Solutions: Find Previous Version of Word Documents

Can I retrieve a previous version of a Word document?

When editing content with Microsoft Word, people are prone to meet unexpected errors and accidents even if they are prudent. Word document deletion, overwriting, crash before saving, etc.

Many users are bothered by the question of how to recover unsaved Word documents. In addition, file deletion and modification regrets are also common.

Some of them are in need of methods to find previous version of Word documents to discard the newly-modified contents.

If one wants to revert Word document to previous version, what to do?

How to find previous version of Word documents?

This section offers 2 feasible methods to recover previous version of Word document. If the old version of Word file was deleted already, please head over to the next part.

Solution 1. Restore previous version of Word document via Manage Documents

Microsoft Word offers an in-built feature to help users manage their file versions. With AutoSave enabled, it automatically stores the doc every 10 minutes by default.

Notes:✎...

This method is pretty limited, only working when you have not closed the window yet. 

If you have clicked “Save” and closed the file, the versions folder would be empty.

Step 1. Click File > Info > Versions > choose a version you like.

Step 2. Click Compare to decide which version to keep. Or click Restore to get your wanted content back.

If you have closed the windows already, check the next solution.

Solution 2. Revert Word document to earlier date via Previous Versions

The Previous Versions feature would be of help as well. Users could restore previous version of file to get the saved over content back; also, it can help users revert a folder to its earlier status to recover deleted files.

Step 1. Click File Explorer > find and right-click the target Word document> Properties.

Step 2. Choose the latest or needed version > Restore.

Find previous version of Word document after deletion

The 2 methods above are to help you recover previous version of Word document when the doc is still available. If you have already removed the older version, how to recover previous version of Word document quickly?

To recover deleted Word files quickly and easily, using an efficient Windows data recovery tool will be a great idea due to its efficiency and convenience.

Among many eligible apps, MyRecover is your best choice since it is competent, convenient, comprehensive, and compatible.

Follow the instruction to restore previous version of Word document after a deletion with ease.

Step 1. Run the software > hover the mouse over the source disk where the Word doc was saved > click Scan.

Step 2. During the process, you could search the wanted Word doc by Type, Date modified, etc.

Step 3. Go and select the Word files you need > click Recover x files. 

This powerful tool could help restore deleted WordPad files as well.

Related Q&A

To find previous version of Word document, check the tutorial in this post. The Manage Versions feature and the previous versions could help you. To make it easier, choose a reliable data rescue tool.

More related info is prepared in case you need it.