How to recover a lost file in Word 2007 or in Word 2003
Microsoft Office Word documents can
be lost in certain situations. For example, the document may be lost if an
error forces Word to close, if you experience a power interruption while you
are editing, or if you close the document without saving changes.
This article discusses six methods that you can use to try to recover the lost
document.
Unfortunately, some documents might not be recoverable. For example, if you
have not saved the document at all, the whole document might be lost. If you
have saved your document, you might lose only the changes that you made since
the last time that you saved it. However, do not worry. Many documents can be
partly or completely recovered.
Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may
be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to
complete these steps. Also, because some of these methods include steps that
require you to restart your computer. You may find it easier to follow the
steps if you print this article first.
Use these methods in the order in
which they are presented to recover the lost document. If one of these methods
is successful and you recover the lost document, you are finished and you do
not have to follow any more steps.
Method
1: Search for the original document
The original document might not have
been removed from the computer. Follow these steps to see whether you can find
the document:
- Click Start, and then click Search.
- In the lower-left corner of the Windows Desktop
Search pane, click Click here to use Search Companion, if that
option is listed.
- In the Search Companion pane, click All Files
and Folders.
- In the All or part of the file name box, type
the name of the document that you want to find.
- In the Look in box, click My Computer,
and then click Search.
If the search details pane does not
contain the document that you are looking for, you might have typed the file
name incorrectly or the document might have a different name. Follow these
steps to search for all Word documents:
- In the Search Companion pane, click Start a
new search.
- Click All files and folders, and then copy and
paste (or type) the following text into the All or part of the file
name: box, and then click Search.
*.doc
If the details pane still does not
contain the file that you are looking for, the document might have been moved
to the Recycle Bin. To view the Recycle Bin and restore the document if it is
there, follow these steps:
- On the desktop, double-click Recycle Bin.
- On the View menu, click Details.
- On the View menu, click Arrange Icons by,
and then click Date Deleted.
- Scroll through the files.
If you find the document that you are looking for, right-click the
document, and then click Restore to return the document to its
original location.
Note Microsoft currently does not provide any utilities to
recover documents that have been deleted, or emptied from the Recycle Bin.
However, some third-party utilities to recover deleted documents may be
available on the Internet.
Method
2: Search for Word backup files
If the previous method did not work
for you, the main document might be gone. But there might be a backup copy of
the document available. The Always create backup copy setting in Word
creates backup copies of every document that you create.
First, follow one of these steps to see whether the Always create backup
copy setting is enabled:
- If you use Microsoft Office Word 2007: Click the Microsoft
Office Button, click Word Options in the lower-right corner, and
then click Advanced. Scroll through the headings until you find the
Save section, which is close to the end of the list. If the Always
create backup copy setting, located in the Save section, is
selected, Word created a backup copy of the document.
- If you use Microsoft Office Word 2003: On the Tools
menu, click Options. The Always create backup copy setting
is located on the Save tab. If the Always create backup copy
setting is selected, Word created a backup copy of the document.
Then, if the Always create backup
copy setting is not selected, go to method 3: "Force Word to try to
recover a file."
If the Always create backup copy setting is selected, follow these steps
to find the backup copy of the lost document:
- Locate the folder in which you last saved the missing
document.
- Look for files that have the .wbk extension.
If there are no files that have the .wbk extension in the original folder,
follow these steps to search the computer for all files that have the .wbk
extension:
a.
Click Start, and then click Search.
b.
In the lower-left corner of the Windows
Desktop Search pane, click Click here to use Search Companion.
c.
In the Search Companion pane,
click All Files and Folders.
d.
In the All or part of the file
name: box, copy and paste (or type) the following text:
*.wbk
e.
In the Look in box, click My
Computer, and then click Search.
If you find any files that are named
"Backup of" followed by the name of the missing document, follow
these steps to open the backup copy:
.
Start Word.
a.
Perform one of the following
actions:
§ If you use Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office Button,
click Open, click All Files (*.*) in the Files of type box,
locate and select the file, and then click Open.
§ If you use Word 2003: Click Open on the File
menu, click All Files (*.*) in the Files of type box, locate and
select the file, and then click Open.
Method
3: Force Word to try to recover a file
If Word did not create a backup copy
of the document, you might be able to use the AutoRecover feature to recover
the lost document.
Note The AutoRecover feature in Word performs an emergency backup of
open documents when an error occurs. Some errors can interfere with creating an
AutoRecover file. The AutoRecover feature is not a substitute for saving the
document.
If the Save AutoRecover information every [] minutes option is selected,
Word creates a temporary AutoRecover file that includes the latest changes in
the document. Every time that Word starts, it searches for AutoRecover files.
If Word finds any AutoRecover files, it displays the files that it finds in the
Document Recovery task pane.
First, to see whether the Save AutoRecover information every [] minutes
option is selected, use one of the following steps:
- If you use Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office
Button, click Word Options, and then click Save. The Save
AutoRecover information every [] minutes option is in the Save
documents section.
