Recover an unsaved excel document

​Losing an unsaved Excel document can feel devastating—especially if you’ve spent hours crunching numbers, building formulas, or organizing critical business data. Whether you accidentally closed a file without saving, your system crashed, or Excel itself encountered an error, the fear of lost progress can set in fast.

But there’s good news: Microsoft Excel comes equipped with multiple built-in recovery features, all designed to give you a second chance. You may not even realize how much of your data has been preserved behind the scenes.

How Excel Manages Unsaved Files

When you open Excel and begin creating a workbook, the program temporarily stores your progress even if you haven’t explicitly clicked “Save.” Features like AutoRecover, autosave, and temporary files come into play here. Excel periodically saves versions of your document in hidden folders or memory. These are the lifelines you’ll use to recover your work.

The system is even more powerful for Microsoft 365 users, especially when saving files to OneDrive or SharePoint, where versioning and autosave are enabled by default. But even with traditional Excel installs on a local machine, you still have excellent chances to recover your document.

Method 1: Recover from the Document Recovery Pane

When It Works

This method works best after an unexpected crash, forced shutdown, or Excel failure.

Steps

Reopen Excel.

If Excel closed abnormally, the Document Recovery pane may appear on the left side.

Look through the recovered files.

The files will be listed with names like “Book1 [Recovered]” or “YourFileName (Autosaved).”

Open each file.

Check the contents to confirm if it has your lost work.

Save immediately.

Save the file under a new name and choose your desired folder.

This process is one of the easiest and often works instantly. If the pane doesn’t appear, Excel might not have detected an abnormal shutdown, but recovery is still possible using other methods.

Method 2: Use AutoRecover to Retrieve Unsaved Files

How AutoRecover Works

AutoRecover saves a copy of your file at regular intervals (default is every 10 minutes). These backups can be accessed even if you never manually saved the file.

Steps to Recover

Open Excel.

Click on File > Info.

Select Manage Workbook (or Manage Versions in some versions).

Choose Recover Unsaved Workbooks.

A new window will open showing unsaved files.

Find your file based on timestamp and click Open.

Review and then click Save As to preserve it.

AutoRecover only works for files that were edited at least once. If you opened Excel and didn’t type anything before it crashed, there won’t be anything to recover.

Method 3: Find the Unsaved Files Manually in File Explorer

Why This Works

Excel saves AutoRecover files to a specific location, even if the Document Recovery pane doesn’t display them. You can manually navigate to that folder and find the files yourself.

Steps

Open File Explorer (Windows).

Copy and paste the following path into the address bar:

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%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

Press Enter.

You’ll see a list of files with a .asd or .xlsx extension.

Sort the list by Date Modified to find the most recent files.

Open each in Excel to see if your data is inside.

Save any file you want to keep.

This location stores the most recent unsaved files, but note that Excel automatically deletes files from here after a few days if you don’t save them manually.

Method 4: Search for Temporary Excel Files

What Are They?

Temporary files are created by Excel as you work, often with extensions like .tmp or with prefixes like ~ (tilde).

Steps

Open File Explorer.

Go to your Temp folder by typing this in the address bar:

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%temp%

Search for files with names like:

~ExcelXXXX.tmp

~$filename.xlsx

Sort by date to find the most recent files.

Copy the file and rename the extension to .xlsx.

Try to open it in Excel.

You might need to try a few files before finding the right one. These temporary files are often discarded upon normal closure of Excel but may persist if a crash occurred.

Method 5: Use “Open and Repair” Feature

Why Use This?

If you found the file but it won’t open (it’s corrupted or incomplete), Excel can attempt to repair it automatically.

Steps

Open Excel.

Click File > Open.

Navigate to the location of the damaged file.

Click the dropdown next to the Open button.

Select Open and Repair.

Click Repair on the pop-up prompt.

If Repair doesn’t work, Excel gives you the option to Extract Data, which may help retrieve at least part of the workbook, such as values or formulas.

