How to Recover WordPad Documents Deleted & Unsaved?

“How do I recover a deleted/unsaved WordPad document?”

WordPad is a word processing tool similar to Microsoft Word and has been pre-installed on Windows PCs since Windows 95. Word is more advanced than WordPad, but due to its simpleness, there are still many WordPad users.

Just like Word users are always looking for methods to recover unsaved Word documents and deleted ones, WordPad users are suffering the same pain.

You might wonder, how to recover WordPad documents after deletion? is it possible to do so? Just as with other types of files, as long as the deleted data is not overwritten by new items added in, you still have chances to get them back.

Then how about unsaved WordPad files? Microsoft Word has an AutoSave feature that can help recover the unsaved data, how about WordPad?

Does WordPad have an AutoSave?

Unfortunately, no. WordPad does not come with an AutoSave tool as Word does. All you can do is save frequently to prevent any data loss.

But since you have already been in a dilemma of WordPad file loss, several solutions are covered in this post. Check them below.

How to recover WordPad documents? [Deleted]

How to recover deleted WordPad documents? When facing data loss, regardless of the file type, the first trick one will turn to is the backups.

What’s more, you will also get help with methods to restore deleted WordPad files without backups.

Method 1. Restore Previous Versions to restore deleted WordPad documents

The Previous Versions feature stores the copies/backups of your files with the File History or restore points enabled.

You could restore previous version of files or folders to get back deleted items or revert the file to its earlier versions.

Step 1. Locate the parent/upper folder where the deleted WordPad files were saved.

Step 2. Right-click the folder > Properties > Previous Versions > choose a folder version > Restore.

As long as you have a previous version, the question of how to recover deleted WordPad documents will be easy to settle.

Method 2. Get WordPad files back using the Backup and Restore

Another backup tool that could be utilized in Windows is the Backup and Restore. Using this tool, you could choose whatever you’d like to back up, and decide the location to store the copies.

But please note that it cannot back up files on external storage devices but only on a local device.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

Step 2. Click Restore my files.

Step 3. Click Browse for files > find and select the deleted WordPad files > click Next.

Step 4. Save the recovered WordPad files to the original location/specify the destination > click Restore.

With Windows backups, you will also be able to recover permanently deleted photos on computers if needed.

Method 3. Recover deleted WordPad files in a breeze

Without a backup, how to recover WordPad documents after deletion? In general, without backups, it will be a pretty tough mission to restore deleted files in Windows.

They might use the Recover command in Command Prompt to restore readable info from corrupted hard drives, but it wastes lots of time and labor.

But don’t panic, it won’t be a difficult task with the help of a reliable Windows data recovery app.

Turning to such a utility, you could restore lost and deleted data within several simple steps, which is very efficient and convenient.

MyRecover will be the preferable choice that can handle everything for you. Using it, WordPad file recovery will be extremely easy:

Now follow the detailed instructions to recover deleted WordPad files.

Step 1. Run the software > hover the mouse over the source location (where the WordPad files were saved)> click Scan.

Step 2. You could sort the scanned files by Type, Size, Date modified, etc.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files > navigate to the original location > select the WordPad files you need > click Recover x files. Or, just search for rtf/docx/txt files in the search box.

Using this tool, you could also restore deleted ZIP files easily.

How to recover WordPad files? [Unsaved]

For those who have encountered unexpected shutdown before saving, they need to recover unsaved WordPad files.

But, since WordPad doesn’t come with an AutoSave feature, it would be really difficult to recover unsaved WordPad documents.

2 quick fixes might be of some help.

Quick fix 1. Check the Documents folder

WordPad documents are stored in the Documents folder by default. If an unexpected shutdown occurred and you had no time to save, maybe you could check this folder to see if your files were there.

Quick fix 2. Go to the temp folder

Programs and apps write temporary data on your drive to facilitate your current and next-time use, which makes it possible for users to recover files from temp folder.

Temp files usually end with the “.tmp” extension. Go to the temp folder directory and sort the files by date modified to find your files.

Temp folder path:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp

FAQ about WordPad files

The solutions of how to recover WordPad documents are given in detail in this post. No matter whether you have deleted them or lost them before saving, you could have some ways to recover.

For more related info, check the Q&A here.