- If you use Word 2003: Click Options on the Tools
menu. The Save AutoRecover information every [] minutes option is
located on the Save tab.
Then, if the Save AutoRecover
information every [] minutes option is selected, try closing Word and
reopening it. If the AutoRecover task pane appears on the left side of the
screen, click the lost document to restore it.
If the Save AutoRecover information every [] minutes option is not
selected, you can try to force Word to recover the document.
Use one of the following steps to force Word to recover the document:
- If you use Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office
Button, click Open, select the Word document, click the down
arrow on the Open button in the lower-right corner of the Open
screen, and then click Open and Repair.
- If you use Word 2003: Click Open on the File
menu, select the Word document, click the down arrow on the Open
button in the lower-right corner of the Open screen, and then click
Open and Repair.
Method
4: Manually recover AutoRecover files
If Word could not open the
AutoRecover file automatically or through the Open and Repair option,
the AutoRecover file might be saved in a nondefault location. You might have to
look for the AutoRecover file manually.
Follow these steps to search for AutoRecover files manually:
- Click Start, and then click Search.
- In the lower-left corner of the Windows Desktop
Search pane, click Click here to use Search Companion, if that
option is listed.
- In the Search Companion pane, click All Files
and Folders.
- In the All or part of the file name: box, copy
and paste (or type) the following text:
*.ASD
- In the Look in box, click My Computer.
- Click Search.
If a file that is named DocumentName.asd
appears in the details pane, follow these steps to open the document:
- Start Word.
- Follow one of these steps:
- If you use Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office
Button, and then click Open.
- If you use Word 2003: Click Open on the File
menu.
- In the File of type list, click All Files
(*.*).
- Locate and select the .asd file.
- Click Open.
- Restart the computer.
- Start Word.
If Word finds the AutoRecover file,
the Document Recovery task pane opens on the left side of the screen, and the
lost document is listed as DocumentName [Original] or as DocumentName
[Recovered]. If this occurs, perform one of the following actions:
- In Word 2007, double-click the file in the Document
Recovery task pane, click the Microsoft Office Button, click Save
As, and then save the document as a .docx file.
- In Word 2003, double-click the file in the Document
Recovery task pane, click Save As on the File menu, and
then save the document as a .doc file.
Note If an AutoRecover file in the Recovery pane does not open
correctly, go to the "How to troubleshoot damaged documents" section
for more information about how to open damaged files.
Method
5: Search for temporary files
If you could not find an AutoRecover
file or a backup of the lost document, you might be able to recover the
document from your temporary files.
To search for the lost document in your temporary files, follow these steps:
- Click Start, and then click Search.
- In the lower-left corner of the Windows Desktop
Search pane, click Click here to use Search Companion.
- In the Search Companion pane, click All Files
and Folders.
- In the All or part of the file name: box, copy
and paste (or type) the following text:
*.TMP
- In the Look in box, click My Computer.
- Click the two chevrons next to When was it modified?.
- Click Specify dates, and then type the from
and to dates to include the time period since you last opened the
file.
- Click Search.
- On the View menu, click Details.
- On the View menu, click Arrange Icons by,
and then click Modified.
- Scroll through the files, searching for files that
match the last dates and times that you edited the document.
If you find the document that you
are looking for, go to the "How to troubleshoot damaged documents"
section for more information about how to recover information from the
document.
Method
6: Search for ~ files
Some temporary file names start with
the tilde (~) symbol. These files might not appear in the list of temporary
files that you found in method 5: "Search for temporary files."
Follow these steps to find any files that begin with ~:
- Click Start, and then click Search.
- In the lower-left corner of the Windows Desktop
Search pane, click Click here to use Search Companion, if that
option is listed.
- In the Search Companion pane, click All Files
and Folders.
- In the All or part of the file name: box, copy
and paste (or type) the following text:
~*.*
- In the Look in box, click My Computer.
- Click the two chevrons next to When was it modified?.
- Click Specify dates, and then type the from
and to dates to include the time period since you last opened the
file.
- Click Search.
- On the View menu, click Details.
- On the View menu, click Arrange Icons by,
and then click Modified.
- Scroll through the files, searching for files that
match the last dates and times that you edited the document.
If you find the document that you
are looking for, go to the "How to troubleshoot damaged documents"
section for more information about how to recover information from the
document.
How
to troubleshoot damaged documents
Word automatically tries to recover
a damaged document if it detects a problem with the document. You can also
force Word to try to recover a document when you open it.
Follow these steps to force Word to recover the document:
- Follow one of these steps, depending on the version of
Word that you use:
- If you use Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office
Button, and then click Open.
- If you use Word 2003: Click Open on the File
menu.
- In the Files of type list, click All Files
(*.*).
- In the Open dialog box, select the document.
- Click the down arrow on the Open button in the
lower-right corner of the Open screen, and then click Open and
Repair.