Method 6: Recover from OneDrive or SharePoint (For Microsoft 365 Users)

When This Helps

If you use OneDrive or SharePoint to store your files, unsaved or overwritten changes can often be restored using version history.

Steps

Go to onedrive.live.com or open your OneDrive folder.

Right-click the file and choose Version history.

A panel will appear listing all versions saved over time.

Click Open version to preview.

Click Restore or Save As to keep that version.

This is incredibly useful if you’ve overwritten a file or made significant changes you now want to revert.

Method 7: Restore Previous Versions on Windows

What It Is

If File History is turned on in Windows, you can retrieve earlier versions of your Excel workbook—even ones that were deleted.

Steps

Right-click the folder where your file was stored.

Choose Restore previous versions.

Select a version from the list based on timestamp.

Click Restore to replace the current contents or Open to inspect first.

This method depends on having Windows’ File History configured in advance. If you’ve never set it up, it won’t work retroactively.

Method 8: Recover from Excel Backups (.XLK Files)

What Are They?

Older versions of Excel had an option to create backup copies with a .xlk extension. If you enabled this setting, Excel may have created backups automatically.

Steps

Open File Explorer.

Navigate to the folder where the original file was saved.

Search for files ending in .xlk.

Open the file in Excel.

Save under a new name if it opens correctly.

To enable this for the future:

In Excel, go to File > Options > Save and check Always create backup copy.

Note: Newer versions of Excel may not create .xlk files unless specifically configured to do so.

Method 9: Check the Recycle Bin

Sometimes the document wasn’t unsaved—it was deleted by mistake. Always check the Recycle Bin before assuming a file is gone for good.

Steps

Double-click Recycle Bin on your desktop.

Sort by Date Deleted.

Look for your Excel file.

Right-click and choose Restore.

It will be returned to its original location. From there, you can open and save it properly.

Method 10: Use Data Recovery Software

When to Use

If none of the built-in methods work and the file isn’t in the AutoRecover or temp folders, third-party recovery tools may be able to scan your drive for deleted Excel documents.

Generic Steps

Download a reputable data recovery tool.

Install it on a separate drive to avoid overwriting.

Launch the program and choose the drive where your file was located.

Run a scan and filter results by file type.

Look for .xlsx, .xls, or temporary Excel files.

Preview files and recover the ones you need.

This is a last resort, but it can be effective in certain cases—especially when files were recently deleted or lost due to hardware issues.

Mac Users: Excel Recovery on macOS

If you’re using Excel on a Mac, the recovery process is slightly different, though the core principles remain the same.

Steps for AutoRecovery on Mac

Open Finder.

Press Command + Shift + G to open Go to Folder.

Enter:

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~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

Look for files with names like “AutoRecovery save of [your file].xlsx.”

Open and save the file if it contains your data.

Note: The Library folder is hidden. Use the Go to Folder method or unhide it manually.

Best Practices to Prevent Losing Excel Work

Now that you know how to recover unsaved Excel documents, let’s talk about how to prevent the problem altogether.

1. Enable AutoSave

If you’re using Microsoft 365 and storing files in OneDrive or SharePoint, AutoSave ensures that your changes are saved in real time.

To activate:

Use the toggle at the top-left corner of the Excel window when working on a cloud file.

2. Adjust AutoRecover Settings

You can make AutoRecover more aggressive by lowering the save interval.

Steps:

Go to File > Options > Save.

Ensure Save AutoRecover information every is checked.

Reduce the interval to 1 or 2 minutes.

Check Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving.

3. Save Early, Save Often

Train yourself to hit Ctrl + S (or Cmd + S) frequently. Saving manually takes a second and can save you hours of recovery later.

4. Backup Your Work

Use cloud storage, external drives, or backup software to maintain copies of your files. For critical projects, consider versioning or daily backups.

5. Use File Naming Conventions

Avoid overwriting important work by using version numbers:

Budget_2025_v1.xlsx

Budget_2025_v2.xlsx

This not only helps with organization but also protects against unintentional overwrites.