to recover a Word document on Mac.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is third-party specialized Mac data recovery software that can scour your hard drive, external hard drive, SD card, or USB flash drive to find all the lost data that vanishes without a trace on Mac OS X/macOS. It doesn't matter whether you emptied the trash bin or not, the deleted file will show up after you use the program to scan your selected drive.

For the first attempt, we strongly recommend you download its free version. It won't cost you a penny to search for your missing files. And since your problem is only for a few lost Word files, the 2GB recovery limit should be more than enough. The scan & recovery process is very simple, we’ll show you how it works.

Guide: How to recover a Word document on Mac

Step 1. Select the location where your important Word documents were lost and click Scan button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will start immediately a quick scan as well as a deep scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane.

Step 3. By Path and Type, you can quickly filter the Word files you've lost earlier. Select the target files and click Recover Now button to get them back at once.

How to Increase the Chance of Unsaved Word Data Recovery

After suffering from the fear of losing your Word documents, you must not want to experience this kind of situation again. Thus, it's necessary for you to know how to avoid losing your Word files. To avoid completely losing your files, you can:

Tip 1. Save the Word Document Whenever You Create a New One

An ever unsaved Word document exists in the computer's RAM, not on the hard disk. Thus, the chances to save a Word Document that has never been saved before are slim. Knowing this should give you a hint that you should save the word document at least once whenever you create a new one.

Tip 2. Change the AutoSave Interval

After you save your Word document, the AutoSave feature will begin to work. To minimize the loss of the progress on the file you are working, you can change the frequency of AutoSave:

Step 1. Open Microsoft Word on your Mac.

Step 2. Go to 'Word' > 'Preferences' and click 'Save' under Output and Sharing.

Step 3. Check all the items under Save Options (Recommended) and change the interval of AutoSave, for example, from every 10 minutes to every 5 minutes.

If you follow the two tips above, you will substantially decrease the risk of losing your Word documents. What if you carelessly deleted your important Word files on your Mac? No worry. Try the free method to retrieve permanently deleted Word documents with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

The El Capitan Desktop in your MacBook isn’t made of wood, and you can’t stick your gum underneath. However, this particular desktop does work much like the surface of a traditional desk. You can store things there, organize things into folders, and take care of important tasks such as writing and drawing (using tools called applications). Heck, you even have a clock and a trash can.

Gaze upon the OS X Desktop and follow along as you venture to your Desktop and beyond.

Meet me at the Dock

The Dock is a versatile combination: one part organizer, one part application launcher, and one part system monitor. From the Dock, you can launch applications — for example, the postage stamp icon represents the Apple Mail application, and clicking the spiffy compass icon launches your Safari web browser. Icons in the Dock also allow you to see what’s running, and display or hide the windows shown by your applications.

Each icon in the Dock represents one of the following:

• An application you can run (or that is running)

• An application window that’s minimized (shrunk)

• A web page URL link

• A document or folder on your system

• A network server, shared document, or shared folder

• Your Trash

The Dock is highly configurable:

• It can appear at different edges of the screen.

• It can disappear until you move the pointer to the edge to call it forth.

• You can resize it.

Dig those crazy icons

By default, El Capitan always displays at least one icon on your Desktop: your Mac’s internal drive. To open a drive and view or use the contents, you double-click the icon. Each icon is a shortcut of sorts that represents something, including

• CDs and DVDs (if you have an optical drive)

• An iPod Classic

• External hard drives, solid-state drives, and USB flash drives

• Applications and documents

• Files and folders

• Network servers you access

Note that an icon can represent applications you run and documents you create. Sometimes you single-click an icon to watch it do its thing (as in the Dock), but usually you double-click an icon to make something happen.

There’s no food on this menu

The menu bar isn’t found in a restaurant. You find it at the top of the Desktop, where you can use it to control your applications. Virtually every application you run on your laptop has a menu bar.

To use a menu command, follow these steps:

1. Click the menu title (such as File or Edit).

2. Choose the desired command from the list that appears.

When you click a menu, it extends down so that you can see the commands it includes. While the menu is extended, you can choose any enabled menu item (just click it) to perform that action. You can tell that an item is enabled if its name appears in black. Conversely, a menu command is disabled if it appears grayed out. Clicking it does nothing.

Virtually every Mac application has some menus, such as File, Edit, and Window. You’re likely to find similar commands within these menus. However, only two menus are in every OS X application:

• The Apple menu, which is identified with that jaunty Apple Corporation icon, . This is a special menu because it appears in both the Finder menu bar and the menu bar in every application you run. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in iTunes or Photoshop or Word. If you can see a menu bar, the Apple menu is there. The Apple menu contains common commands to use no matter where you are in El Capitan, such as Restart, Shut Down, and System Preferences.

• The Application menu, which always bears the name of the active application. For instance, the DVD Player menu group appears when you run the El Capitan DVD Player, and the Word menu group appears when you launch Microsoft Word.

You can also display a context or shortcut menu — which regular human beings call a right-click menu — by right-clicking the El Capitan Desktop, an application, a folder, or a file icon. (Because your MacBook is equipped with a trackpad, you can right-click by tapping the trackpad with two fingertips.)

The Finder menu bar is your friend

Whenever the Finder itself is ready to be used (or, in Mac-speak, whenever the Finder is the active application), the Finder menu bar appears at the top of the screen. You know the Finder is active and ready when the word Finder appears at the left of the menu bar.

Can't Open Microsoft Word On Mac El Capitan Update

There’s always room for one more window

Microsoft Word Won't Open Mac

You’re probably already familiar with the ubiquitous window itself. Both El Capitan and the applications you run use windows to display things such as

• The documents you create

• The contents of your drive

Can't Open Microsoft Word On Mac El Capitan 10 11

For example, in the Finder window, El Capitan gives you access to the applications, documents, and folders on your system. You use Finder windows to launch applications, to perform disk chores such as copying and moving files, and to navigate your hard drive.